1. Running back. With Sermon, Mostert, Wilson, Mitchell and Gallman there's never been a stronger room.
2. Defensive line. With the return of Bosa the defensive line is deep with talent even without Dee Ford, who hasn't been ruled out yet.
3. Offensive line. I fully expect McGlinchey to excel this year when a familiar face is to his left. Banksy is a big upgrade over the undrafted Brunskill, who may be the 49ers choice to be Mack's apprentice.
4. Linebacker. Warner/Greenlaw are about as good as it gets, and Al-Shaair is still ascending.
5. Tight End. Kittle is the best in the game, and Dwelley catches every ball thrown his way. After that there's question marks. Maybe Ertz gets cut and they sign him for a Reed type contract like they did last year.
And the position(s) of least strength are:
ReplyDelete1) CB: If Verrett, Mosley or K'Waun are injured and can't go, we're looking at playing two rookies. Deommodore Lenoir and Ambry Thomas. Both good draft picks but untested in the NFL.
2) WR: Could use a #3 WR. I expect to see Richie James to
contribute this year. And hopefully, we'll finally get to see of Jalen Hurd can get healthy and contribute.
It would be nice to see Dee Ford healthy enough to contribute, but even without him I expect to see Samson Ebukam to show he's better than most think he is! Also, I see Javon Kinlaw take the next step and becoming a more dominate DT.
If the 9ers can avoid injuries, this could / should be another SB year.
Moseley vs. Thomas should be an interesting camp battle.
DeleteDunno, does James block well enough for Shanny to give him more snaps? Seems like he's outside the circle of trust as a punt returner as well.
I expect Kinlaw's hand usage to take a giant leap forward after spending the offseason learning from the Bosa Constrictor. He should get a lot of one on one matchups. He needs to win them.
Razor
DeleteBlocking's not Richie James forte...But he does know the system, catches the ball when thrown to him, His
YAC is 18.1 yards and he's a deep threat.
If J. Hurd is healthy, he'll like be the #3 WR and Richie will see less playing time. There's also the
possibility that one of the other WR's step up? You got a 9er WR you think will?
My dark horse would have to be Kevin White. Half the team was questioning why he wasn't getting snaps over Cracraft.
DeleteRazor
DeleteKeven Whites an enigma! After a descent 2 years at W. Virginia. he was drafted by the Bears in 2015 as a #1 WR. He was a combine star, Big (6'3" x 216), fast (40 = 4.35s) with some comparing him to Julio Jones. He was drafted by the Bears in 2015 as a potential #1 WR.
The bears failed to pick up 5th year option and he became a FA. In 2019 Arizona signed him, but he was cut before the season started.
The 9ers signed him 2020 and was assigned to the practice squad.
Has he ever play in a game for the 9ers?
Gotta remember he joined the party late so he wasn't up to speed in the playbook fully. I think he got on the field once or twice last year, but I'd like to see what he could do with a full offseason.
DeleteGEEP, I'm concerned about the WR room as well, although they won't be short of RBs and TEs who are good receivers. Something I wanted to mention in response to Razor's previous article was about Bennie Fowler. He can play the Bourne role, or at least he could once. I think that's what they want to find out. Take a look at his highlight video, link below. (Yes, the guy has one.) Big, tall, good hands, and long arms. Out of college (Michigan State) he ran a 4.5 with a 7ish 3-cone. Longshot but we'll see.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebMTVimseMs
George
DeleteYes, he looks good in the highlight video, but it's a bit of a head scratcher for me? Here is his record.
https://www.nfl.com/players/bennie-fowler/stats/career
2020, with Saints: Played in 5 games, 2 receptions for 11 yards. And averaged 5.5 yards,
2019, NTG: Played in 8 games, 23 receptions for 193 yards. And averaged 8.4 yards.
2018, NYG: Played in 10 games, 16 receptions for 199 yards. And averaged 12.4 yards.
2017, Denver: Played in 16 games, 29 receptions for 350 yards. And averaged 12.1 yards.
He may surprise me, but don't see him contributing much and that assumes he's still around for the regular season?
I'd like to see the 9ers WR sign Golden Tate, but likely too expensive for JL. If he's still around when preseason starts, maybe his salary will be more flexible?
It shows they realize they need to get the 3rd wr position figured out. Whether it's Fowler, Watson, Hurd or someone else emerges; one way or another it will clear itself up.
DeleteI don't think the Dline is a position of strength as presently constructed.
ReplyDeleteBosa is A+ player when healthy but he's an unknown at this point.
Armstead is above average on the inside and below average as an edge lineman, I would grade him as a B- level starter. Zack Kerr and Kinlaw are both just average starters currently I'll give them C grades respectively.
Ford I am not even counting for anything at this point.
*Kerr* is the wildcard here for me, I'll be watching to see if he can provide much Juice as an interior rusher.
They have more depth than top end talent. Sort of the inverse of the wide receiver position but when fully healthy.
While this may be an unpopular position, I actually think when healthy our starting Wideouts are more talented than our starting Dline is.