The 49ers ended the '07 season with a listless, uninspiring loss to the Browns in Cleveland, which sealed a listless, uninspiring 5-11 season. It was far from what was expected of the team by fans and the media coming into the season. The team was coming off a strong finish to the '06 season, had made splashy offseason moves, and appeared to have all the pieces in place for a deep playoff drive.
In light of this failure of a season, the organization needed to hit the ground running this offseason, show a united front, and make bold moves to improve a roster that obviously was not up to snuff last year. What we got instead was the organizational equivalent of someone trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks. Blindfolded. John York spent four days in "meetings" with Mike Nolan and staff, determining whether or not Nolan would be brought back to coach the team next season. Once Nolan had convinced York to give him one more chance to turn things around, a few changes were made.
Gone were:
-Nolan's final say on personnel decisions. The Yorks tried to spin the story that it had been "the plan all along" to eventually strip Nolan of his personnel powers and give them over to Scot McCloughan. Yeah, okay. Was it also your plan all along that complete and total organizational control would go to Nolan's head and turn him into an autocratic dictator, who could cut and trade players without a check or balance to stop him, constantly holding players' futures over their heads, lest they be sent unceremoniously packing? I bet it was.
-Offensive Coordinator Jim Hostler. I honestly expected an Eddie DeBartolo-style "He's gone!" press conference when they announced Hostler's termination. Hostler's was the most boring 49ers offense I have ever seen, and I watched every game in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. The man was on a one-man mission to make the 3rd-and-long draw play work. I could routinely tell what play he would be calling before he called it, and if I can do it from the couch, there's no wonder it seemed defensive coordinators were in his head every Sunday. He will not be missed.
And in their place are:
-McCloughan as an honest-to-goodness GM: This is a move that had to be made, and not just because of Nolan's slow descent into madness mentioned above. McCloughan is regarded as one of the best young minds in the NFL today, and other teams were starting to sniff around him with GM jobs. And while the public talk is that nothing will change in the way the Niners make personnel moves, I think we can safely assume that the Baltimore-to-San Francisco pipeline will slow WAY down with Scotty Mac calling the shots, among other things. If this move allows Nolan to focus more on game and clock management (one of his weakest traits in his first three years as head coach), all the better. I daresay McCloughan might be the 49ers' first actual bona fide talent evaluator since Bill Walsh stepped down as GM.
-OC Mike Martz. Okay, this is where the confusion starts for me. Cam Cameron staked his claim to fame building an offense in San Diego that got around having a weak WR corps by featuring an All-Pro halfback and a big, athletic tight end. The 49ers' two best players, their All-Pro halback and big, athletic tight end, have been hampered the last two seasons by a weak WR corps. He was the no-brainer choice to come save our offense as soon as the Dolphins fired him -- hell, we'd even let him come back and live in sunny California, no hard feelings. Instead, we hired a coordinator whose offenses are predicated on quick, skilled wideouts, and who has a propensity for abandoning the running game and ignoring the tight end. There are some positives to the move -- Alex Smith had his greatest success in a wide-open offense at Utah, and the eight-man fronts Frank Gore faced all last year should be a thing of the past -- but this is a move that smacked of desperation on Nolan's part. He's swinging for the fences, that's for sure. Here's hoping he isn't using a whiffle ball bat.
More confusing moves came once free agency started. The 49ers' greatest weaknesses last season were, in no particular order: pass rush, offensive line, wide receiver. So what was the Niners' big offseason acquisition? A defensive end who's mediocre in rushing the passer.
Yes, I know, Justin Smith is no slouch. He'll be good at holding the point of attack, dropping into coverage, and doing all the little things 3-4 defensive ends do that never show up on the stat sheet. But that's kind of the problem: he doesn't specialize in sacks, the one area the defense really needed a boost. He's a top-shelf second-tier guy on a defense that needs more first-tier guys. The Niners came into this offseason with an abundance of cap room and very clear needs to fill, and chose to invest most of their money in other areas. Meanwhile, the players they tapped to fill the need areas seem ill-suited to fit the systems already in place.
At WR, Isaac Bruce and Bryant Johnson are the newcomers, and Darrell Jackson is gone. I've already made my thoughts on D-Jack known (short, slow, drops a lot of passes -- bad qualities in a No. 1 receiver). But the new guys are hardly the answer. Martz's system demands smallish wide receivers who get in and out of their breaks like lightning. Bruce is on the downside of his career and has lost at least one step. Johnson is a big, strong, slow-ish, West Coat Offense-type receiver. Neither one seems an optimal fit for the offense. Meanwhile, Andre Davis and Devery Henderson, two players who certainly fit the size/speed/quickness profile, weren't even given a call.
In terms of the pass rush, Smith will help, but the only other player brought in was Dontarrious Thomas, a guy who seems to have all the physical traits you want but has been unable to lock in on the mental part of the game. He's penciled in as the Ted linebacker, starting on the inside next to Patrick Willis. The Niners' current outside linebacker group is manned by Manny Lawson (coming off a major knee injury), Parys Haralson (unproven), Tully Banta-Cain (played last season with a giant fork sticking out of his back), and Roderick Green (your 53rd man).
On the offensive line, things aren't any better. One of our starting guards, Justin Smiley, signed with the Dolphins at the outset of free agency. Despite being well-regarded by coaches and the media alike, Smiley was never seriously pursued by the Niners. The other starting guard, Larry Allen, is a free agent getting zero attention, and may be eyeing retirement. If the season started tomorrow, our starting offensive guards would be Adam Snyder (unable to carve out a niche for himself in his first three seasons) and David Baas (who played decently once he finally got on the field at the end of last season). Meanwhile, the Niners made only a token effort to sign Alan Faneca, who would have been the ideal free agent signing for this team. Joe Staley switches places with Jonas Jennings, who I believe is only on the roster because there were no better options available to replace him. Starting center Eric Heitmann certainly had his share of issues last season, but he'll do for now.
Indeed, the only move the Niners made this season that I can't criticize was the signing of DeShaun Foster. Foster is a veteran, has had plenty of success in the NFL, including a Super Bowl appearance, and will serve as a far better backup to Gore than Maurice Hicks, a graduate emeritus of the "take three steps and fall down" rushing school. Foster is a good receiving HB, has decent speed, and will add options to the offense.
Meanwhile, at quarterback, Nolan has declared an open competition for the starting job. The fact that our roster includes a former number one overall draft pick, a former sixth-round pick, and two former undrafted free agents says a lot about Alex Smith's career to date. By the start of his fourth season, Smith should be the unquestioned starter, and probably should have played in a Pro Bowl or two. He should NOT be fighting for his job with three castoffs.
Now, we can certainly attribute some of Smith's regression last season on the catastrophic shoulder separation he suffered last season, along with the unconscionable hatchet job Nolan tried to pull on him toward the end of the year. Apologists will point to Smith leading the Niners to two last-minute victories to start the season and helping the team stay toe-to-toe with the Steelers before wrecking his shoulder against the Seahawks. But the fact of the matter is, this is Smith's make-or-break year.
In fact, that's basically the theme for the '08 season. Put up or shut up. Playoffs or bust. Anything less and Nolan and Smith will certainly be gone, pushed aside in favor of another lengthy rebuilding process. Succeed and all sins are forgiven.
And with all that pressure, and with the stakes so high, it's confusing why we've seen such a listless, uninspiring start to the offseason.
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