FanPost

Why I should be fired as 49ers GM (part 2)

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Offensive Line

I am starting by reviewing the players we already have on the team and the practice squad.

Joe Staley has been with the 49ers since we drafted him at the end of the first round of the 2007 draft. He is thirty two years old and is showing no signs of slowing down. Offensive linemen are usually capable of playing into their mid thirties and I don't think we can expect anything different from Mr. Staley "sir". He is under contract through 2019 and I don't think we need to worry about his replacement until at least 2018. Having his potential replacement sitting on the bench for three years seems like a waste of roster space and cap money. He wouldn't even be getting a chance to play until he was almost on his second contract. Maybe we get lucky and find one in a later round but that is the only reason I can see us drafting his replacement this early.

Zane Beadles was brought in this season to replace Boone who had moved to left guard last season before going elsewhere during free agency. Zane was drafted in the second round of the 2010 draft by Denver where he played out his contract before leaving for the big money in free agency. He had a couple of disappointing but very lucrative years in Jacksonville before being cut and moving to the 49ers. I don't think he is great at his position but I also don't think he is as bad as some of the people on Niners Nation think either. I am going to keep him at least through his contract that ends at the end of next season. We have a lot more holes than we can possibly fill this year so it is with a little hesitation that I am going to keep him around for another year.

Daniel Kilgore was drafted by the 49ers in the fifth round of the 2011 draft. He is set to become a free agent after the 2017 season. He had a bad injury a few years back that took him a couple of years to return from but he is back and I think he is doing a decent job. He may not be the best center in the league but I think he is adequate and as I said with Beadles, we have a lot of holes to fill and like I said above, Kilgore's contract also expires at the end of 2017 so he will need to be extended.

Joshua Garnett was drafted by us this year in the first round. He is a rookie and is playing like one. I have very high expectations of him and think he will be much improved his second year and will be around for many years to come.

Trenton Brown was drafted by us in the seventh round of last year's draft. He has been a complete surprise and I am keeping my fingers crossed that he continues to grow and to become one of the great players in 49er history. I am hoping Garnett keeps playing next to him and they can grow together and make the right side of our line sound for years to come.

Unfortunately, I don't see Andrew Tiller being with us next season. I really hope I am wrong. I would love to see him learn the center position during the off season and be able to backup both guard positions and the center. Unfortunately he is a free agent at the end of this season and if I was him, I would be looking for a place where I could start. I think he is going to be picked up by another team.

Marcus Martins is my leading candidate for shoe salesman of the year in 2017.

John Theus was picked up in the fifth round of this year's draft. Do we really know anything about John Theus? Do we have any idea if he has developed into someone we can trust as our swing tackle. All we have is what we saw in the preseason which really doesn't say much about a rookie offensive line player. He could be improving to the point the niners are thinking of him as Staley's future replacement and we wouldn't know.

We also have Fahn Cooper (OT), Norman Price OG), and Alex Balducci (C) on our practice squad and we have no more idea of their progress than we have of John Theus. I wouldn't' be surprised if we used a couple of picks in the sixth or seventh round on offensive line long shots and maybe brought in a couple of free agent to compete. A lot of players make major improvements between their first and second year so maybe we will be surprised by one of these players?

Keeping the same offensive line we have this season gives us some sense of continuity. All of the players are getting more comfortable playing together and the right side of our line gets the chance to grow together as starters. A big question is what direction we are going in the future? Both Beadles and Kilgore will be on the last year of their contracts in 2017, do we extend them or replace them? I think we take an aggressive approach this offseason and try to replace both of them if possible. If it doesn't work out we need to extend Kilgore during training camp and wait until next year to decide on Beadles.

I am at a distinct disadvantage because I am not an actual general manager and I don't have any input on the younger players so I have no choice but to try to find backups at swing tackle, guard, and center through free agency.

What our 2017 roster looks like after cutting Marcus Martin and Andrew Tiller leaving through free agency.

Offensive Tackle

Joe Staley

$11,150,000

Trenton Brown

$628,973

John Theus

$604,403

Offensive Guard

Joshua Garnett

$2,114,616

Zane Beadles

$3,533,333

Center

Daniel Kilgore

$1,587,500

Total $19,618,825

I was going to update this roster with free agents but I think I might wait until I have some feedback to add my backup players.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.