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Niners Nation #Channel49 Twitter Q&A Mailbag VOL. 6: The glut at running back, traps on the schedule and more

Our weekly Twitter Q&A occurs every Friday at 2 p.m. PT. The follow-up post contains elaborated answers to some of the better questions. This week, Tre filled in for the missing Trevor Woods. We had fun. Here's the results.

By Aaron Malone
Boobie Dixon will teach you the electric slide.
Boobie Dixon will teach you the electric slide.
USA TODAY Sports

Trevor Woods is missing in action. Sure, he's got prospect profiles going up, but I'd bet those were written beforehand. I don't want to imply that Tre Faaborg had anything to do with it, but when I asked the staff at NN headquarters who would be willing to sub in, he sure did raise his hand fast. He also answered questions fast ... I mean, faster than they came in sometimes. Some poor Twit would be formulating a question about possible tight end prospects and would receive a tweet from Tre saying Travis Kelce.

So, without further ado....

Tre 'Lightning in a Bottle' Faaborg

I'd have to take Travis Kelce over Escobar at this point mostly due to his fierce nature as a blocker. He has some things to clean up but the guy is mean and nasty, almost like an Anthony Davis in a TE's body. Add to that he has good hands to snatch passes away from his body, bowls over tacklers and runs hard after the catch (even if he's not shifty) and you can see his versatility.

If one of the existing RBs from the 2012 roster is gonna get cut, I'd have to say it's Anthony Dixon. With Frank Gore wearing down (granted, he had a great 2012) or soon to be doing so, I have to think the 49ers have their eyes on the future bell-cow, be it Jewel Hampton or a rookie (perhaps red-shirting Marcus Lattimore?). This means that Dixon again faces long-odds to make the roster, and although his special teams ability is great, it might not be enough if the team decides it's more important to roster a future bruiser/every-down type between-the-tackles runner ... and if someone like Dan Skuta, etc. can step up as a special teams ace.

Jim Harbaugh has always been about competition. He courted Peyton Manning, for crying out loud. Signing Nnamdi Asomugha means no more than the team wants to have as much talent at the position; one that was rather weak at times down the playoff stretch (though much of that was due to lack of pass-rush). The ball will be rolled out and the best handful of guys at CB will stay on the roster. Plain and simple. The guys in the locker room know this is how it's done, and that it just means they need to bust their asses to win a spot. I doubt they're "tense" or otherwise.

Adding a pass-rusher is probably WAY in the minds of the 49ers' brass this offseason after seeing QB hits/sacks fall-off when Justin Smith went out and/or wasn't 100% with his triceps injury. A guy like Tank Carradine, who might not be completely healthy just yet, can sit and learn from Justin Smith, Aldon Smith, and other veterans. Carradine can also be a movable chess piece along the defensive line with his tweener size (270ish pounds), and when he WAS at full-strength, he showed his ability to disrupt penetrating opposing offensive lines.

Aaron "the Tortoise" Malone

Aside from the Rams, who had their way with us last year, two games stand out to me. First is the Tampa Bay game, Week 15. It's played in Tampa and sandwiched between two home games against the Seahawks and Falcons, two teams who should be competing for playoff positioning. Tampa has had the tendency to be streaky, winning four in a row last year, only to lose the next five in a row. If they're hot when we go in there and we have a slow start in this 10 a.m. PT game, we could be in for a disappointment.

The other game that worries me is the Tennessee game, Week Seven. It comes the week before our road trip to London. The league gave us a 1 p.m. PT start on this one, to compensate for the hassle of going overseas, but it's smack in the middle of a three game stretch against bottom-dwellers, with vs ARI and at JAX on either side; I think we'll definitely come out flat in one of them.

I don't think that's a strategy that the 49ers would employ. It's not viable for the long-term success of the team. Seattle was a bit of a surprise team last season. They should be very good this year. A new surprise team will also arise and a team that everyone tabbed as a title contender will fall. This happens every year and we must simply do everything possible to put the best team on the field.

That being said, the Anquan Boldin acquisition might have been made with Seattle in mind. He's a great player and the 49ers undoubtedly got a sweet deal, but he's a very physical receiver who tends to catch the ball no matter how tight, physical and blanketing the coverage is (see Super Bowl). A move made to counter Richard Sherman? Doubtful. But it should definitely help out.

Most recently, both Peter King and Don Banks have linked the 49ers to Cordarrelle Patterson (with Banks having the 49ers take him at No. 31) and many fans have clamored for Tavon Austin. The 49ers may select a receiver in this draft, but it will have little to do with Michael Crabtree, the team's plans for him or his potential departure. Kyle Williams and Mario Manningham are rehabbing from season-ending injuries and are in the last year of their contracts. Boldin was brought in but is on the last year of his deal as well. A.J. Jenkins is ... is ... we don't know what he is yet.

That leaves us with Crabtree as the only reliable option signed past this year. If a receiver is drafted (even if it is early on), it's more likely a sign that they're concerned about KW or MM's rehab, secretly think A.J. is a bust, or simply watched a guy slide to the point where they felt they'd be foolish not to pull the trigger. And whether or not Crabtree re-signs is impossible to tell, keeping his rookie holdout in mind. He may demand top-five money, in which case, he'll most likely be allowed to earn it somewhere else.

This topic has generated quite a bit of heat over the last few days. Many people have very strong opinions about the subject, and I'm one of them. Should people be allowed to do and say what they want? Yes. Are there consequences? Yes. The team is securing advertising for a brand new state-of-the-art stadium and this is the second time in three months that he's said something deemed insensitive. Whether or not it's "PC gone mad", as some people are prone to call those of us shaking our heads at Cully, will not be up to you or I to decide, it's up to Pepsi, Google, Nike and any other corporation that is going to pay our team millions upon millions of dollars to do nothing more than play football well and not call women hoes. Cully has one out of the two down.

Do I think he should be cut? No. He's a young man and social media gets a lot of people in trouble. He definitely needs the STFU talk. If he does become a top-five corner in the league like many of you in the leave-Cully-alone corner believe, he's costing himself potential revenue, and if that doesn't quiet him, what will?

Or I could have just said, "SWOOSH! There goes Cully's future earnings."

In Case You Didn't Know

We do our thing every Friday at 2 p.m. PT. I know it's not an ideal time for everyone. You can still send in questions any time on Friday and we'll answer them, beginning at 2 p.m. Just use the hashtag below so we can find it in the Twittersphere. This week will be a massive one, with the 1st round of the draft already over and the 2nd round set to begin. We're expecting to work some overtime. Join us.

Being a Sheep

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