Now that we have finished up with our Player grades this morning, we are going to move on to the Front Office and Coaching Staff grades. This is especially pertinent with Tuesday coming up.

Yes, Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 is a big day. It's not only the 160th anniversary of Uncle Sam's debut in the New York Lantern Weekly, and it's not only the 128th anniversary of the Siege of Khartoum, but is the beginning of Free Agency in the NFL!

Free Agency. A time for irrational, knee-jerk responses about how much one millionaire wants to pay another millionaire. What fun! It's also a time for our resident GM to shine. So, here's to you Mr. Baalke:

Why the hell are you bringing in Randy Moss for a workout?

Dude's old and has a chronic attitude problem. He has talent and one heck of a career behind him, and I will admit that a sack of potatoes would improve our receiving corps, but Moss is not that sack of potatoes.

Maybe you can tell, dear reader, but I don't think Randy Moss would be a great signing. I just don't get it. But, in coming to that realization, I came to another. Or, as Bill Cosby would say, I told you that story to tell you this one: even though I don't like the notion of signing Randy Moss, I'm not actually having an irrational, knee-jerk reaction. The fact of the matter is that the trust Baalke has earned as a GM far outstrips my distaste of potentially signing Randy Moss.

So, follow me on a trip down memory lane as we review Trent Baalke's year as GM and assign him his Official NN Grade.

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After a long month or so, we have come to the end of our player grades. And it is fitting that we bring it home with the 49ers outstanding inside linebacker, Patrick Willis. It was an intriguing year for the 49ers all-world linebacker in part because he faced some significant injury adversity for the first time in his NFL career. He was named to his fifth Pro Bowl and fourth first team All-Pro team in spite of the injuries. He was a deserving candidate while he was healthy, but his growing reputation likely helped overcome the fact that he missed close to four full games with his hamstring injury.

Aside from the injury, Willis saw some changes in his role. The most significant was a greater use in coverage on tight ends. Willis has operated in coverage at times in his career, but in the past that had been handled primarily by Manny Lawson. This season, Willis was given that role and he showed solid progress in his pass defense.

Although Willis' tackle totals were down, we can thank the amazing development of NaVorro Bowman in his second season. His progress has given the 49ers the best inside linebacker duo in the NFL at this point. Having that kind of athleticism in the middle of the defense is so huge. They have the ability to range far and wide across the field, which makes up for any shortcomings elsewhere.

Every year it seems like there is talk about utilizing Willis even more in the pass rush. He had a career high six sacks in 2010, but only two in 2011. He really was not asked to operate in a pass rush role, but it will be interesting if we get another offseason of coaching comments about using Willis more so in the pass rush. He and Bowman have the athleticism to make an impact there, but it is also possible the team is content with the players they do rush at this point.

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The player grades are coming to an end, and it's time we take a look at one player that I totally forgot about until Fooch sent me an email yesterday asking me to put this together: Madieu Williams. He was brought in after Dashon Goldson had apparently left for greener pastures this past offseason, and was slated to be the starter. But Goldson didn't get the offer he was looking for (or perhaps any offer at all) from the New England Patriots, and the 49ers quickly re-signed him.

So folks quickly forgot about Williams, though he did remain on the roster and yes, despite the fact that you never heard his name during the regular season, he most definitely did play. The weird thing about the Williams situation and the fact that he just disappeared is that folks here at Niners Nation were excited to see what he can do as the starting free safety of the 49ers.

Honestly - myself included.

I was excited to see if he could prove his worth and I felt that he could. His skillset seemed good, he's aging, but hadn't appeared to lose any of his speed. More than all of that, he wasn't very mistake prone and didn't get burned a lot. I'd suggest that a good portion of this site was happy to have Williams as the starter-to-be. Instead, Williams started just three games, had only nine tackles, no interceptions or passes defensed, and played mostly on special teams or not at all, appearing in 15 games.

It wasn't so much that he couldn't play more and put up his stats it's just as though ... the 49ers totally forgot about him. I know I did while the season was going on, so how do we then grade him? I guess I give him a poor rating, though I still think Williams can see viable playing time with a team in 2012. That being said, I don't expect him back with the 49ers, so this grade post should be interesting.

And so we reach the big one. There are plenty of "controversial" players on the 49ers roster, but given the two NFC title game fumbles, Kyle Williams becomes one of the more controversial players for this kind of grading process. I would imagine there will be plenty of 1s by people still upset over the conference championship game. Beyond that, the grading could be all over the place.

Williams entered the season as the number five wide receiver, but worked his way into some significant playing time as a slot receiver. He finished the season with 20 catches for 241 yards and three touchdowns, with the first touchdown coming on only his second reception in the NFL. He made a phenomenal catch for that first touchdown week two against the Dallas Cowboys. He was in and out of the lineup before having a career day against the Arizona Cardinals. He closed the season a bit up and down but with some decent production against the Rams, Cardinals and Steelers

In spite of all that, the elephant in the room will continue to be the two fumbles that directly contributed to the 49ers NFC championship game loss to the New York Giants. It was not surprising that the 49ers elected to use him as the return man in place of an injured Ted Ginn Jr. Williams was a return man in college and had served in the role late in the regular season when Ginn first got hurt.

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This represents our last non-grade player. 49ers nose tackle Ian Williams was active for one game this past season, but it really was not enough to justify attempting to grade the rookie. Nonetheless, there is plenty to discuss surrounding Williams given the 49ers potential need for a long term solution at nose tackle.

The 49ers signed Williams as an undrafted free agent this past summer when he was one of the more sought after free agents. He put together a very solid training camp and a strong showing in the preseason was enough to earn him a spot on the 49ers 53-man roster. He was the third string nose tackle behind Isaac Sopoaga and Ricky Jean-Francois.

The 49ers let Aubrayo Franklin walk this past year, and that raised some question marks as they decided to move Sopoaga over to nose tackl and Ray McDonald in at starting defensive end. Most concerns were extinguished as Sopoaga handled the position quite well. He missed one game with a staph infection, but RJF filled in well for him.

Although Sopoaga is now 30 and RJF is a free agent after this coming season, they would seem to be fairly locked in as the top two options at nose tackle. Is there much of an opportunity for Williams to move past either at this point? He gets practice reps and will get plenty of opportunities in 2012 training camp and the preseason, but his future might really be more of a "two years from now" kind of deal.

The 49ers defensive line as a whole features strong starters, a very solid backup in RJF, and then three developmental guys in Williams, Will Tukuafu and Demarcus Dobbs. All three have significant potential, but as developmental guys, there is a significant hill to climb. In looking at the three of them, what do you think the 49ers can hope for in 2012 and beyond? Be happy with just one hitting, or a bit more of an optimistic approach?

As we close in on the finish of this 2011 49ers Grades segment, we've got a couple big names remaining. We start today with strong safety Donte Whitner. The 49ers defensive backfield was an intriguing mix when you combined his skill set with that of Dashon Goldson. Whitner was the guy who handled more of the underneath, in the box action, while Goldson was in more of a center field role. It was not always a perfect grouping, but for the most part they did a great job together.

The 49ers almost didn't land Donte Whitner this past offseason. He was set to sign a two-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, when he rather abruptly switched gears and signed a three-year deal with the 49ers for $11.25 million. It's safe to say the 49ers are happy with Whitner's decision to change his mind.

Whitner had a strong season in which he was particularly forceful against the run. He is not a guy to whom the 49ers looked for a ton in pass protection, but he has the athleticism to potentially make more contributions there. But in the rush defense? He was an absolute force. He put together one of the top two or three defensive plays of the year for the 49ers when he brutally stopped Saints running back Pierre Thomas near the goal line. The Saints had driven deep into 49ers territory and Thomas had the ball at the 49ers two when Whitner welcomed him to Candlestick Park.

The 49ers will return both Goldson and Whitner in 2012. The secondary could be looking at a bit of a shake-up if Carlos Rogers walks, but otherwise there is plenty of talent returning. I'd love to see a bit more from Whitner in pass defense, but for the most part, it is hard to complain about what he brought to the table this past year. The 49ers hit a home run in free agency with most of their signings, so it is hard to say one is clearly better than another. However, this was definitely one of the better signings of the offseason.

When I said we were going to take a look at everybody on the 49ers roster, I really did mean everybody. The 49ers went into their 2011 training camp with Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick as their only quarterbacks. Over the course of August, the 49ers added Josh McCown and McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Both were eventually released in early September.

Enter Scott Tolzien.

There's something to be said when signing a third string quarterback will get 194 comments here. Of course, not every team has a QB situation quite like the 49ers.

The 49ers placed a claim on Tolzien after the San Diego Chargers released the former Wisconsin quarterback. The Chargers released Tolzien after he put together a strong performance against the 49ers backups in the preseason finale. Some folks around here were clamoring for the 49ers to claim Tolzien and the 49ers were successfully able to do so.

Rather than include a grading poll, I've posted a quick yes/no/maybe answer. Does Tolzien stick around in 2012? He did not have a chance to actually show anything other than some very limited practice reps during the season. He'll get some snaps in training camp and preseason action, but of course it will come against third and fourth string players for the most part. I would think Kaepernick will get the benefit of most of the second reps, and occasionally first reps. Can we really make much from that, or does it even matter given his third string status?

We're right about to the end of our individual player grades, and free agency is right around the corner. There's still a couple of significant players to go though, and one of them is likely going to do a whole lot better than the other when it comes to voting. Let's just say I'm eager to see the mass reaction to Kyle Williams in his grading post, but first we've got someone who is perhaps a little ... less controversial.

I'm talking about Delanie Walker, the most useful of the 49ers players with the last name that begins with a 'W', and not even Tony Wragge's mom will try and argue with that. The biggest difference between how we view Walker now and how we viewed him a year ago is the fact that the 49ers may actually be looking to replace him this offseason. A lot has been said about drafting a tight end in the first round - a certain man who Jim Harbaugh may be interested in.

The replacement wouldn't be out of necessity, but the timing really couldn't be better for said rookie. Not only is Vernon Davis coming off of what is something of a lackluster season (playoffs notwithstanding), Walker struggled a lot early on and disappeared for long stretches of time. In fact, if there's one thing that Harbaugh and Greg Roman didn't deliver on, it was the promise of a dynamic, tight-end driven offense in the passing game. Davis was absolutely useless for a large portion of the time and suffered much regression, while Walker was just about invisible.

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