The San Francisco 49ers have had a lackluster offseason thus far, at least from a team improvement standpoint. Free agency hasn't resulted in any interesting players coming to the team, while one very good player -- Alex Boone -- has departed and another -- Anquan Boldin -- is still unsigned.
Zane Beadles was signed to fill the rather sizable void left by Boone and the 49ers seem primed to wait until after the 2016 NFL Draft to address whether or not Boldin will actually return to the team. Ian Williams was retained, the strongest move on the personnel front, and the 49ers also extended Quinton Dial, who was not a pending free agent.
With the NFL Draft coming up next month, there is one thing I think is worth noting ... the 49ers have had a great offseason. Yeah, that's what I said ... the 49ers are actually having a great year.
When compared to 2015.
We're one season removed from the 49ers firing a winning coach, conducting a farcical head coach interview process before settling on a yes man in Jim Tomsula, another yes man in Eric Mangini and Geep Chryst, who Colin Kaepernick supported for some reason we'll never understand.
It was the most uninspired coaching staff I've ever seen in the NFL, and on top of that the 49ers lost a ton of players like Patrick Willis, Chris Borland, Anthony Davis and Justin Smith to retirement. Michael Crabtree, Frank Gore, Perrish Cox and Chris Culliver went elsewhere.
Well, the 49ers have an actual head coach now. Chip Kelly has his detractors, and his time with the Philadelphia Eagles was bad ... just bad. His coordinators are somewhat unproven, but they're so far better than the other coaching staff. If there was a coaching competition between the new staff and old staff, it would be ridiculously one-sided. Kelly's staff would dominate.
And wouldn't you know it, the 49ers didn't lose multiple Pro Bowl players this offseason! They didn't watch as the heart and soul of their defense retired unexpectedly and one of his replacements to do the same. The 49ers didn't lose a veteran defensive lineman with plenty of pro bowls to his name. They didn't have their right tackle suddenly retire.
So yes, the 49ers are having quite a good offseason!
Over at SB Nation, I took a more in-depth look at what I'm getting at here ... the 49ers have a competent coaching staff and in the scheme of things, that's huge. They didn't have one last year, and this new one probably won't lead to immediate success, but it's such a massive step forward, regardless of how you feel about Kelly.