The 2013-14 NFL season has one more slightly big game left to be played, but for 30 teams, it is time to move on and start considering the 2014 offseason. For 49ers fans, that means considering their 13 free agents and 12 draft picks.
We're a week removed from the end of the 49ers season, and as is often the case, Twitter has created plenty of chatter about what may or may not happen with various free agents. Twitter can be the greatest thing in the world, and it can be the worst thing in the world. It is the absolute go-to source for most initial breaking news. That leads to some incorrect information at times, but with enough sources out there, info can be cleared up fairly quickly.
On top of that, Twitter provides a chance for our favorite players to talk directly to us. That can be great at times, but it also creates opportunities for all sorts of confusion. We saw that happen Saturday evening with 49ers safety Donte Whitner. He sent out a tweet that had everyone in a tizzy:
It's been a pleasure
— DonteHitner (@DonteWhitner) January 26, 2014
People lost their mind over the tweet, so he followed up with this:
My last tweet has nothing to do with football...
— DonteHitner (@DonteWhitner) January 26, 2014
Whitner never clarified what he was talking about, and who knows if he ever will. But people automatically assumed the worst until Whitner sent his follow-up tweet. And even then, there was skepticism.
Earlier this week, Anquan Boldin sent out some tweets of his own. They weren't mysterious, but one did get the chatter going:
Thank you @49ers fans for embracing my family and I during our first year in San Francisco. Your support this year was amazing.
— Anquan Boldin (@AnquanBoldin) January 20, 2014
People latched on to "during our first year" as an indication Boldin will be back. It is entirely possible he'll be back with a new contract, but I'm pretty sure that tweet was not such an indicator. I can see why people would think it would be, but it's worth noting the tweet was a day after Sunday's loss. It's possible some talks have already been underway between Boldin's agent and the 49ers, but I'm not inclined to get too excited about one tweet.
All that being said, Twitter retains considerable value for gaining knowledge about the NFL (and most any other topic). There are a lot of idiots out there, but you can cut through the noise because Twitter is entirely what you make of it. You can follow whomever you want. You can tweet to people, or remain completely radio silent. Some moron bugging you in your mentions? Block him.
We'll obviously do our best to keep you fully informed here at Niners Nation, but if you're looking to keep yourself entertained when March rolls around, hit up Twitter. I'd even recommend it for things like the NFL Combine. You can follow the players taking part, you can follow people talking about some guys 40 time, you can follow just about anybody. I know that a lot of you are already on Twitter, but some folks are still holding out.