If I Were Head Coach & GM of the San Francisco 49ers, I Would...

Welcome back everyone. I am a long time Madden gamer and something I have always appreciated about the game more than most has been the management control in Franchise Mode. Every year, I start a new franchise with the 49ers and they usually have an unfavorable team rating which sends me directly to the Trade Players option before even my first game.

I'm behind the times, seeing as how I only have Madden '11 -- but it was by choice; the lockout made Madden '12 irrelevant to me and not worth the ridiculous amount they charge for games nowadays. I had to manifest a few things like creating Colin Kaepernick and Aldon Smith, and cheated a bit by making them their likely 2015 versions where they'll probably be rated in the 90's. This allowed me to cut Alex Smith because I didn't have to wait for Kaepernick's development.

After that, I walked in the footsteps of the Jim Harbaugh regime and made the decisions they made, but with my own twist. I brought in Donte Whitner and cut Taylor Mays first. I didn't disagree with that decision, even though I was high on Mays when he was coming out of USC. He basically hit a brick wall when he entered the NFL, so what's done is done.

Next to go was Manny Lawson and Parys Haralson. They got replaced by Ahmad Brooks and someone I thought the 49ers would make a play for but never did, in Steelers linebacker Lamaar Woodley. I gave NaVorro Bowman the go ahead to start, but kept Takeo Spikes as a substitute linebacker when my guys got fatigued. It was out of respect.

After a short but definitely failed experiment with Malcom Floyd, I traded him to the New York Jets for Braylon Edwards. I made Edwards the #1, Michael Crabtree the #2 and put Josh Morgan in the slot where he belongs. I also decided to have Ted Ginn as a full-time return man, so I brought in Jordy Nelson and Lance Moore to solidify the receiving core.

Since Glen Coffee is long gone, it made little sense for him to be on the team any longer so I decided to trade him. In 2011, Peyton Hillis is a fullback but his position can be edited. I traded Coffee to Denver for Hillis, converted him to a runningback, slapped a #40 on his back and now have one hell of a one-two punch between him and Frank Gore. This tandem also makes for a good time with the wildcat package.

The offensive line remains the same except for a coaching decision to bench Chilo Rachal and start Adam Snyder at right guard. The result of that was a major boost in my rushing attack on the right side of the line and power plays where the guard pulls left. I wonder if it would be the same in real life?

So the offense is set, linebackers look good and safeties are pretty solid but what's going on in the defensive line? Aubrayo Franklin was valuable but I know games can be won without him so after some careful deliberation, I decided to trade Franklin and some draft picks for cornerback help. I moved Isaac Sopoaga to the nose tackle position and gave Ray McDonald the start at left end. And their jobs have been remarkably simple with Darrelle Revis taking away half the field now.

So with all of that, and a Michael Vick-like Colin Kaepernick behind center, this team has been a freight train to say the least. Now of course a lot of this is just fantasy mumbo-jumbo to help me forget that the 49ers lost, but even though it is just a video game, it's nice to have some control over the organization every now and then.

How do you run your 49ers Madden team?

Follow me on Twitter: @DeSimone80