Read it and weep (or rejoice or bitch or whatever)
9/7 @ DAL
9-14 vs CHI (Sunday night)
9/21 @ ARI
9-28 vs PHI
10/5 vs KC
10/13 @ STL (Monday night)
10/19 @ DEN (Sunday night)
BYE
11/2 vs STL
11/9 @ NO
11/16 @ NYG
11/23 vs WAS
11/27 vs SEA (Thanksgiving)
12/7 @ OAK
12/14 @ SEA
12/20 vs SD
12/28 vs ARI
Easter has come and gone and all across the country, Christians are resuming their sinful ways. Heathens are presumably just facing yet another week on the road to hell, no different than any other wicked and empty set of days.
Speaking of Roger Goodell’s journey, this May draft idea is a real stinker. It’s rendered April almost devoid of NFL activity, give or take the various wayward adventures of Aldon Smith and Chris Culliver and Colin Kaepernick and Quinton Patton, all of whom have made news for the wrong reasons this month.
The Houston Texans must be feeling a bit peeved. When the Colts had the number one pick, Andrew Luck was available, even though Indy could have squeezed another two to four years out of Peyton Manning. But when the Texans hold the top pick, and desperately need a QB, there’s no world beater in sight. They’ll probably take a DL guy, Jadeveon Clowney, just like they had to do in 2006 with Mario Williams.
Is this a game of chance? Not the way the football gods play it.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s probably somewhat fair that a franchise thieving, substance abuse wacko owner ranks higher on the justice ladder than a team in Texas — ANY team in Texas. But that doesn’t explain how a miserable creep like Pete Carroll can luck out in the third round by drafting Russell Wilson and transforming a ho-hum little second tier team into an SB winner. Fie uponst thou, football gods. Clearly, thou art a heathen entity.
When the 49ers start the 2014 season, almost half the defense will be different than the one that started the 2013 season. DC Vic Fangio will have his biggest challenge since taking over the job in 2011.
The team will have a new base CB to replace Tarell Brown, slot CB to replace Carlos Rogers, ILB fill-in for a rehabbing Navorro Bowman, and a pass rushing ROLB to replace a suspended/released/jailed Aldon Smith. Fangio will also be working Tank Carradine into the D-line rotation. Chris Culliver was supposed to fill the base CB role, but he’s facing a possible league suspension.
Most teams use the Free Agency period to improve their teams, but the 49ers have taken the novel approach of weakening theirs. I’m sure it’s just a cunning new strategy from our all world GM Trent Baalke.
For the past decade, the defense has been the better half of the team, but that may change this coming year. The addition of Brandon Lloyd gives the offense three veteran and productive wide receivers — an almost unheard of situation. On a team that rarely uses three wide outs, however, let alone four, how many opportunities is promising 2013 draft pick Quinton Patton going to get? It will be an important Training Camp for him.
With LaMichael James on the trading block, the entire 2012 draft class can be considered a total bust. Not an all world performance from Baalke that year. The 2013 class will be more or less good or bad depending on the the performance this year of Carradine and RB Marcus Lattimore, and the growth of TE Vance McDonald. If these three guys do well, joining first round pick Eric Reid, then 2012 can be viewed as an aberration and not a trend.
All in all, a challenging year ahead. It might be difficult for HC Jim Harbaugh to maintain his streak of finishing three straight seasons with the second best team in the league.
The past week has not been a good one for the 49ers. Train wreck about covers it.
On Sunday, OLB extraordinaire Aldon Smith went off the rails yet again, getting arrested in L.A. for a false report of a bomb. The charge seems more like a case of hard ass police tactics than any real “report,” but Smith already is facing DUI and gun charge felonies, so making the news yet again is bringing his NFL career to the brink of extinction.
It’s looking more and more like Aldon is going to do some jail time, which might be the best thing to happen to him. If it was you or me, you can bet the orange jump suit would already be draped on our precious bodies. A jail sentence would certainly make Roger Goodell’s task of handing out 49er suspensions for the coming year a bit easier. And probably the Niners’ HQ rationalizations and no-speak responses, also. If Aldon was a marginal player, he’d have been cut long ago.
What a waste. Suddenly, the 2011 draft class, which had “superb” written all over it, is now looking like a juvenile delinquent crime wave. This offseason, Chris Culliver and Daniel Kilgore have both been arrested, along with Aldon, and we’re still waiting to see if Colin Kaepernick is going to join them for last week’s weird event in Miami.
GM Trent Baalke’s 2014 Draft Board may have been set a week ago, but it’s now being hastily revised. With more than three weeks left to go until draft day, it’s possible he’ll need to revise it yet again.
The team’s squeaky clean image, fostered and promoted by HC Jim Harbaugh, is clearly in free fall. Much to the amusement of the other NFC West division opponents and coaches.
Aldon’s arrest shoved the Miami incident temporarily into the background, but it may not stay there. We’re still waiting to hear the results of rape and toxicology reports on the woman who reported the event. About all we know for sure is that Kaepernick has a big ass suite in Miami, big enough for three guys to live there (Quinton Patton and Ricardo Lockette), and these three big dudes were joined for an evening of partying by one woman, who later ended up in the hospital. One girl, three guys? Doesn’t conjure up much of a wholesome image. At the very least.
Stay tuned for another interesting week on 49er Crime Beat.
The 49ers are reportedly anxious to get Colin Kaepernick into camp so they can work on his mechanics. Really? They’ve had him for three years now and are just getting around to his mechanics?
Hmmmm. This looks suspiciously like a management attempt to portray Kaepernick as a non elite, unpolished QB who’s still somewhat lacking in basic skill sets. Aimed mostly at bringing his price down in the contract extension talks that are currently underway. Otherwise, you have to wonder what the hey QB coach Geep Chryst has been doing for the past three years?
The team is probably anxious to get the other two top picks from the 2011 Draft into camp, also. For different reasons. These two bad boys — Chris Culliver and Aldon Smith — are due to be arraigned Friday on their various criminal charges. Evidently, Kaepernick felt embarrassed sandwiched between these two fellows sporting a halo, so he made a feeble, or perhaps bold, attempt to get dirty himself down in Miami. Or, embellishing his halo in a kinky way, got dirty so his own agent has to whack a few million off his contract demands.
2013 draft pick WR Quinton Patton was also in this episode of Miami Vice, bringing the total to four 49ers Who Could Start The 2014 Season With A Suspension. Terrific. Certainly takes the wind out of our sails regarding disparaging remarks about the Seahawks PED users.
What is it with Miami? What does it have that Turlock, California doesn’t? Other than a lot more mega babes ready to party and a lot more drug dealers.
This story will either burn away this weekend like a morning fog, or blow up into a major crisis this coming week, bringing into play the knee-knocking words Blaine Gabbert. Kaepernick, Culliver, and Smith are all entering the final year of their rookie contracts and all three of them were looking for significant coinage upscale some time this year. It’s safe to say their agents’ initial bargaining positions have been seriously weakened.