Posts from the Nfc West Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Any news is good news when you're talking about the 49ers offense. And even though the team signed Isaac Bruce to help improve the "pass offense," the Sacramento Bee's Matt Barrows thinks another 2008 free agent wideout might have a bigger impact.

I'm sticking to my guns on this one ... I think that Bryant Johnson will do more damage this season than Bruce, who benefited from A.) playing most of his games on artificial surfaces and B.) playing opposite Holt. Johnson, meanwhile, is trying to parlay one year in SF into a huge payday in March. That is, he has a lot of motivation to go along with his considerable talent.

Johnson was never considered anything more than the third receiver during his five-year career in Arizona. He was the team's 2003 first-round pick, but was immediately overshadowed by Anquan Boldin (taken in the second round), and the Cardinals' 2004 first-rounder, Larry Fitzgerald.

Still, he averaged more than 40 receptions a season, although he scored just nine career touchdowns and occasionally struggled with drop passes (for example, last season, he had a 52% catch rate).

That said, I think Barrows is right: Bryant's on a one-year deal and looking to make some dough come next offseason. Plus, he's seven years younger than Bruce, and perhaps more importantly, Mike Martz is running the offense (although that last nugget might not impress the Lions).

The Rams featured one of the worst offenses in the NFL last season, and, apparently, a new offensive coordinator and an old tight end will fix things. Huh. According to SI.com's Bucky Brooks, Randy McMichael, who caught just 39 passes last season (his worst effort in his six-year career), will be the impetus for change, courtesy of Al Saunders' delectable schemes. In theory, anyway.

Saunders was the OC in St. Louis under Dick Vermeil, so he's had some success here, but after a forgettable two-year stint in Washington, his reputation as an offensive mastermind has taken a hit.

"He has the ability to put up big numbers in that offense," said a NFC scout. "I'm not saying that he is a better player than Chris Cooley, but he is a better athlete and he'll get enough opportunities to be a problem for the defense." ...

Under Saunders' direction, the starting tight end has averaged 72 receptions for 900 yards and six touchdowns. Saunders, who undoubtedly learned how to utilize the tight end while as working as an offensive assistant on Don Coryell's staff with the Chargers during the Kellen Winslow era, builds his attack from inside-out, using the running back and tight end in prominent roles.

Every spring in the weeks leading up to the draft, somebody gets a hold of the prospects' Wonderlic scores, the worst of the bunch are highlighted, and fans and media take a moment to point and gawk. But there's an argument that a player's Wonderlic results don't correlate to NFL performance. Maybe that's just a myth perpetuated by agents of low-scoring clients. Or maybe there's some truth to it.

San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz offers support for the latter. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee's Matt Barrows, Martz lauds running back Frank Gore for his ability to quickly pick up the offense. As Barrows points out, Gore had a "low-low" Wonderlic score and some teams "worried about his dyslexia almost as much as they did his surgically repaired knees."

None of that matters to Martz, apparently:

When word came down that the 49ers had re-signed tight end Delanie Walker to a three-year, $6 million deal, ripples were felt all across the NFL landscape. Mostly because everybody outside of San Francisco (and some inside) asked themselves, "Who the hell is Delanie Walker?"

He's a guy Mike Martz has raved about thus far in the offseason, going so far as to create a package of plays designed specifically to get the ball in Walker's hands (interesting, given that he's got only 23 receptions in two seasons). The extension is obviously another vote of confidence and perhaps the 49ers trying to lock Walker up a year early, before he might command much more after a big statistical jump in '08. That's smart future planning.

What makes it all the smarter is that it might provide for a cheaper, better, quieter life after Vernon Davis. Davis' deal is up before the 2011 season (if there is one). It's safe to assume Davis is going to benefit from Martz's system as well. If he has one or two very good seasons, what would prevent the overconfident, overrated Davis from commanding a huge deal before his contract runs out (especially with the misleading but sexy dangling carrot of an uncapped year in 2010)?

If that's the case, the 49ers would be wise to let another team deal with his attitude. And they'd be even wiser to have Walker ready to take his place.

This is how you know it's the dregs of the NFL offseason. Teams still have glaring needs to fill, and as the demand for talent far outweighs the supply, inevitably people look at the best of what's left and allow themselves to get overly zealous about a mediocre player. "Savior" talk ensues.

Ex-Raider tackle Barry Sims isn't a bad player. And with offensive line depth at a premium, it makes sense that multiple teams would be interested. But good enough to call his own shots? With the choice of going to the 49ers, Rams, Ravens, or Patriots, Sims has agreed to a two-year deal with San Francisco.

The decision came down to playing time, and he concluded that the 49ers' offensive line situation is more unsettled than St. Louis' (a damning statement, to say the least). He's currently be backing up Jonas Jennings at right tackle, but Jennings has missed 27 games in the last three seasons and is recovering from ankle surgery. Besides, Sims has faced challenges before, besting three top prospects (Mo Collins, Matt Stinchcomb, and Robert Gallery) for the starting job at left tackle in Oakland after going undrafted. There's a very real chance he'll start.

Which most likely means the team is giving up on Chico Rachal as a bookend. It also means that Sims, a casualty of a 4-12 team and a member of some of the worst offensive lines in recent history, will bear the brunt of expectation in San Francisco. Gotta love the offseason.

The 49ers have had been pretty busy this offseason. They got rid of offensive coordinator Jim Hostler and replaced him with Mike Martz, used the first two picks of the draft to upgrade the defensive and offensive lines, have a legit quarterback competition, and signed Bryant Johnson and DeShaun Foster to bolster the wide receiver and running back corps, respectively.

Except that not everybody is convinced Foster will be much help to Frank Gore. Pro Football Weekly quotes an anonymous NFL scout/coach/front-office type who isn't all that impressed with Foster:

"DeShaun Foster led the league in fumbles (lost, by a running back) last year. He was never a superfast guy, and when he gained weight, his play really fell off. He needs to keep his weight off to have a chance (in San Francisco)."

Yeah, but other than that, he was awesome. Football Outsiders have been down on Foster for a couple years now ("We think he's very overrated. He happens to have really good games whenever he's on television or playing Atlanta. But a lot of the times he's running into the line for a yard or two every time and then maybe breaking one for 15 and that's the one that shows up on SportsCenter."), so the concerns are hardly new.

Presumably, the 49ers know this, but for $1.8 million over two years, you can't blame them for taking a shot. Worst case: he bombs, San Francisco releases him, and we all get on with out lives. On the other hand, if he's serviceable, and is able to give Gore the occasional breather, it's probably worth a lot more than $1.8 million.

It's not very often names like Shaun Alexander, Kevin Jones, Travis Henry, Cedric Benson and Ron Dayne -- all first-round picks save Henry, a second-rounder -- are still looking for gainful employment. As recently as a year ago, teams were clamoring for their services, and now, nothing.

Some combination of age, ineffectiveness, injury and off-field silliness led these players to their current predicaments, and while some of them will no doubt get second or third or fourth chances at redemption, Alexander's career, whether he's ready or not, looks to be over.

CBSSports.com's Clark Judge polled NFL coaches and GMs for some insight into Alexander's future, and here's what he discovered:

"First of all," said a head coach who saw a lot of Alexander, "he had a reputation as being a 'soft' runner. But when the scheme was blocked up, and he got to the second level he had the speed where he could be effective. The problem is: He no longer has the speed, so he no longer can be effective."

Hardly earth-shattering. Anybody who even briefly saw Alexander last season would readily agree. But how do you go from NFL touchdown leader to also-ran in two seasons?

As we get some distance from the 2006 draft, it seems like the best quarterback among those selected in the first round was the one taken last. The Broncos traded up to grab Jay Cutler with the 11th-overall selection, and through two seasons, he's progressed more than Vince Young (No. 3) and Matt Leinart (No. 10) combined.

Of course, it's probably unfair to lump Leinart in with Young; all it does is bring Young down. Leinart has battled injures and inconsistency during his short NFL career, and although he's sorta been named the starter for 2008, CBSSports.com's Clark Judge thinks it would be a huge mistake to not give the job to Kurt Warner.

[H]ere's why: The Cardinals have -- I can't believe I'm writing this -- a chance to compete for a division title this season, and Kurt Warner gives them their best chance. He's accurate. He's productive. He's poised. Best of all, he's proven. ...

Now let's make one thing clear before moving on: This is not an indictment of Leinart. I liked the guy at Southern California, and I still believe he can have a productive career with Arizona. But there have been a couple of ... how should we put this? ... detours along the way that make you wonder if he's ready to take over.

Well, it kinda is. When you suggest replacing a former first-rounder three years into his career with a guy who's career peaked early this decade, I think that qualifies as an indictment of Leinart.

Yesterday, MDS mentioned that 49ers head coach Mike Nolan is in no rush to pick a quarterback, but he did admit to being impressed with 2005 first-round pick Alex Smith, telling the San Francisco Chronicle that he's seen Smith "do things that I haven't seen him do before, in practice or in games."

Like getting rid of the ball before getting pancaked by a 220-pound blitzing safety. Novel idea. But here's the thing: as much as fans and the media like to give Smith the business, apparently, the offense's level of sucktitude had more to do with former offensive coordinator Jim Hostler.

The Press Democrat's Matt Maiocco learned earlier this week that San Francisco has now installed "hot reads" as a part of the overall offensive philosophy. Anybody with even a rudimentary understanding of Madden knows that a hot read is a route adjustment by a would-be pass catcher because the defense is showing blitz. The idea, simply, is for the quarterback to get the ball out of his hands, stat.

Thank God for Mike Martz, I guess. But Maiocco wonders why the team didn't implement it until now. Good question.

The 49ers went out and got Frank Gore some help this offseason in the form of DeShaun Foster. But new offensive coordinator Mike Martz will still have extremely high expectations of the only proven skill player on the roster. I know this because Marshall Faulk told me as much.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sacramento Bee's Matthew Barrows, Faulk explained his role in the Martzian scheme and what Gore can expect:

It was all on me. The onus was on me to control a lot of things within our offense. Frank is going to be in that same way. He's the core. It's all going to be built around him.

In a sense, it asks a lot of you, and you've got to ask more of yourself, because you've got to be out there on the field. I can remember a time when Mike would call timeouts and say, 'Catch your breath. We've got to get you back in the game.'

Faulk also talked about the importance of pass-blocking in this offense (Kurt Warner would humbly disagree), and admitted that he didn't know how Gore would fare because he hadn't "seen him in that aspect like he's going to be in this system."

This is great news for Alex Smith/Shaun Hill; it's enough to have to learn an entirely new system, particularly one as complex as Martz's. Having Gore share some of the burden should only make the transition easier. Of course, the entire unit can expect to go through some growing pains, but as long as there's improvement, it'll be an upgrade over what the 49ers were calling "offense" last year.