It’s been a largely slow weekend as far as Niners news has gone. Virtually the entire crew of usual suspects and/or peanut gallery (Maiocco, Barrows, Biderman, heck, even the Cohns) seemed to take the weekend off, offering basically nothing since May 12th, or 11th in some cases. Luckily, some forward thinkers at Niners Noise took advantage of a quiet news day and put together a few opinion pieces centered around the new additions to our roster. These are actually part of a series that looks pretty similar to our “90 in 90” series, and have focused initially on the newcomers (draftees, FAs).
There have been some good pieces coming out about both Reuben Foster and C.J. Beathard since the draft, highlighting their football aptitude and generally drumming up some excitement about the new prospects. Fortunately, OTAs (reference) are only a week away, and we’ll start to get a few answers for the myriad questions we face. With the start of OTAs, we’ll get a taste of how the coaching staff envisions the roster coming together, as well as some insight on the key positional battles.
In the spirit of pondering how the roster will come together with the enormous roster churn that’s already taken place, I’ve got a few questions that I’m hoping might get some answers sooner than later:
· Who starts opposite of Pierre Garçon? We’ve got a good battle in the slot (Kerley, Taylor), but the somewhat unfounded assumption that the other outside guy will be one of the flankers (Goodwin, Robinson).
· Will Kittle find himself battling Juice, Vance, or both?
· What’s the situation at LEO? Was there any substance to the Armstead chatter? Most importantly, if Aaron Lynch shows up out of shape, is there going to be a crisis?
· Dontae Johnson or Ahkello Witherspoon? What happens if Ahkello winds up the superior coverage talent, but remains a pansy through contact?
· Was there a good reason to gamble on Jimmie Ward succeeding in a major position on this defense?
· “I’ve given up prognosticating the configuration of both the OL and Front 7, just tell me what they’re going to look like, please and thank you”
Anyway, onto the links, of which, clearly, there are very few.
(Slideshow) Bold predictions for ‘17-’18 season | Stanley, Niners Noise
Why Reuben Foster might make the 2018 Pro Bowl | Wright, Niners Noise
A brief look at RB Kapri Bibbs | Panacy, Niners Noise