The past couple days, I've been talking about nothing but Dashon Goldson and Carlos Rogers in the Golden Nuggets. Maybe it's for lack of a better topic, but I just can't get over the fact that there are people who think a fringe top-ten safety is more important than a corner who played like he was top-three, just because he's got a couple extra years. I don't disrespect this opinion or anything, I just consider it to be, you know, wrong. That being said, we can move on for the discussion, until we get to Goldson and Rogers in the grades posts, respectively. Let's get to the linkage for the day.

Baalke's top-five moves of 2011 (PressDemocrat.com)

49ers reconstruction goes beyond front office (CSNBayArea.com)

Report: 49ers deny Bucs' advances on Donatell (SacBee.com)

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As we all look to pass the time until free agency, the draft, etc, I thought it would be a good idea to make a post for links to season highlight videos, video montages, and other things of the sort. I personally enjoy watching videos of the games of this past season in my off time, so if you know of anybody who makes such things, or if you've made some yourself, post them here. I'll get us started.

Fooch's Note: Interesting breakdown of the 49ers on third downs.

This is no secret; the 49ers were abysmal in 3rd down conversion percentage this season. Their 29.4% success rate was their lowest since 2005, when they were 32nd in the league at 28.5%. They haven’t been at or above 40% since 2003. I went ahead and looked at every third down play the 49ers ran this season and I’ll have some stats further in this post. The team was a little more successful at home than they were on the road converting 33% at the Stick, compared to 25.9% away from home.

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NFL free agency kicks off March 13, which is just over a month away. The 49ers have some important free agents, while also having a few holes to fill throughout the roster. The return to a normal offseason means they can plug up some gaps through free agency and then move on to the draft to wrap things up. Last year, the lockout forced teams to go through the draft first and then figure out free agency in late July.

The 49ers had a strong draft and a strong run through free agency last season. As they get ready for this season's run on free agents, I find myself trying to sort through what kind of strategy the 49ers will implement. They went with a very patient approach in 2011 and came up huge with guys like Carlos Rogers, Donte Whitner, David Akers and plenty others.

Part of that patient approach might have been predicated on the fact that the team was heading into a season with limited preparation time. They wanted to win sooner rather than later, but given the peculiarities of last season, my thought is that the team figured if things did not work out, relatively inexpensive short term deals would not bite them in the butt. They have to pay the proverbial piper this offseason, but a relatively conservative approach last year makes sense even in hindsight.

However, Coach Harbaugh and his staff and Trent Baalke and the front office now know so much more about what this team is capable of in the face of adversity. They know what they have and what they don't have and they now have a normal offseason to make any necessary changes. I don't expect them to go out and throw money around like drunken sailors, but do they get a little bit more aggressive a year into this thing?

Coach Harbaugh chatted with CSN's Dave Benz down at Pebble Beach. I've posted some video after the jump with some mentions of free agency later in the video.

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The San Francisco 49ers strong season naturally leads to other teams attempting to poach coaches and front office personnel to help improve their own situations. The NFL Network reported earlier today that defensive backs coach Ed Donatell was denied permission to interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator under new head coach Greg Schiano. Teams cannot deny a coach a chance to interview for a head coach job, but they can deny the opportunity to interview for any other sort of coaching ladder promotion.

I have always found this practice curious in part because of any concern that an assistant coach might grow to resent it. I would hope most coaches are professional enough to understand what's going on with it, but I could see it being a frustrating part of the coaching process. After all, if things go south with the secondary, Donatell could be on the hook and find himself back at square one if he were fired. It just makes for an interesting dynamic.

In somewhat related news, the St. Louis Rams have apparently narrowed down their GM list to Vikings player personnel director George Paton and Falcons player personnel director Les Snead. This means 49ers player personnel director Tom Gamble has been eliminated from consideration. The 49ers front office has done great work, and with Trent Baalke signing a three year contract extension the unit will stick together for a little while longer.

Yesterday, Tre9er posted about Michael Crabtree and the poll results are pretty much where I expect them to be at this point: essentially pleased. I voted him at a seven even though he didn't break 1,000 yards, and this is because I've accepted the fact that he's a No. 2 receiver at this point. Moving on today, we'll take a look at the other side of the ball, a player that, in my opinion, needs to develop into a solid player for the 49ers to be successful going forward.

I'm talking about Chris Culliver, who was drafted this past season in the third round amid much confusion and head-scratching. I certainly wasn't an expert on him, and I'd ranked quarter cornerbacks through all seven rounds, and Culliver wasn't on my radar as someone who could have been drafted before the end of the fifth round. I wouldn't say there was a lot of outrage, but there were very few happy customers.

Either way, Culliver was the corner that the 49ers needed so bad, when they were expected to draft one in the first two rounds. Instead, the team went out and signed Carlos Rogers, and he played like one of the best corners in football. Behind him, the team didn't have much in Tarell Brown and Tramaine Brock (Shawntae Spencer doesn't exist), so playing time for Culliver was something he could most definitely earn. And he did.

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Like most Faithful, I pretended not to watch the Super Bowl. The repeated stings of what-ifs and Come on Williams! shouts finally faded and I watched some of the Giant's win. It was pretty uneventful until a nice end of the fourth quarter where both teams seemed to have a chance at victory.

Which brings up this painful reverberating sentence: YES, the Niners probably would have won that game. The pace and tone of the game reminded me of most of the games they played this year A low scoring, tight, defensive battle that ultimately came down to a couple of plays. The better team won that game.

Sadly, the best TEAM was sitting down watching that stinkfest. Grr. Coulda, woulda, shoulda......

Let us not forget the 49ers were 14-4 this year. An incredible season that 30 other teams would have loved to have been a part of. If not for a couple of late game secondary breakdowns, they would have been 15-1. (They had a tough draw in the Raven's game, but a loss is a loss and they were outplayed.) Yes, they had some lucky breaks (or was that skill?) Overall the team made huge strides in becoming relevant again.....east coast bias aside.

So the question becomes how does this team make the next step?

After reaching the NFC Championship game, (no easy task) the only logical next step is the Super Bowl. Not just making it, (Tom Brady) but actually putting trophy number six in the cabinet. What pieces of the puzzle are missing?

The areas this team needs to improve upon have been well documented lately on this site and by people much smarter than me. We all have ideas as to who they should draft, who they should resign, and what Free agents they should aggressively pursue. Oh, and juggle the 30 million or so of cap room they have AND keep the chemistry AND build on the success of 2011. Easy right?

No, it is not easy. That is why the team has a GM, a gifted head coach, and a front office full of people way smarter than us to make these agonizing decisions. They proved that they have the skill in making these moves......the success of 2011 proved that beyond a doubt. There were a couple of missteps....(Ronald Johnson or Braylon Edwards anyone?) Overall, they have given us fans a team that is going to be good for many years to come.

Is a championship is our future? I trust that it is. As fans, all we can do is sit back and let the decision makers do what they do this offseason. Let them work that voodoo that they do. And they do it well.

After all, it isn't politics or anything......they aren't trying to select who is to lead this nation for the next four years.

No, it is way more important than that.

Here we go Faithful.......take a deep breath. Get comfortable in that chair. Grab your favorite beverage and get ready for the ride. It should be a fun one.

One more thing: Can we pleeeeeze get the ball in the hands of Kendall Hunter more? Gawd.

A couple of weeks ago, Matt Maiocco got into a brief twitter debate about who were the best players in 49ers history to only play on the 49ers. There is often discussion about the all-time greats that have played for the 49ers, but more often than not it focuses on guys who did not spend their entire careers with the franchise. Guys like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Y.A. Tittle and many others were awesome, but all played elsewhere at some point in their careers.

MM put together a list of his top ten 49ers that played their entire career with the franchise. Hall of Fame induction was given extra weight and current 49ers were not included. He has Hall of Fame defensive lineman Leo Nomellini at the top of the list, followed by cornerback Jimmy Johnson and offensive lineman Bob St. Clair.

Bryant Young is fifth and the first non-Hall of Famer on the list. BY is up for induction in 2013, but faces a bit of an uphill climb. He had a very strong career with the 49ers and is beloved by the local media, but his national profile could prove a little bit limited. He has solid stats, but not the mind-blowing stuff that overcomes the lack of a national profile. For now I'm just curious if he makes it past the semi-finalist stage.

As you look at MM's top ten, where would you start to post guys like Frank Gore and Patrick Willis, assuming they were to finish their careers as lifetime 49ers? Matt has punter/kicker Tommy Davis as an honorable mention, which could get Andy Lee in the discussion. Of course, Davis is the number two punter AND number two in field goals made. He also has a horrible field goal percentage (47.1%) so maybe Lee could supplant him.

How would you rank retired 49ers and current 49ers on this kind of list?