AZ54

Yet another Ryan Pace acquisition. Tonga isn't a bad player but he's a bad scheme fit.

Looks like Armon Watts has moved into #3 spot. I expect he'll be a starter soon. I assume we're bringing up someone from the practice squad. We're going after a very athletic QB, do we bring up Trevon Coley who has more pass rush ability, or is there some injury at another position we need to cover?

1) It's the preseason games that have me excited to start the season. After the first game I simply said we looked organized. That held up across all 3 games. In the past the team performance was usually chaotic so I focused on the good individual performances and how that would carry us during the season. The expectation was that the team performance would come together as the season progressed. This is just different from anything I've seen in a couple decades which is about when I started to follow the team more closely in the offseason. 2). Fields' progression through the preseason demonstrating better ability to read defenses and he stayed with his new mechanics. He still has a way to go but the trend is steep enough that even a couple more weeks of practice should help him improve further. 3). Ryan Poles first offseason has brought in more good young talent than expected. I was hoping for 2 starters and at least one future starter. We ended up with 3 starters in Braxton Jones, Gordon, Brisker, plus a punter. Future starters or at least contributors include Ebner, Velus Jones, Carter, and now I think we can toss in Leatherwood. He stayed the course avoiding the over-priced FA acquisitions that would affect our future cap flexibility. Add to that a coaching staff that is both confident in their ability to teach the rookies and is willing let them play if they earn it. Playing the rookies will give us a good indication where the roster stands heading into next offseason. Now I am anxious to see the results on the field to validate we have some foundational pieces in place: coaching, young talent, QB.

Our secondary talent and discipline was horrible last year. The talent gap has closed quite a bit and so has the discipline and hustle aspect. I'm not saying we'll shutdown Deebo because Shanahan is going to find ways to get the ball into his hands. I expect a lot more pursuit from the defense than last year and if Kittle is out then by missing that deep threat only helps the cause. Bend but don't get broken on the big plays like last year.

The Rams were still hungover from the Superbowl parties. Their performance was really bad and this was in LA. I focused on ARob on a few plays and I don't miss him one bit. Guys like Nsimba Webster play with more heart. Both teams had plenty of execution mistakes, a sign of things to come across the league in week 1.

If Kittle can't play it definitely impacts their ability to threaten downfield, plus his blocking in the run game/RPO stuff. Kittle is a big part of the reason Deebo can get so many wide open looks. This is old but might be an indication of what we can expect especially if Kittle is out. https://www.4for4.com/news/brandon-aiyuk-quickly-becoming-trey-lances-favorite-target

49ers didn't even name Lance as a team captain a day after signing JimmyG to a new deal. Now we already get articles talking about if he'll get replaced mid-season (and 3 Oline players are listed too). If for any reason Lance and their offense play poorly in the first half the pressure will ratchet upward. OTOH Fields is coming in with low expectations for the offense and what many are saying is a poor supporting cast. https://ninerswire.usatoday.com/lists/49ers-depth-chart-starters-replaced-trey-lance-jauan-jennings/ https://ninerswire.usatoday.com/2022/09/07/49ers-name-team-captains-qb-trey-lance/

That won't keep him out for the game and in any case they've used an injured Kittle before at least as a decoy.

Experience in their systems is definitely in their favor. We don't yet know what we have but the discipline and organization we saw on the field throughout preseason gives me reason to be optimistic. In the NFL stars are often the difference and they have us there. Beyond that I feel these two teams are closer in roster talent than it appears on the surface. Barring big mistakes/turnovers on offense I expect our defense to perform close to what the Colts did last year against SF when they held them to 18pts. Figure low 20's for us. Can we manufacture 25pts or more? It all comes down to if we can run the ball. If we can, then we can win this game. On top of that we will likely need at least one big play on defense or special teams to add points. It's Week 1 there are always surprises and breakdowns.

New sod. This should provide better footing for this weekend. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/gameday/bears-hoping-for-better-footing

Good news. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/09/05/bears-injuries-lucas-patrick-byron-pringle-velus-jones-return-to-practice/

The Jaguars are most likely to be the first NFL team in Europe. London Jaguars. There is a reason Shahid Khan is always sending his team for games in London. Plus he is always over there with them which means he's meeting decision makers. This year again they have the Wembley stadium game against Denver. I'd say that if they can figure out all the logistics the Jaguars moving to London is all but a done deal. Games and travel won't be as big of a deal since we'll be in the supersonic jet age (again) in 2025. East coast to London will be less than a 4hr flight but I expect they'll shuffle the divisions to get a better East coast alignment. United and American both have orders for the new jet.

I agree with that and with Mongo's assessment. Their D front 7 is a massive hurdle to overcome with a young and inexperienced offense. It is the crux of the game. However, for a team that was just in the NFC championship game I'm surprised how many gaps SF has on their roster. We will need some of those gaps to give us some big plays to pull off the upset.

https://ninerswire.usatoday.com/lists/ranking-49ers-position-groups-for-2022/ Working off the concerns their fans have for their roster and other tidbits I've seen in the media: Dline: 49ers. For sure they have the better defensive front 7 as compared to our roster. They shutdown the Packers offense in the playoffs and we can't discount that. The question is what did Getsy learn from that and how will he approach this game differently? Or does he even have the talent to approach it the way he really wants to? Beyond that these two teams are much closer in talent than the media would lead you to believe. IMO we have a few advantages in position group talent (CBs, S, QB at min even, RB, and Oline). Yes, I said Oline. We don't have a star like Trent Williams but Oline is as much about stability across the front (i.e. avoid the complete breakdown at one spot like we often had last year) and it appears we're better there. McGlinchey is a question mark for them too coming off his knee injury and he was never that athletic to begin with. His backup has played poorly. https://ninernoise.com/2022/09/02/49ers-chicago-bears-week-1/ https://ninernoise.com/2022/09/01/kyle-shanahan-concerned-primary-49ers-weakness/

Hearing that Brisker has returned to practice and is on track to play in wk 1. Patrick is expected to return to practice next week although his game day status is up in the air until they see him practice. It also sounds like Velus Jones and Pringle are close to returning but even if they both practice all next week these two might be a stretch to get playing time in week 1. IMO they've missed too much time and we might be best served giving them a couple weeks of practice to get back in the rhythm of the offense.

After watching Poles' press conference I'm certain ISM is primarily here to play special teams. Someone asked Poles what the plan was with just 3 WRs on the field for practice (Mooney, ESB, Pettis). Poles gave the usual meh answer but it's obvious that right now we don't really know if we'll have Velus or Pringle available in Week 1. That would mean dressing just 3 WRs for that game and in that case you probably don't want Pettis doing any work on returns. In the event Velus is back we'd likely want to limit his exposure on returns where injury risk is higher. It seems they wanted Harry to return sooner than later but we have to field a full team now so putting him on IR was the easy solution so they could add ISM. While Harry is on the mend they get to see if ISM has future roster potential. They could have brought up Webster for the game but they already know he's not a long term answer at WR. To add to that we still have Ebner injured although I don't know if he returned to practice this week. Herbert could do returns but again we might just be 2 deep at RB and it's pretty obvious with our new TE we want to run the ball. The best thing we can do to help Fields and the Oline early this season is to run the ball well especially while we're a little undermanned at WR.

I think he's throwing darts hoping one or two hit the bullseye. Swapping around the last 5-7 roster spots from a rebuilding roster with some targeted waiver wire pickups isn't really going to impact our performance this year. Especially when you consider the good prospects he added to our practice squad. Or at least many appear to be players who could contribute in a pinch on a game day: Thomas Graham Jr., Darrynton Evans, Isaiah Coulter, Nsimba Webster, Trevon Coley, and if you had to get to your 3rd QB, Peterman is ok. There are a few prospects worth trying to develop especially Kellen Diesch, and I think Eiselen and even Simmons (at OG) showed more potential this preseason than in years past and could become future backups or more. There's about 7 PS players that I think are just place holders. Right now I think Poles upgraded 2 depth spots with Armon Watts and Sterling Weatherford. Plus if you really like your TEs blocking and opening holes for the running game then Wesco is an upgrade. The other 3 are just what-ifs.

Yeah and I had to watch the "highlights" of our defensive performance in that last game. I don't see anything special in this guy as a receiver but he can return kicks and punts so that helps. Poles is thinking while Harry is on IR he can see what this guy can do. Long term he's just going to be one of the guys and we have a bunch of them already. What this might mean is that Ebner and Velus Jones aren't doing so well recovering from their injuries and they want to hedge their bets for returns. Why Pettis can't do that I'm not sure.

My thoughts on the waiver wire pickups: OL Alex Leatherwood Pure project and shouldn't expect him to contribute at all this year. He has good physical tools but even my eyes can see he needs a lot of help on technique and maybe attitude (as in aggressiveness). My guess is Poles liked him in the draft when he was in KC, maybe not at 17 overall, but enough to see the upside if they can correct his issues. This also makes me think we aren't set long term at RT. There is potential here so now we have 6 months to figure out if he's the answer, at least as a backup OT, before we get into the next offseason. TE Trevin Wesco Pure blocking TE. Slow but he can move guys out of the hole and clear a lane. I never realized Getsy, and RB coach Walker both coached under Dave Wannstedt at Pitt, while QB coach Janoko was his backup QB. Wannstedt said the one thing he knows is "these guys know how to run the football". We're going to run the ball better this year than we have in a long time." DT Armon Watts More sacks than Tonga, more tackles than Tonga. I think this was a pretty easy decision. DE Kingsley Johnathan Small for a DE at 6' 2.5" and 267lbs he's not going to win with length or strength although his arms at 34" help. He has some good quickness and speed as shown by his Pro Day results 10yd split 1.61, 3-cone drill 7.0sec. Forty time was 4.76. In college he was used in a 3-3-5 scheme so played more interior Dline but still had 15 career sacks. Which means he has a lot to learn as an outside rusher. If that 10yd split is close to being accurate (pro day usually inflate things a bit) and he can bend he could be an interesting prospect to watch, but as a prospect who needs a lot of development does he really fit on the 53 man roster? https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1028341&DraftYear=2022 https://www.profootballnetwork.com/syracuse-2022-nfl-draft-scouting-reports-josh-black-kingsley-jonathan/ LB Sterling Weatherford He plays the game the right way. Is he a LB or hybrid safety? A lot of players get stuck in that tweener size but his athleticism indicates he could stay at SS. Can he hold that quick twitch if he gains LB weight? At a minimum he should be able to earn time on special teams coverage. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2954747-under-the-radar-nfl-draft-prospects-emerging-from-dominant-pro-days#:~:text=His pro-day numbers confirmed,cone and 36-inch vertical. DB Josh Blackwell elite athlete but on the smaller size for a DB. Maybe he'll be ok in our zones? The comp here is Duke Shelley so it's not a high bar to make the roster better. https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/stats/Josh-Blackwell-CB-Duke

There's no need to watch the video just enjoy the tagline because apparently many Vikings fans had him penciled in as a starter this year even in their new defense. I didn't realize they have Ed Donatell, our former DB coach, running their defense this year. We'll see how it plays out but anyone interior player getting 5 sacks as a depth player has to have some talent.

This is not the biggest vote of confidence for Lance https://www.profootballrumors.com/2022/08/49ers-jimmy-garoppolo-agree-to-restructure-qb-to-stay-in-san-francisco

I don't know if this was posted elsewhere on this forum (nor how I came across it) but I'll post it here... https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/alex-leatherwood-chicago-bears-las-vegas-raiders/

I would not be surprised to see Graham on the 53 later this year. Darrynton Evans is a good RB4 option if needed. Kamara didn't impress me and I'd prefer having someone with more upside have that roster spot.

Watts definitely has better agility than Tonga.