HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The new NFL season started today, which meant that Free Agents were officially free to sign wherever they like, and trades could become official. A lot of stuff goes down in the first day, mostly because this stuff has been unofficially setup for a while.  The 49ers, and former 49ers, were fairly active today, along with several players I had hoped the 49ers would land. Let’s start with the big move for the 49ers from today

 

QB Alex Smith Traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a Second-Round Pick in 2013 and a Conditional Pick in 2013.

The condition on the pick is, supposedly, based on the number of wins the Chiefs get in 2013. It will be at least a third, with the potential to become a second. This is not official, but rumored to be the case.

 

This is a bittersweet trade for me, because since the “WE WANT CARR!” game, Smith has been a good Quarterback. Not great, not stupendous, but good. His NFC 2012 Divisional Game antics sealed his place in 49ers history not as a bust, but as a redemptive tale. After years of terrible coaching, terrible offensive coordinating and inconsistent play time, Coach Harbaugh pulled him from the fire and made him a very good player. To best describe how Harbaugh turned Smith around, he garnered essentially no interest last offseason and this offseason he was traded for up to two second-round picks today.  I will be sad to see Smith go, but it was a necessity. His cap figure was $9.75 million, per Matt Maiocco. Unless you’re the Seattle Seahawks and you have a ton of players on rookie contracts, you can’t afford to light that money on fire with a backup QB.

 

Kansas City was my favored destination for Smith, which I espoused in a post a few weeks ago. It sets him up perfectly with a top-five Running Back in Jamaal Charles, a true #1 Wide Receiver in Dwayne Bowe, a top notch offensive line (assuming KC drafts Luke Joeckel first overall like everyone expects them to do).  He has a great coach in Andy Reid and a very good defense. Does all of this sound familiar? Alex Smith has been placed in the poor man’s version of the same position he was in a couple of years ago. The only bonus is I get to see him own the suddenly even-more-hapless Raiders twice a year. Depending on Peyton’s health, the AFCW is up for grabs. With a sudden turn-around and a last-place schedule, I could see Mr. Smith going to Washington (well, Maryland, to play and beat the Ravens in the first round).

 

That brings me to my second point…

 

49ers Trade Sixth-Round Pick for WR Anquan Boldin
The 49ers have two sixth-round picks in 2013. This is their pick (31st in the round).

 

Wow. Just. Wow. Anquan Boldin is much closer to retirement than he is to his rookie season, but the guy can still play. He was hampered in his first 2.5 years in Baltimore by the absolute terrible play calling of Cam Cameron. Cameron was fired in the second half of last season. This coincided with the unshackling of Anquan Boldin and the rise of the Joe Flacco Elite Quarterback Experience. Unfortunately, Flacco inked his $120,600,000 (had to write that out so you could see that number’s absurdity) contract, which meant that many of the pieces that went towards the Super Bowl 47 win needed to be excised to ensure Flacco will be rolling in the Chicken McNuggets for life. Lewis retired, Ellerbe, Reed and Kruger are gone via free agency, and Boldin and his approximately $6 million hit had to go.

 

I. Love. This. Trade. I love it. LOVE IT. This was a shot across the bow of the USS Seahawks—and maybe a consolation prize from John Harbaugh—after the ‘Hawks traded several picks for Percy Harvin (which is a much bigger deal). Boldin lines up all over the field and is more appropriately a TE/WR with his absolute ridiculous physicality and blocking ability. With Delanie Walker’s departure to Tennessee, this gives them a top four pass catching group of: Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, Anquan Boldin and Mario Manningham. Outside Manningham, this is an extremely physical group of receivers who will knock you down and fight for extra yards. In addition, the 49ers’ biggest bugaboo has been red zone efficiency and touchdown conversion. These just happen to be two things for which the large, handsy receiver has made his hay.

 

This adds another dimension to the offense, as with the 49ers’ versatile backfield, obscene quarterback, mauling offensive line and suddenly punch-you-in-the-mouth receiving corps, they have the offensive firepower to match their defensive prowess.

 

TE Delanie Walker Signs with the Tennessee Titans (4 years, $17.5 million, $8.6 Guaranteed, per Rotoworld.com)
The “Swiss Army Knife” of the offense finds a new home, and got straight paid.

 

I’m not even mad the 49ers didn’t try to match this offer. The Titans made it clear today with their two opening salvos (also signing top FA OG and San Lorenzo Valley High School Alum) Andy Levitre that they intend on running the ball. Both are excellent blockers, but at $8.6 million guaranteed, I feel like someone forgot to tell the Titans that much like a real “Swiss Army Knife,” Delanie Walker does not come with a set of hands. Walker has a reputation as a pass dropper, but his real reputation is that much more frustrating: he only catches difficult passes. If the Titans only watched his highlights, they would see him making amazing passes, and not see the times balls would bounce off his numbers, harmlessly into the turf. 

 

I begrudgingly accept this non-move by the 49ers, given that they, in now way, could have matched Walker’s payday. My trust in the plan of the front office also gives me faith that they have a plan for TE going forward that isn’t already on the roster (I.e. Garrett Celek). I could forsee them trading up to grab Stanford’s Zach Ertz in the second round if he starts to slip (but not Eifert in the first, they NEED those first two picks, 31 and 34 to fill D-Line and Safety).

 

I’m sad to see Delanie go, his pass to beat the 5-0 Lions that got lost in Handshake-Gate in the 2011 season will forever be remembered fondly. As opposed to guys I will probably barely remember…

 

Whoops, Got Your Nose (Tackle)!
Good riddance Isaac, you were no longer needed up the middle.

 

Various sources state that Sopoaga played only 30% of the 49ers defensive snaps last year, which means he barely played. This is mostly because Sopoaga is a Nose Tackle and the 49ers did not run a 3-man front very often. Essentially, I was a bit rushed in my assessment of “good riddance” but much like Mr. Smith and the suddenly, and not surprisingly, jobless David Akers, we no longer needed him and he was paid millions of dollars to be a starter in a position we didn’t really use that often.  The only issue is his backup, Ricky Jean Francois, is also rumored to be gone.

 

Ricky Jean-Francois is a more versatile lineman, and technically Sopoaga’s backup. He is able to play the NT in a 3-4 front but also a DT in a 4-3 front. I know that sounds like gibberish, but it’s a huge change in size & skillset required. I would be more upset by losing Jean-Francois than Sopoaga. The bad news is that four teams are rumored to be linked to Jean-Francois, and none of them are the 49ers.

 

The 49ers hand has been played for them, and need to draft a DT in the upcoming draft.

 

The Belle of the Ball
Dashon Goldson is getting the royal treatment, and is likely to end up walking the plank.

 

The Buccaneers are expected to make landfall and give Goldson his coveted chest of dubloons in an attempt to bolster a secondary that had more holes in it than a Spanish Galleon after a run-in with Blackbeard off the Main. Something something pirate jokes. Dashon Goldson had big hits but got beat deep quite often. He was mostly very good in coverage, and deserves to be the most-coveted Safety in the market, but he is not worth “Eric Weddle Money.”

 

What’s Next for the 49ers?
Replacing the pieces of a Super Bowl team isn’t easy.

 

The 49ers were rumored to be in on D-Lineman Desmond Bryant before the allure of Cleveland and the storied Browns franchise tore him away. They are currently rumored to be interested in DBs Shaun Smith and Charles Woodson. Woodson, reportedly, has flown to San Francisco to meet with the team, and as Faux John Madden’s Twitter puts it is, “the closest a Packer defender got to Colin Kaepernick in 3 months.”  It’s hard for me to gauge the 49ers and free agency, only because they have so many picks in the upcoming draft that they can do almost whatever they want to plug the holes needed. The only thing I’m really hoping is that they get in on the ridiculously overcrowded Safety market to replace Goldson.  Recently cut Rams Safety Quintin Mikell comes to mind as a good fit. The 49ers were rumored to be tied to Ed Reed, but it just turned out to be a ploy to drive up Reed’s value.

 

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Ted Ginn is gone as the return man, and two interesting pieces are on the market: Josh Cribbs and Leon Washington. I could see the 49ers attempting to transfer Ginn money to one of those two players to prevent LaMichael James from potentially hurting himself on a return.

 

The next month until the draft should be very interesting, given that the moves made official today were already exciting. I haven’t even gotten to the rest of free agency, wherein the Dolphins spend like mad and the Eagles are tied to everyone. As for opening days go, I’ll prefer the one in September, but the one in March wasn’t half bad, either.

 

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