Golden Nuggets: Aldon Smith suspended 9 games

Good morning everyone, the day has finally come. Roger Goodell and the NFL finally finished their fantasy draft and got around to suspending Aldon Smith. The nine game ban without pay was harsher than a lot of people thought considering Aldon had a self imposed rehab stint. But that always seemed like wishful thinking to me. Eight games appealed down to six, was what I predicted a few months ago when we thought we would be hearing something on the suspension. Seriously Rog, what was the hold up? And nine games? Who's hat did you pull that number out of? What, 7 3/4 was too hard to hit on the picture of Aldon you were using as a dart board?

Anyways, as far as the on field aspect of the suspension, it hurts a lot, but I don't believe it is season crushing. Corey Lemonier and Dan Skuta should be able to fill in admirably. And assuming he makes the roster, Aaron Lynch is a really intriguing option. As for the rest of the roster, Ray McDonald restructured his contract yesterday, freeing up space to maybe, possibly, pay Alex Boone a slightly larger fraction of what he wants. Finally, despite the pick six from Chris Borland, it seems that Michael Wilhoite locked down the starting spot next to Patrick Willis. Despite that, hopefully we see some rotation between Wilhoite and Borland. Now, without further adieu, lets get to those links!

49ers OLB Aldon Smith suspended nine games without pay (BASG)

Report: Aldon Smith suspended for nine games (Gin)

Aldon Smith and the 49ers got the 9-game suspension they should’ve expected, but almost certainly didn’t, which is their own fault (Kawakami)

Suspension exacerbates issues for Niners (ESPN)

49ers’ Aldon Smith receives nine-game suspension from NFL (Barrows)

Thompson: NFL holds 49ers' Aldon Smith accountable (Thompson)

Aldon Smith ban leaves 49ers pass rush hurting (NFL)

49ers free up more salary cap room (Inman)

Martin manages to 'control the controllables' (Maiocco)

49ers snap count: Lloyd sits out after good warmup (Maiocco)

Johnson: 'Hopefully, the coaches keep taking notice' (Maiocco)

53 pick-up: A stab at the 49ers’ Saturday evening roster (Barrows)

49ers’ 53-man roster projection (Branch)