I am hoping to see these guys have a break out season.

I think its highly unlikely that Ronnie Brown is brought back this year, especially given that we drafted Daniel Thomas.

 

Breathe.....15 TDs for Fasano, really?

 

It's also a possibility that Lousaka Polite could be gone with Charles Clay being drafted.

 

I really like Hartline, and expect a breakout year. I also think Fasano will shine as a receiver with Daboll. On D, I believe that Misi and Smith will breakout this season.

 

Although I would like to see Misi move inside and take Crowder's spot, I'm still not sold on the Ray Edwards acquisition. I don't know that he would fit the system. In an Ideal scenario the Panthers don't re-sign James Anderson, Channing Crowder restructures his contract in lieu of being cut, Misi takes the inside job next to Dansby, and we have Wake and Anderson on the outside. Takeo Spikes, Matt Roth, Jason Taylor and Matthius Kiwaneuka are some other names I wouldn't be surprised if we targeted at OLB. Behind Misi and Wake, Alama-Francis is the only other one who will be under contract when the league year starts.

 

Well, to me Nolan Carroll is the name to watch on Defense, I suspect they would love to see him beat out Sapp and Will Allen and most importantly he will have an opportunity to show what he can do.

As for my most likely to break out:

-Brian Hartline, if he avoids the injury bug he is a legit 1k Wr
-John Jerry, he will have every opportunity to win the RG job.
-Mickey Shuler, surprise surprise, but look at his physical numbers, add in he has his father as a resource during the lockout and the Te slots behind Fasano are wide open and he also will have a chance to show what he can do.
-Lydon Murtha, some do not like his game, I happen to like what he can do, and think Carey is on the bubble and Garner is injury prone.

Biggest darkhorse is Lex Hilliard, just think Daboll will see the size/speed combo and the fact he has good hands and make room for him in the offense, keep in mind in Cleveland they traded scat backish Jerome Harrison for pounder Mike Bell when they already had Payton Hillis going well, they like the big backs.

 

I think we see Laurence Vickers brought in, Browns don't want him as their new offense uses the FB differently, and Polite has to be pushed a bit imho.

 

I'm not sold on Edwards either. He's a top notch DE but, we have Odrick and Merling, and I can't see him playing OLB all that well. I believe we will be fine inside with Dansby, Crowder, Dobbins, and Edds. I can't imagine Roth or JT coming back but your other three could be good fits.

 

Who's the injury prone one between Murtha and Garner? Garner has one injury in 7 seasons, college and pro combined, and in less total seasons, Murtha's had how many?

2004: Sat out his freshman season dealing with calf, hamstring and shoulder injuries.

2007: Missed the final four games with a foot injury.

2008: Missed the first two games with a staph infection and the final two games with a sprained foot.

2009: Suffered ankle injury in practice on December 9 and placed on injured reserve the following day.

And Garner with ONE foot injury in 7 seasons is who you are calling injury prone?

I guess it's like with some politicians, they figure if they repeat some baloney often enough it becomes accepted as fact.

 

Anderson is pretty light for a 3-4 OLB. He's been in a 4-3 and only had one good season so far in the NFL. I don't think we'll have any pumped up 235 lb OLBs. Spikes is 34 and been playing inside since he's been in SF, also not anyone I'd guess we'll pursue.

I'd rather go after Edwards. He'd be perfect to combine with Wake IMO. I've always said Misi is another Tedy Bruschi best case scenario, who was also an undersized college DE in Dick Tomey's Desert Swarm, before finally ending up at ILB. So Misi doing the same makes some sense IMO.

 

Do you think Edwards can play OLB MC? Wouldn't he take away from Odrick and Merling? No question that he is better but, we have to see Odrick.

 

You think so? I still think Polite can come back around, but aside from that I'd have to expect this offense to use Clay as a move TE. I do think he'll take time away from Polite in some formations but I don't think it will spell the end for Polite.

 

I don't know for sure if he can or not. None of us do really. He is only 265 or so, on a 6'5 frame, so far too light to be a base 3-4 DE. We've seemed to do pretty well converting lightweight 4-3 ends into OLBs, with Taylor, Wake, Roth, etc, so it gives one optimism that Edwards could do the same.

 

Chad Henne. It's telling that no one has even said they'd like one from him.

 

I think it's more not wanting to have yet another Henne thread.

 

Are we really incapable of saying two words without getting into an argument?

 

That's exactly how I see it too. They will be competing for 2 different positions. Polite fills a unique role as the lead blocker from the traditional I formation and as the short yardage specialist. As long as he can keep converting those 3rd or 4th and 1s at a 95% rate, he would have a spot on the roster if it were up to me, for that reason alone. Clay will be just as you say, more of a move TE or an H Back. We'll keep 3 TE types, of which Clay will be one. We keep 5 offensive backs, FB/RB combined total, of which Polite will be one, unless you see us sign a guy like Vickers, then it becomes a competition. JMO, though I admit it is possible I'm wrong.

 

I keep bringing this up, but Aaron Rodgers said that his biggest year of improvement was his second year starting. So Henne still has hope IMO.

Beyond that, Sean Smith could absolutely break out big time.

 

For some reason, I really want Clay to have a good impact on the team. I think he has a lot of potential, I just hope it translates to the NFL.

 

Looking forward to Hilliard sharing time with Danny Thomas
Long time grudge with Boomer telling me in 2009. Lex wouldn't stick except as a third down back.....
Apparently Cobbs can run up the middle.

 

We all know Jared Odrick or Merling Aren't pass rushers. Odrick has good hands but questionable legs/feet and injury history already.
Merling bust.
You solidify the D with another real true pass rusher.

 

As to Merling, the same was said about Soliai last season like Soliai his talent was not the question.

 

For some reason, I just do not like Pat Cobbs (game, he seems to be a fine person), he just makes me wonder "shouldn't someone else be doing that?" time after time after time with him, he is like a snap thief to me..just..

 

Pat McQuistan.

 

We will see how big his frying pan is, as Nick Saban says.

 

I think Clay could be an important piece. This is not so much based on him, but rather his position. I think that one often overlooked problem with our offense last year was that the team lacked complimentary pieces that challenged defenses to protect the whole field. You can do very well even with just average players if the defense is always on their heels. IMO the areas that a well diversified offense attacks are as follows.

Rushing: middle of the line, off-tackle, outside runs. Last year we lacked the speed to get outside, our interior runs were less effective b/c our C play wasn't as strong and Henning inexplicably didn't call enough off-tackle runs. RW did break off a few off-tackle runs but those seemed like he was improvising rather than following the called play. Hopefully Pouncey develops quickly enough improve the C position blocking. And Thomas can provide some interior and off-tackle running. We still need a back with the speed to run outside.

Passing: flats, short and intermediate routes (middle and outside), and deep routes (middle and outside). You can attack the flats with the backs (which we rarely did last year) or with bubble screens or hitches (we lacked players with enough speed to scare defenses with those patterns). Thomas, Gates and the hoped for COP back should help with that along with an OC who calls those plays. We already have two of the best in the short and intermediate areas in Marshall and Bess. Fasano is also decent here. Clay is important here b/c those short middle passes to the TE are among the easiest passes for QBs to throw. Hartline and Gates have enough speed to threaten deep. In fact, we saw Henne's QBR drop about 10 pts last year after Hartline got hurt. It wasn't that Hartline was getting so many passes, but his presence just helped stretch the defense a little bit more. Gates should scare defenses even more and if Clay is a bit better than Fasano a getting to the deep middle then defenses can be forced to cover all areas or at least be forced to pay often enough for not doing so.

 

well said Raf.