"Trent Baalke...is the best general manager in football" -- Trent Dilfer reacts to the trade

Former 49ers QB (verrrry briefly) Trent Dilfer is well known to be a fairly optimistic person. He usually has a lot of positives to dole out, so we have to take a lot of what he says with a certain grain of salt. It does not mean he is never right, but he can be effusive with praise.

On Wednesday, Dilfer weighed in on the trade during a segment with Trey Wingo on NFL Live. He is a fan of Alex Smith going to Kansas City, and had plenty of positives to say about that. For our purposes, however, I wanted to focus in on his comments about 49ers general manager Trent Baalke:

I've been saying it for a couple years and people are starting to see it. Trent Baalke, the general manager, is the best general manager in football. And I don't know if second place is very close. He has done an incredible job in a short amount of time building this team and stockpiling these picks. I mean, this trade, as many good things as I said about Alex, is stealing for the Niners. I cannot believe they got a set second and a conditional out of this. Especially since they most likely were going to cut him, and I know they came out and said they weren't going to. I think the end gain was that. So, I think the 49ers hit a home run on this one. They are set up to be successful for not just next year and the year after that, but five, six, seven years. I really believe, and living here in the Bay Area and watching this team closely and knowing a lot of the guys, I really think you're going to see - I don't want to use the word ‘dynasty' - but a 49ers organization that for the next five to 10 years will consistently be making a run in the NFC to get to the Super Bowl.

It is difficult to call anybody a dynasty anymore in the salary cap age. The New England Patriots of the early to mid '00s, were about as close as we might come. They have maintained their success to the present, but even that is hard to necessarily call a "dynasty" anymore. The dynasty phrase is better used well after the dynasty has crumbled I think.

However, the 49ers are in a great position to build for the long haul. That is one reason I am less inclined to pursue Darrelle Revis. If healthy, he could do great things for the 49ers in 2013. The problem is what that means for beyond. If his asking price was a second round pick, I'd almost be more inclined to deal that second round pick for a future No. 1. Then you take the cap space that would have been used on Revis ($6 million in 2013), and instead start getting your own guys extended, whether that be Michael Crabtree, Mike Iupati or Anthony Davis.

I realize Revis would not destroy the 49ers foundation, but I am just a little less inclined to either rent him out for one year, or give him the monster deal he desires. The 49ers are in a position to do a wide array of things with their picks and cap space. I can only begin to imagine the possibilities.