Yesterday at lunchtime the San Francisco 49ers announced that former cornerback Eric Davis will replace Gary Plummer as the color analyst for the 49ers radio network, alongside play-by-play man Ted Robinson. Davis has been working as the color analyst for 49ers preseason television broadcasts and co-hosted 49ers Preview, a weekly 49ers program, both on CBS-5 in the Bay Area. For the past two seasons, Davis also served as an analyst for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area's weekly magazine program, 49ers Central, and a co-host of CSNBA's 49ers Post Game Live, the "official" Post Game Show of the 49ers.
Plummer had been handling the color analyst duties since 1998. The press release announcing the change included no mention of Plummer. I did a quick search and the two primary articles I found discussing the move (SFGate.com, Press Democrat) had only a minor bit of speculation on the departure of Plummer. While Eric Davis lives up in the Bay Area, Gary Plummer apparently spends most of his time down in San Diego. I'm curious to see if Plummer ends up with the Chargers in some capacity. He split his college and NFL career between Cal, the Chargers and the 49ers.
I rarely listened to the 49ers radio network so I can't really offer much insight into Plummer's work as a color analyst. Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on his work. The extent of my observations of Eric Davis came through his work in preseason games and his work on CSN Bay Area's Post Game Live show and their weekly Monday Coach's Press Conference show. I always thought he did not have much trouble criticizing the team when needed. It remains to be seen how that carries over now that he's working more directly for the 49ers.
It's hard to judge him on the preseason since one could argue he actually might have a more difficult task with people likely getting fairly bored in short order. How many folks out there end up listening to games on the radio more frequently than on television?
Davis had some comments about his new job at 49ers.com.