The San Francisco reportedly agreed to terms with offensive guard Zane Beadles, and the rare free agent signing has opinions flying fast and furious. The Jacksonville Jaguars released Beadles earlier this month, and while Jacksonville is improving, there is still a perception issue about signing a player the Jaguars did not think was good enough.
I took a minute to chat with one of our Jacksonville Jaguars bloggers over at Big Cat Country. He had a few quick thoughts:
Zane Beadles was the first big free agent signing for Dave Caldwell and the first one he ended up cutting. He was signed on a big contract that in essence was a two year deal, with the idea he could help anchor and lead a young offensive line. Beadles took a few games to settle in in 2014 and was just OK, and when the team moved from a zone scheme to more of a gap scheme in 2015 and continued to struggle with consistency. He was next to Luke Joeckel who also struggled, but Beadles was often the weak link on the offensive line. He did a nice job at times run blocking and pulling, but overall he was average at best for the Jaguars.
Friend of the site Jeff Deeney, from Pro Football Focus, had a few tweets that are worth sharing. One important thing to note on the 2015 struggles is that Beadles suffered a sprained plantar fascia in the team's October 25 win over the Buffalo Bills. The plantar fascia is the ligament that connects the heel to the toes. He joined plenty other athletes that play through the injury, but it would impact his performance. It is possible he would have struggled even without the injury, but couple that with the move away from zone blocking, and that could help explain his issues in 2015.
Zane Beadles best year was 2012 when he ranked 16th of 81 guards with a +17.1 grade. Has had most success in zone-blocking scheme....
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016
Beadles had a shaky two years in JAX, but played every snap. +1.5 overall grade in 2014 dropped to -14.6 in 2015 with move away from ZBS.
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016
While JAX moved away from ZBS in 2015, it was actually Beadle's pass blocking that declined in 2015. 41 pressures allowed 5th most among G's
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016
Zane Beadles has only missed nine snaps on offense over the last five seasons. Played every snap in 79 of 80 regular season games. #49ers
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016
Summary: Beadles was avg to very good in 4 of first 5 years, had his worst year in 2015 (-14.6). Was scheme the cause or something else is ?
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016
All of Zane Beadles' snaps at guard in his career have been at left guard, I'm assuming that is where #49ers will pencil him in on their OL.
— Jeff Deeney (@PFF_Jeff) March 17, 2016