AZ54

We may not have offered a contract to St Clair knowing we want to be aggressive in FA or the draft going after a true starter for years to come. It seems clear JA wants to let him test the waters to see what he gets offered. St Clair says he wants to be a starter but if nobody offers that to him he might find Chicago as his best situation and return. His experience in our system at both tackle and guard might be his best shot at becoming a starter if Lovie is willing to let him compete for it. In anycase I agree that we should not settle for St Clair as being our future at RT for the next year or two. We need to seriously upgrade this position. That means spending money and/or high draft picks.

I'm sure he'll be on JA's stopgap list of QBs who can backup Orton.

I've always been a fan of how Mike Brown played the game but he's just too slow anymore. He was not good at all playing FS for us. It was amazing how many railed against the backup CB who gave up the 20 yd play against Atlanta yet nobody blasted Mike Brown for not protecting the one play that would lose the game, especially knowing he had a player new to the team. Once we finally admitted that problem we put him back in the box where he played well but then as usual he got injured again and started missing time. I will miss the player we had back in 2004 but I won't miss the player we had last year. We had a bad defense last year, one that could not make a stop when it needed to. It's time to make some changes and we can't afford a roster spot for a guy who always forces us to carry an extra safety on the roster.

I'm somewhat surprised but he hasn't played all that well lately and I won't necessarily miss that since afterall I was pretty much in the club wanting to cut him once we sign someone else for RT. My biggest gripe about this is that it would have been nice of him to not make this public until after FA opens and the draft. That would have helped the club. As it is now we may have to make a strong push to get St Clair back in the fold, something I advocated right after the end of the season. Now we've lost a bit of leverage but then on the other hand so has St Clair because now we definitely need a starter on the right side and we might prefer to go after someone with a better resume.

We don't need Chavous. He was never very good with the Cards and was on the Vikings D the entire time we laughed at their inability to stop the pass. We might as well go with DManning, at least he's faster and has a better chance of recovering when he makes a mistake. On a side note, expect to see Chavous on TV as a draft analyst for somebody. Since he was a kid he's always loved the NFL draft and has great knowledge of draft history.

I agree we'll probably be rumored going after every single WR available in FA or trade. Especially now that we cut ties with Booker (6 months too late IMO).

No way. Ced was cut for discipline issues and you don't go back down that road as management. Since we're now looking for a complimentary RB not a starter we definitely have no need to deal with the issues re-signing Ced would bring to the locker room.

I can't imagine we'd have to give up a 2nd Rd pick just to swap two spots in Rd 1 (18-16). I'm sure someone smarter than me can find what was given up in past draft day trades like that. What did we get from Buffalo that year we traded down with them?

I am starting to feel the DHB hype is a smoke screen. It's a little too much too early. Not that we shouldn't have interest in him as we should with anyone who can actually catch a football it's that the hype is starting to become centered on if he's our 1st Rd pick.

I wanted to cut Booker after camp last year and was voted off the island. I certainly don't want him around this year. There's no benefit. Give the reps to Bennett we need to know if he can play or not and go get someone else to fill out the roster. Lloyd can go too IMO but depending on who we pick up this offseason I can see us giving him another 1 year deal with no bonus and seeing if he ends up in our top 5 WR.

I think it's something we should do but I don't think it's something JA will do. If Sanchez falls I can see him taking him and saying he was too good to pass up. If he trades up and goes after him then it's saying that we don't think Orton is the man. That doesn't match the retoric coming out of Halas Hall. A 2nd or more likely 3rd Rd pick on a QB fits in easier while giving him the option of going after one in Rd 1 next year.

In that case he fits what JA wants: A guy who has starter experience but not good enough to start a big QB controversy yet at the same time being good enough to have Orton looking over his shoulder. Not to mention that Alex Smith can run and that's a good attribute to have behind our Oline.

What's the deal with Alex Smith? Are the Niners going to keep him or would they move him for a late round pick? Is he worth looking at? The guy has had something like 4 offensive coordinators during his time in San Fran but he has some good athletic skills. Seems to me if we're looking at using a later round pick on a QB he'd be worth a shot as much as any college QB.

If, as shown, Oher is still on the board when we pick I say we take him and park him at RT. Grab a WR in the second round.

How bad do you have to be to get cut by the Raiders? That's not exactly something you list at the top of your resume. I'm not saying he isn't worth looking at but I can't possibly think he's a guaranteed solution to our problem at FS. When I see cuts like this I often wonder how long before we hear about a league suspension for violating the substance abuse policy or some other issue along those lines.

I'll be ecstatic if we get Maclin at #18. Aside from the obvious physical skills I see a player who is tough (played hurt last year even though he had the draft to worry about), he goes over the middle, he doesn't shy away from contact at the end of the play, and can get yards after contact, and he can make the tough catches. I'd love to see him lined up opposite Hester. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA619-10IIM

I bet nobody bites on a trade for either guy and then end up cutting them.

What we don't know is how Brady's knee is. That is the wild card in what NE does.

I hope AP to fullback = smokescreen Now if it's a question of him being a backup FB that might be possible if for no other reason to save a roster spot and keep him as a special teams player. That helps a lot for the active roster on game day and keeps Olsen out of the backfield if McKie goes down. There's no way I see AP being good enough to replace McKie and that's not much of a challenge. So late in this draft I hope we'll be picking up a FB, let AP work at FB to see if he's worth keeping and somewhere we need to find a true #2 RB. Maybe another year of rehab brings Kevin Jones back to form and I'd be ok with that. On Wolfe not being good at pass protection...doesn't he have to get on the field to show whether or not he can do it? And if he isn't that good at it how will he get better if he never gets game experience? I keep hearing the same crap from these coaches but at some point it is their responsibility to gives young players some playing time so they can actually learn how to play the game. I'll sign off now because I feel another Bennett rant coming on...

I don't like Ramses that much at least in terms of what we need. I watched that collegiate competition and he seemed too methodical when he was running (i.e. no explosion or quickness). I don't know what his straight line speed will be but for me that is less of a factor if a guy doesn't have the quickness to get in/out of cuts ahead of a DB. I realize it's a lousy backyard competition and not enough to base an evaluation on but it's all I have at the moment. Back to need. IMO we already have a similar player on our roster, one who is pretty good in Greg Olsen. When there is a need or desire to have a taller WR we can split him out (as we do). The thing is, using Olsen this way creates more mismatches among the defense that someone like Ramses might because he lines up in some many positions. I know someone is going to point out how tall the guy is and all I can remember is how so many said the same things about Leonard Pope when he came out. Pope has never materialized as a good receiving threat for the Cards and please don't say it's because of their WR. The Cards throw plenty of passes to their TEs. If Ramses puts up good numbers at the combine in the quickness drills then I'd say he's worth a look.

Interesting that there wasn't much feedback on the Oline other than Williams. Maybe it's just me trying to read the between the lines too much because I think it was a big problem for us. This is the time for information and disinformation.

I didn't say we'd be trading for Fitzgerald, I said Boldin is not in the same league as those guys and you are giving up too much for him.

I can't see Vasher going anywhere with his salary, the cap hit we'd take, and his low trade value right now. Why wouldn't a team think they could get the same player in Rd 4-6 of the draft? And that would be a player with "upside". Therefore, at this time (predraft) I agree with Nfol (damn that hurts) that our best course is to wait it out and see if he plays better this year. Remember McBride has turned into a good special teams player so he seems likely to remain our 5th CB. We'll probably draft a CB late or sign a second/third tier FA for competition. On top of that we have the annual question of what to do with DManning, is he our nickel CB or is he our FS, or is he our KR who backs up those roles? Bottom line for Nate is that he really needs to end up as one of the top 3 outside CBs to stay on this team. I will add however that if Bowman and Graham are playing far better than him he could be cut or traded in camp. There's always a team getting hit by injuries or piss poor play and they become desperate for some help. At that time, as long as we can absorb the cap hit, we might end up letting Vasher go for a conditional late round pick. Which basically means you are cutting the guy but hoping he sticks on the other team so you get something out of nothing.

I agree, for Minn it makes sense to put all their marbles in the Cassel basket. They have the defense, the running game, just need someone to make a few passes.

No way I give up that much for Boldin plus the huge contract he'll demand. I've watched him for years and while I love him he is not an elite #1 WR. He can be a #1 I just don't see him in that elite area like Fitzgerald is.