Okay as much as 2 weeks ago still hurts, we should have no reason right now not to believe that we are at least among the top 2 teams in the NFC, which gives us a lot of hope for next year.
The multi-million dollar questions on offense will of course be with Bulaga and Cobb. I'd hate to see either go. I like Adams and his upside, and we do have Abbrederis returning and hopefully Janis coming into a bigger role, but we don't have anyone on the roster right now who can duplicate Cobb's skill set. We should be all set at RB again with Lacy and Starks, and I hope Bulaga's market is a little underwhelming, because while I don't want us to overpay, it was great to finally see a solid consistent offensive line this season and I'm certainly afraid to see us mess with that. If they could get a deal done with Cobb for $9-$10M a year and with Bulaga for $6M-$7M, I'd be for it.
I do like some things that I saw from Richard Rodgers this year, but I would love to see us add a TE who can stretch the field and be a big target in the redzone. You only needed to watch a putrid fade attempt to Quarless against Dallas in the playoffs on a 2 point conversion to see that we just lack that redzone weapon who can really start turning some of these 3's into 7's. The FA market for TE's has targets -- Julius Thomas has to be the most notable, but I can't see him ending up in Green Bay. A much better chance to land a discount would be with Jordan Cameron, coming off an injury plagued and unproductive year. He could end up being a steal. Failing any FA options, I have no problem with spending a 1st round pick on a TE if we address ILB in some other way.
On defense, I think you've got to hang onto Peppers. He really makes that D a lot better, he's a team leader where we really need one, and I think you're back to square one there if you let him go. You could possibly restructure and find a way to bring him back anyway, but I think he comes back at his 2015 salary hit. I think the general consensus is that one of House or Tramon will get paid, and I think this could go either way. Has Teddy been burned enough by guys like Brad Jones to have pause at paying a guy on defense (House) who isn't really proven as a starter? If so, he might see if the market mellows for Tramon and he can get him back on a reduced 2 year deal. We'll see. I can't see us letting both walk.
Speaking of Jones, him and Hawk are history. I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. You'll save about $7.5M there, which is actually around the salary cap hit of Patrick Willis. I think my ILB dream is to land Willis here, as the 49ers could possibly look to unload cap as addressed by others. I think it's more likely that the 49ers find a way to hang onto Willis, though.
So ILB and TE are to me our biggest needs, and I think we have a lot less needs than last year, but we might see more open up depending on what happens with our corners and the contract status of Bulaga and Cobb.
The multi-million dollar questions on offense will of course be with Bulaga and Cobb. I'd hate to see either go. I like Adams and his upside, and we do have Abbrederis returning and hopefully Janis coming into a bigger role, but we don't have anyone on the roster right now who can duplicate Cobb's skill set. We should be all set at RB again with Lacy and Starks, and I hope Bulaga's market is a little underwhelming, because while I don't want us to overpay, it was great to finally see a solid consistent offensive line this season and I'm certainly afraid to see us mess with that. If they could get a deal done with Cobb for $9-$10M a year and with Bulaga for $6M-$7M, I'd be for it.
I do like some things that I saw from Richard Rodgers this year, but I would love to see us add a TE who can stretch the field and be a big target in the redzone. You only needed to watch a putrid fade attempt to Quarless against Dallas in the playoffs on a 2 point conversion to see that we just lack that redzone weapon who can really start turning some of these 3's into 7's. The FA market for TE's has targets -- Julius Thomas has to be the most notable, but I can't see him ending up in Green Bay. A much better chance to land a discount would be with Jordan Cameron, coming off an injury plagued and unproductive year. He could end up being a steal. Failing any FA options, I have no problem with spending a 1st round pick on a TE if we address ILB in some other way.
On defense, I think you've got to hang onto Peppers. He really makes that D a lot better, he's a team leader where we really need one, and I think you're back to square one there if you let him go. You could possibly restructure and find a way to bring him back anyway, but I think he comes back at his 2015 salary hit. I think the general consensus is that one of House or Tramon will get paid, and I think this could go either way. Has Teddy been burned enough by guys like Brad Jones to have pause at paying a guy on defense (House) who isn't really proven as a starter? If so, he might see if the market mellows for Tramon and he can get him back on a reduced 2 year deal. We'll see. I can't see us letting both walk.
Speaking of Jones, him and Hawk are history. I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. You'll save about $7.5M there, which is actually around the salary cap hit of Patrick Willis. I think my ILB dream is to land Willis here, as the 49ers could possibly look to unload cap as addressed by others. I think it's more likely that the 49ers find a way to hang onto Willis, though.
So ILB and TE are to me our biggest needs, and I think we have a lot less needs than last year, but we might see more open up depending on what happens with our corners and the contract status of Bulaga and Cobb.