Golden Nuggets: Another off season, let’s get the party started

I would have posted a picture of John Lynch with him being a Hall of Fame Finalist but I kind of liked the one I posted better. I am not really sure why?

It is that time of year again when Niners Nations fans start posting their amazing prognostications of what they think the 49ers need to do in free agency and the draft. I thought I would use this opportunity to give everyone a little quick kickstarter. I really don’t want to be too long so I just very quickly went over some of my ideas on offense. I will be posting a much more in depth article later on. As you can see, I have not even given much thought to some of the positions.

Quarterback

Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and I am happy to have Nick Mullens as a backup. I would also keep CJ Beathard until the end of August. Bringing quarterbacks to camp that know our system has some value in itself, especially if your starter is trying to work past an injury. I also think we will be bringing in an undrafted free agent quarterback that ends up on the practice squad. I don’t know how Shanahan found Mullens but hopefully he can continue to pick good quarterbacks out of obscurity.

Running back

Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson certainly did enough to show they belong on the team and hopefully Jerrick McKinnon can come back from his injury to become the dual threat we were hoping for.

Full back

We don’t have to look further than Kyle Juszczyk

Wide receiver

It was a rather down year for our wide receivers. Pierre Garcon never seemed to get past his neck injury and Marquise Goodwin for some reason or other, never reached his stride. While Dante Pettis was a bright spot at times, injuries limited his availability. Trent Taylor also had a hard time coming back from injuries but did seem to be returning to his old self the last few games of the season. I expected Richie James to be the next coming of Trent Taylor and while he had his moments, he never lived up to my expectations. He was a seventh round draft pick playing in his rookie season so perhaps they were too high to start with? Kendrick Bourne was everything I expected, a good backup wide receiver.

While I am not as down on this group of players as some, I do think we need to continue to try to improve the position. I am not ready to see any of the above players cut at this point but I do think they need to have to fight for their jobs. We need to continue to bring in competition through the draft and grab another free agent. I am not even going to try to guess who. If history repeats itself, Shanahan is going to more than likely come up with players I either never even thought of or players I never knew existed.

Tight End

There is no doubt we have found our tight end of the future with George Kittle but do we continue to go with Garrett Celek? Perhaps we draft another tight end in the sixth and sign a couple more tight ends we have never heard of before? I am really not sure about this one?

Offensive tackle

We are set with Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchey as our starting tackles but I think we need to move on from Garry Gilliam and his five million dollar salary. We already have Shon Coleman as a backup for much less money.

While I am pretty sure we should go with Josh Allen in the draft, I can’t help thinking about the possibility of finding our left tackle of the future with Jonah Williams. It would depend on if he really could slide over and play left guard for a couple of years until Staley retires like some people are saying. Otherwise I am going with Dalton Risner from Kansas State as a project. He has mainly played right tackle in college but I think he has a good chance of developing into a good left tackle if he is given the time to work on some of his weaknesses.

Offensive guard

Laken Tomlinson stays at starting left guard unless we draft Jonah Williams like I was saying above. We need to extend Mike Person and keep Joshua Garnett to fight for the starting right guard position in training camp. It would also not be a bad idea to bring in a veteran right guard to compete in case Garnett has a problem staying healthy.

Center

Weston Richburgh may not have had the best year in 2018 but he isn’t going anywhere. Kyle Shanahan invested a lot in him and likes him. I am not sure about Erik Magnuson as our backup. He may play a lot of positions but he does not play any of them very well. Hopefully we can find some low priced competition in free agency or on day three of the draft.

I am sure a lot of you have some great ideas I have never even thought about. Feel free to post. Anyway, onto the hot links:

49ers legend Isaac Bruce named Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Kyle Madson

Predicting the future of all 12 49ers free agents Brad Almquist

49ers’ Ronald Blair believes 2018 improvement will fuel future success Jennifer Lee Chan

Watch Kyle Shanahan surprise Paradise High School coach Rick Prinz with two Super Bowl tickets David Bonilla

Tom Flores, Richard Seymour make Hall of Fame finalists list for first time Charean Williams

49ers GM John Lynch Named Finalist for Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 Joe Fann

49ers interested in former Colts general manager [report] Brad Almquist

Robbie Gould Earns NFC Special Teams Player of the Month Honors Kelana Martin

The 2018 NFL All-Rookie Team Cam Mellor

49ers have the second-best odds to land Steelers WR Antonio Brown David Bonilla

Best player at every position in the NFL in 2018 Austin Gayle

The 10 most notabichael Rennerle offensive 2019 NFL free agents Michael Renner