49ers: Watch out for the Spread and The 46 Defense.

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The 49ers did some interesting things in the Draft and through free agency, the team became bigger stronger and faster; exactly what Coach Singletary wants them to become. It’s also true that the draft showed that the 49er’s front office is giving more control to Coach Sing, which means changes but I don’t think it’s in the way many people are expecting. The talk around the web is that the 49ers became a “heavy pound it up the middle and see what happens” type of team on offense. This is due to the “Physical with and F” comment Singletary made when he took over as the head coach. Fans and Columnists have misconstrued this to mean that Singletary wants to forget about the passing game and just punch a defense in the mouth with the running game. Although the 49er’s running game will be better this season with their acquisitions, don’t expect our offensive play calling to look much different then it did at the end of last year.
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Taylor Mays Puts the 49ers Defense Over the Top

With the 49th selection in the 2010 NFL draft, the San Francisco 49ers complete the best pair of safeties in the league. Yes, I am making that prediction right now. Deshawn Goldson and Taylor Mays will become the best, maybe not this year but within the next three years.

As for next year, the 49ers instantly become better with Taylor Mays. Michael Lewis was the 49er’s incumbent starter. At this point, Mays and Lewis have the same flaw; they both struggle in coverage. That makes the Taylor Mays pick even more worthwhile because the 49ers have already figured out ways to hide their strong safety in coverage. However, we don’t know what Taylor Mays really can do in coverage. We have to expect that he is better than what his tape at USC shows, not to say this tape is bad. Mays’ main flaw is that he goes for the big hit instead of going for the ball and he struggles with changing direction. Those glitches can both be fixed with good coaching. In college he was asked to stand 20 yards off the line of scrimmage and light people up. That isn’t exactly what the 49ers will expect of him.

Here is what Coach Singletary said about Mays.

“I think Taylor Mays is one of those guys that I really don’t know what he was asked to do at USC. I think when you look at the film and you see the guy, he’s back 20 yards, it’s pretty amazing. When he came in and we had him for the interview there were just some things that he was just not asked to do. Sometimes, I think as coaches, you assume that they can’t do it. But I’m excited about him. Anytime you find a guy that has the intangibles that he does, just the ability to move and being able to have the range that he has. I think our defensive backs coaches, Johnnie Lynn, [Vance Joseph] V.J., will get their hands on him and get some work done. We’ll see exactly what we have, all of that potential, put it in place and make him the best football player that he can be. The one thing I know is he’s hungry. He wants to be a great football player, and he wants to be a 49er. That’s really huge and I’m very excited about that.” -49ers.com

One thing that everyone in the NFL agrees on is that Mays is coachable and works hard. If you mix that with his pure athleticism and now that he is angry that everyone passed on him the 49ers look like they acquired a great player. The best part about Mays’ anger is that most of it will be directed at his old coach, Pete Carrol.

Here is what Taylor Mays said about his former coach.

“I felt he told me the complete opposite of the actions that he took, which was definitely alarming,” Mays told Bay Area reporters on a conference call. “Some things that he told me I needed to do as a football player, versus the actions that he took and who he took as a safety. I understand it’s a business, but with it being a business, you just need to be honest and that’s all I was asking for.”

Mays will get his shot at Pete Carrol, Let’s just hope he can get some salsa for the chip on his shoulder.

Should the 49ers grab a Late Round Wideout?

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This off-season the 49ers traded a 5th round pick to the Miami Dolphins in order to get wide receiver and return man Ted Ginn Jr. This was a great move for the 49ers; Ginn brings speed, which is a desperate need for the 49ers offense. Ginn also is one of the better kick returners in the league. With all that said, Ted Ginn has never surpassed 60 catches and has only caught more than 40 balls once in his three seasons in the NFL. Ginn hasn’t had a QB who fits his skill set. Chad Pennington can’t throw the deep ball; Alex Smith on the other hand has had the most success while he had a Ted Ginn type of receiver. That receiver was Antonio Bryant, the speedster who just signed with the Bengals. When Bryant was a 49er, he averaged 18.3 yards per catch. This is a good sign for Ginn who is a faster version of Bryant.

Besides Ginn the 49ers have Michael Crabtree, Josh Morgan, Jason Hill, and Brandon Jones. It looks like Jones is on his way out after having an injury-plagued season last year. Jason Hill didn’t see the field until the last few games of the 2009 season. Josh Morgan shows flashes of being a quality NFL WR, but was invisible for parts of last season. Michael Crabtree is the future; he had a great year after holding out for the first six weeks of the season. Crabtree is poised to have another big year this season because he is doing all the right things during this off-season.

With all that said it seems like the 49ers could use another wideout and there are receivers in the later rounds of this draft that the 49ers could target.
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The 49ers will get a Starter in 2nd Round

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Five weeks ago Scott Mcclough and the 49ers parted ways. When this happened, people freaked out. In a matter of hours all the hope that the 49ers built with their first non-losing season since 2002 was destroyed. Jed York tried to comfort the 49er Faithful by informing us that he had a plan. His attempt did little, but once we started hearing about Baalke and his accomplishments, the Faithful started to feel a little better.

What Baalke did in his first draft was pretty much expected; he grabbed two offensive linemen who the 49ers desperately needed. He did make a trade that seems a bit unnecessary, but I wasn’t in the war room so I don’t really know. When asked about the trade, Baalke said, “I wasn’t worried about the teams in front of us at all. The concern was to get tackles; obviously they are high-value players in this league. I was more concerned about who else may come up and jump ahead of us because they knew what our needs were at the time. It had nothing to do with the two guys ahead of us or the two teams ahead of us. It had more to do with the teams that were behind us.”

Overall Baalke had a good first round, but what really will get the 49er Faithful excited is what he said after. “I will say this: we’re going to go after good football players whether they’re defensive or offensive. We’re looking to get a starter out of this next pick and we’re confident that on our board there are a couple players that we have targeted. If we need to move up to get them, we’ll move up to get them.”

I love this out of a front office guy. Baalke has a winning attitude that the 49ers front office has been lacking since the Debartlo era. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sold on Baalke for our future, however Jed giving a guy like this control over the draft is a big deal.

Today is a good day to be a 49er fan. If the 49ers do get a potential starter, tomorrow will be an even better day.

Source= 49ers.com

49ers go BIG in the first round

The 49ers selected two offensive linemen in the first round of the 2010 NFL draft. To get the first linemen, they traded their 13th pick and their 113th pick to move up to 11. The second fell to them perfectly at their 17th pick, so with out any further adieu here are the players and the grades that I give the 49ers for selecting them.

Anthony Davis OT Rutgers
Grade: A

Davis is a mauler who will play opposite of Joe Staley. Davis is an athletic tackle with great measurables; he is 6’5 and 323 pounds. The thing about Davis is that he can play left or right tackle and if he lives up to his potential, he should be a Pro Bowler in the near future. He doesn’t lack confidence, but that can get him into trouble. The knock on this guy is that he doesn’t always work hard. He sometimes gives up on blocks and will need somebody to keep him working in the off-season. That being said, the 49ers get an “A” for this pick because he was the best player still on the board and he fits a need. Also, Mike Singletary is the head coach of the 49ers, which alone will help Davis improve his work ethic.

Mike Iupati OG Idaho
Grade: A-

Iupati should come in and beat out either David Bass or Chilo Rachal right away. He is the consensus best guard in the draft; he might also be the best lineman in this year’s class. A good amount of teams were even scouting him, in hopes they could move to left tackle. He has the size to play tackle (6’5 tall and 331 pounds), but it’s more than doubtful that the 49ers will ask him to do that. Iupati was great in college. He was the only active player selected to the WAC All Decade Team. The only negative about this pick is that it seems like the team hasn’t committed to the spread. Seventeen is very high for a guard to go, especially in a deep draft like this one.

Overall the 49ers get an “A” for the first round.

Tomorrow will be the 2nd and 3rd round of the draft and there are still players to be had. With the 49er’s moves in the first round, we could be the team to get these players.

Here are a few players, in no particular order, I would love to see the 49ers select tomorrow.

Taylor Mays
The safety out of USC is a freak athletically. He has bad habits because he has been able to dominate his competition with his athleticism, but he is also teachable and will have a great NFL career.

Terrence Cody
Cody is a prototypical NT. He is huge and the offenses he plays against will have a hard time moving him.

Colt McCoy
The Texas QB would be a steal in the 2nd round. This move would put pressure on Alex Smith and give the 49ers an insurance policy in the event that Smith doesn’t play well this year.

Sergio Kindle
People had Kindle projected to the 49ers at pick 17. Kindle could be the pure pass rusher that the 49ers lack. He would be a steal in the 2nd round.

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