Niners Free Agent Breakdown
Niner Pundit | Jan 12, 2008 | 40 comments
This offseason the 49ers do not have to many of their own free agents that they must sign. Following are the 49ers free agents and who we feel should stay and go.
Unrestricted Free Agents
- OG Justin Smiley: Last offseason Smiley was looking for a big payday, which the 49ers had no intentions of paying, but this offseason is a different story. Smiley finished the season on IR and will not likely get the attention he would have if he wasn’t hurt. The 49ers look to lose 2-3 players on the line and may consider giving Smiley a reasonable contract. I’d look to see who else is out there in the free agent market and if Smiley doesn’t get many bites, bring him back at a cap-friendly price.
- CB Donald Strickland: Strickland loves playing for the 49ers. Strickland isn’t going to be in high demand and the 49ers can get a hometown discount if they wish to bring him back. He is a solid contributor that doesn’t get burned to often. He’s no Clements but he is a very servicable backup. Re-sign him.
- DL Isaac Sopoaga: Latest reports are that the Mad Samoan will get some looks in the open market. With the 49ers still running the 3-4 they need a solid NT, which I’m sure they’ll look at in the draft and free agency. With Bryant Young retiring and Marques Douglas a free agent as well, I’d do what I can to keep Sopoaga and let him continue at NT or slide him over to Young’s end spot and see what he can get done.
- WR Michael L. Lewis: Michael Lewis came in and brought life into the return team. He was a nice change of pace from Mr. Faircatch (Brandon Williams) I’d offer him a contract and let him battle it out in camp.
- QB Shaun Hill: Lock him up now. Latest reports are that Hill and his agent have received an offer, but no news to report on if they have agreed to terms. Re-sign him and let him battle it out with Smith.
- RB Maurice Hicks: Let him walk. Get Hicks off the team and find someone else who will not jump during every kickoff and realize that the 30-yd line isn’t the endzone.
- OT Kwame Harris: At one point the Human Penalty, but as of late a nice cheerleader. Let Kwame walk, offer him nothing. Harris off the team > Harris on the team, regardless if it is on the bench.
- WR Bryan Gilmore: No need to waste time on re-signing him. There are other receivers out there that will fit better in Martz’s system. Also without Gilmore, we will not have to worry about 3rd down reverses.
- DL Marques Douglas: Douglas will test the free agent market and should get some looks. If the 49ers are smart they will offer him a contract and keep him on the team. He did well at the end spot this season and led the league in tackles for loss (don’t quote me on that however) Like I said above in regards to the Mad Samoan, the 49ers can’t afford to lose to many players on the D-line this offseason with Young hanging it up.
- Larry Allen and Bryant Young: They are retiring. York and Co. should waste no time in retiring Young’s number.
Restricted Free Agents
- CB B.J. Tucker: Tucker may receive a low tender, but he isn’t a game breaker and if they don’t re-sign him, I’m sure there is someone else they can pick up off the street, if need be.
- TE Billy Bajema: Give him a low tender. Bajema is a decent blocker and can give Davis and Walker rests.
Filed Under: News
OUCH 
good, singletary did a very good choice right there. T.O. is a worthless bum that'll only be good with ...
Amen Ganjinbuu, I have been saying that for a long time. We got all the pieces except for an elite ...
I'll take him... 
i disagree and agree… Marques Douglas doesn’t fit our defense and he isn’t that good. He had a good contract year. He had reached the best of his ability and now he will start declining from here on out. He has 9 years experience. He will probally want to much money. He is just like Derek Smith. Overpaid veteran, because he played good for one or two seasons. Why wasn’t Douglas good the year before? Cause he sucks. He played for a contract that is it. Gilmore,Kwame, and Hicks I agree 100%, must go. Micheal Lewis should stay if we can’t find someone to replace him. Sopoaga should stay and I could care less about Strickland. i don’t care about him. We need to find a guard in the Draft, I don’t think that Justin Smiley is any good. You were complining about him earlier in the season of being just like Kwame. he sucks and i hope we find someone better than him through draft/free agency, and Shaun Hill is a really really really good back up, below average starter. Bajema is our only blocking tight end, so keep him. BJ Tucker injured something that I heard effects your career, so i wouldn’t get him back.
DRAFT: (first three picks are named)
1.)Quentin Groves ROLB 6′3″
2.)James Hardy WR 6′7″
3.)Joeseph Bryant DT 6′5″ 324 pounds
4.)OG
5.)QB
6.)WR (a speedster)
7.)Any special team stud(returner/big hitter)
Free Agency:
Bernard Berrian
Lance Briggs
i’m thinkin a trade for roy williams since he is used to martz’s offense
we r not getting Roy just because we got martz….the lions wont trade him….seriously this is not madden….its real life
^^^^ the lions have him on the block retard!!!!
Lol at least my players are reasonable to get. Yeah while we are at it lets go trade for Terrel Owens back and get Randy Moss. And lets trade for Chad Johnson, than we would have the best recievers. frankgorefan21 it’s not going to happen. We should think about drafting recievers from Hawaii, they are used to this type of offense. James Hardy is just plain beastly and would dominate. Devon Bess reminds me of Donte Stallworth. (He is fast,breaks tackles like crazy, and can catch) or Lavelle Hawkins would be a lot like a Greg Jennings from GreenBay, he would burn everybody.
I just hope the QB posistion becomes solid at least and good would be nice too. Maybe we should just plain focus on recievers. Lets get rid of Ashley Lelie,Darrel Jackson, Bryan Gilmore,Jason Hill (he doesn’t look really good), and keep Arnaz for slot reciever. Than go all out drafting recievers. James Hardy,Davone Bess, Lavelle Hawkins, and last Will Franklin. Will wants to be a Niner and he has good height (6′2″) and has blazing speed. (4.2-4.3 40 yard dash) Than again this will never happen.
We need to do what i said on the first comment. Get Bernard Berrian as the deep threat, james Hardy as an all around target. Pick up DT Joe Bryant he is like Frank okam but he plays with heart every play instead of being like Alan Branch. Quentin Groves would be just plain stud. His speed with Lawson and Willis?, and possibly even Lance Briggs. We would have the youngest fastest group of linebackers. Our offensive line will be better once we get Mr. Glass out, and Larry Allen retires. We should get Alan Faneca and draft an offensive guard later in the draft, than we should have a better o-line. It would be nice to have a guy like Devin Hester or a Josh Cribbs as our return man. It would also be wonderful to go get another big hitter on special teams, like keith lewis and Jeff Ulbrich are for us. If we can get Joe Flacco, that would be a nice steal, he is Ben Roethlisburger 2.0 . He could be a 3-4 round pick. Hopefully 4. He will be playiong in the senior bowl, si I will like to see what he can do against the best seniors and not just the lower division opponents. He could change our problems for QB.
http://profootballexperts.scout.com/2/719153.html
and also…
” second-day quarterback to keep an eye on for next year’s draft is Delaware’s Joe Flacco. At 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, Flacco has prototypical size and the intangibles it takes to be a starting quarterback at the next level. He delivers the ball with great accuracy and shows nice touch leading receivers in stride. He’s not a mobile quarterback, but moves well laterally to escape the pocket and make throws on the run. He’s had a good season for the Blue Hens so far (completing over 72 percent of his passes for 2,408 yards, 13 touchdowns, and three interceptions) and really shined against Navy this past weekend. Flacco completed 30-of-41 passes for 434 yards and four touchdowns. If your team is looking to develop a quarterback “
Haha ninersgold, 90% of the stuff u just said would never happen. It would be nice, but wouldn’t happen.
It would be a stretch for us to even try to get Berrian.
Not calling you out though. Just doesn’t seem like most of that would happen.
And I might be crazy, but I still like Lelie. He can be a really good deep threat. I agree with the rest of the guys that should go.
Is there a good chance we could get Isaac Bruce in this offseason?
The rumor is that Bruce will get cut by the Rams and be reunited with Martz. I think it would be a great idea, simply because our current crop of WRs need to learn from a veteran who knows the system inside and out. Bruce could take on the mentor role for the WRs that Dilfer had with Alex Smith.
Receivers do need a lot of help, but the area that needs the most work is O-Line. They were bad and are going to be worse if we don’t bring in any help this off-season. Also, if we let Douglas and Sopoaga go, then we will need to rebuild the whole defensive line. The team is trying to get better, not get sent backwards in the rebuilding process. We don’t need a pro-bowl player at every position, we just need a solid role player that will help our BEASTS flourish. So much is made of fixing our WRs by drafting one, most wide outs take at least one to two years to start fully performing at high levels, Roy WIlliams and Anquan Boldin are exceptions. It is too early to give up on Jason Hill, and lets see what a descent OC and steady quarterback play can do for Jackson, Battle and Lelie.
Overhauling is not the idea when we are trying to get out of the rebuilding process. We don’t have the luxury of upgrading the positions that we already have.
I don’t think Roy Williams will come here now that we hired Martz, they didn’t exactly get on. He was fairly unreserved in his criticism of Martz’s offensive system towards the end of the year.
Berrian would be sweet.
MSouza you are absolutely correct. We have 22 million, to spend on
free agents. Its only gonna go so far. We have to fix the o line and
d line. Martz will evaluate our QB’s, don’t be surprised, we trade
for an established QB, (McNabb). You can have a #1 WR draft every year, but it doesn’t help, if you don’t have the oline protecting
a mobile accurate passer. Briggs, Suggs, Asante Samuel, are all
great players, but there not going to help us if we don’t have a
pass rush. DEFENSIVE ENDS………You said move Sopoaga to End that
might help. One of the reasons Banta-Cain under performed, is because our Dline isn’t getting enough pressure up the field. You
can’t blitz every play. Were close to last in sacks, and allowing
sacks.
Groves will be gone between 15th-19th pick. I suggest Chris Williams
Left Offensive Tackle Vanderbilt 6′5″ 320lbs. Leave Staley on the
right side.
Kentwan Balmer D Tackle North Carolina, 6′5″ 296lbs. 4.92 40 time.
3rd through 7th best availabe
Free agency rotation Dlinemen. and guard/center upgrades.
ok your saying its impossible to trade for roy williams but hes on the trdaing block and i was just sayin its a possibilty
I’m getting tired of talking about these things, I just hope that the Draft picks we get help this team more, and that Mike Martz either teaches Alex Smith how to throw the ball and fix his mechanics or bring in a nobody and turn them into a star instead. Get some depth on the d-line, and a DT that is big through the draft. Los Banos Jerry actually picked a decent sized DT, he could fit and be a late rounder. Quentin Groves could be availble for us and if he is we should get him with our first pick, he has the most value and he is a need to replace Banta Cain. Our second pick should be an o-linemen or a reciever.
It’s funny how we say it won’t matter how many good recievers we get as long as our o-line sucks, well the same goes the other way. It won’t matter if we have a good o-line, if our recievers continue to drop the ball. It is lose lose situation.
We need to improve our D-line, with a DT, we could perfect our linebacking core if we got Groves and Briggs, our safeties our solid for now, but next year might be a time to go get one. Walt Harris is going to retire by next year or so. Our offense needs to try to get Berrian, I don’t see why we can’t get him, he would flourish in Martz’s offense. Another reciever through the draft would help a lot, a second rounder on a reciever would be James Hardy, or a third or fourth rounder on Devone Bess would be very nice. Those two are playmakers at least get one of them if they are available in those rounds. Our offensive line needs to get a good guard. Unfotunately/ Fotunatley Mike Nolan like sDamane Duckett playing right tackle and Joe Staley plaing left tackle on our o-line. Damane Duckett is a converted d-linemen, this looks really bad, but who knows he might be good, he is 6′6″.
NEEDS:
DT (JOE BRYANT OR FRANK OKAM OR ANYONE ELSE WHO IS 6′5″ 300 POUNDS PLUS)
WR (JAMES HARDY OR DEVONE BESS AND BERNARD BERRIAN)
OFFENSIVE GUARD (THERE ARE A LOT OF GOOD ONES THROUGH DRAFT)
OFFENSIVE TACKLE (IF GROVES AIN’T AVAILABLE THAN GET ONE IN 1STROUND
ROLB (QUENTIN GROVES OR ANOTHER STAR PROSPECT FOR THE 3-4 DEFENSE)
MLB (LANCE BRIGGS)
I think McNolan will do a wonderful job through the draft anyways, they have the Senior Bowl which is almost an automatic good draft. They already know who isn’t good for them and who is. Anyone they pick will be good for this team.
It is not worth trading a good player / high draft pick for roy williams.
Quentin Groves would fit perfectly for our defense. I know our ofense sucks, but our defense isn’t perfect either if we get him with Briggs all we would have to worrya bout is our d-line. He is even projected to go late first round…
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=40
Here are the two DTs that I really like Red Bryant also known as Josesph Bryant, he is the biggest DT available 6′5″ 324 pounds, and Pat Sims Dt from Auburn. Auburn actually played using a 3-4 defense in a couple of games and he dominated at NT in those games,and also Quentin Groves dominated at LOLB in those games. Pat Sims is 6′4″ 310 pounds. Pat Sims should be available in teh 4th round of the draft. Bryant will prioabaly be a 2nd or 3rd round pick. I prefer Pat Sims because I saw what he could do actaully playing in a 3-4 defense, he looked like Vince Wilfork. It is unfortuante he is a junior so we won’t see him in the senior bowl.
These are 3-4 DE prospects
http://www.newerascouting.com/index.php?c=84
These are 3-4 OLB prospects
http://www.newerascouting.com/index.php?c=31
If Randy Moss went for a 4th last year Roy Williams wont go for much higher then that.
Draft:
Quentin Groves OLB (Fast STUD that will stuff the run and kill the QB)
James Hardy WR (I already talk about him to much)
Kentwam Balmer/Pat Sims DT(forget about Red Bryant, either of these guys fits better)
Andrew Bain OG (both are good, Bain is a great run blocker and he is huge at 330 pounds)
Will Franklin WR (he is 6′2″ AND RUNS A LOW 4.3 TO EVEN A 4.2 40 . He is the one who wants to be a niner.)
Chris Norwell DE (in the 3-4 DE in a 4-3 he is a DT.)
Corey Lynch FS (Stud at special teams and he is a very good starter, he could be a steal, he blocks field goals, and he is the one who blocked Michigans game winning field Goal. He does that a lot)
FREE AGENCY:
Lance Briggs (GET HIM with WILLIS NOW!!)
If possible get Bernard Berrian (He would breakout in Martz’s OFF.)
Alan Faneca (only if we really need him) He is OLD
Max Starks (can play good at Tackle, depends on DAMANE DUCKETT)
Micahel… the raiders were retarted, Moss is worth a first round pick, he played like an undrafted free agent with the raiders, he sucked for the raiders and they didn’t care about him anymore. Roy Williams is worth a first or second rounder. We shouldn’t give up a high pick on him, we need to build this team throught the draft.
I don’t have the numbers, as might I in baseball, let’s say, to make this case more strongly – but to my eyes, Douglas is vastly underrated and even before Hill, his retention would be my top priority.
Douglas is old, he might have 1 or 2 years left in him of playing good. He has nowhere to go but down. He will start to deteriorate, which isn’t good, because he is already undersized. I don;t know about him. We need to draft our DEs. WE already have Ray McDonald and Melvin Oliver. Plus if we get soemone like Chris Norwell who is 6′6″ and huge he could be a better fit than Douglas. He has good size and he would be young and make our d-line better. Pat Sims for DT. Sopoaga could play DE or be a part of the rotation for DT. Douglas will want to much money, like Derek Smith. Slow, deteriorating, and expensive.
I totally agree with Ninergold, you guys are high if you think we are going to acquire Roy Williams….unless we give up AT LEAST our second pick. You guys might want to get used to that. IF we did acquire him that would be AWESOME though because he is a sure fire number one receiver. Also, if we get Bruce that would put EXTRA PRESSURE on our other receivers to step up or hit the road…..YOU LISTENING DJAX??? Just realize if we get Bruce he will be a short term solution since he is 35 years old. I know that the player in Dallas is 35, but I see Bruce retiring before that TURD!! Hey guys, GO CHARGERS, they just delivered us the 29th pick I believe!
Hey Everybody, we have the #28 pick in the DRAFT!!!!! Better chance to get better talent. I like the Colts but they are out, and our drfat pick has stopped moving up. Now we have a better chance to get Quentin Groves.
IS IT THE 28th or the 29th because I THOUGHT it was the 29th, but I would way rather have the 28th. Also, am I wrong or right thinking that Derek Smith’s contract is up NOW?
pats,cowboys,packers,colts,giants out of 31… Yeah we have pick #28
Derek Smith has two years left or something like that but the team is trying to get him to retire.
We get the 28th pick if the Pats lose next week. If they win, we get the 29th. Think I saw that online somewhere. Either way, it’s better than 31.
Corey lynch would replce our againg FS Mark Roman. I’ve been thinking that we could get him as a sixth or seventh round pick. He is a steal. Big hitter, field goal blocker, and because he is in D-1 football, he is really really underated. He is ridiculously fast and a big big hitter. he could be a special teams stud, and a star in the league. I know we have Dashon Goldson, but Corey Lynch is so much faster than him. If a game came down to a field goal I would be so happy, because he is so fast and strong he will go right through and block it. He would make our secondary even better. I know you all talk about getting recievers and linemen both offensive and defensive, we can get those guys in the early rounds. he is projected to go in the 6th round, we could easily get him.
What do yall think about Jamaal Charles RB from Texas. Being from Texas I see this guy alot. He Is the fastest rb in college. He use to be on the track team. He would be a great pick in the lower rounds for Kr and pr. what do you guys think.
I saw him too he is very good, he would be more of an all around type back (competion with Gore for carries). I think he will be taken before we can get him at a valuable spot. He can break some for big gains though.
Look everybody I know I shouldn’t say his Names but his you got to see. Terrel Owens cried!!! Look…
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d805f77ba
Douglas may only have a few years left at his peak, but we could use those years to replace him later, rather than get rid of him now and add to the list of things that we need. He had 70 tackles and three sacks this year. The numbers aren’t phenomenal, but its better than plugging in a rookie and have him get pushed back on every run play.
Thank god the Cowboys lost. I think I would have broken many things in my house if they would have won the SuperBowl
Thanks for the link. Cry all you want Owens, we’ll never forget your attacks on Garcia and in Philly….
All I can say is I’m excited to see who we add to this team to make it stronger. Just as I was last year. More strength should equal a greater team with more wins. Always the optimist….
San Diego vs Indy was a toss up for me. I think I wanted Norv to lose more than I wanted a higher draft choice.
Cowboys losing? What Niner fan doesn’t love that?
Trevor laws from Notre Dame for NT.100+ tackles his senior season,6 blocked kicks.
Fits in the 3-4 defense,not to mention an incredible spin move.
For those of you who can’t tell by my name, I live in Texas. It was really quite when I went to work on Monday! Everyone looked like someone had shit in there cereal. It made my day. It was the first monday were I accually couldn’t wait for work. Finally, I don’t have to hear Cowboys fans thinking there team is the shit. I don’t know what feels better, Cowboys loosing or T.O. crying.
Definetley Cowboys losing! Cause without it, we wouldn’t get to see T.O cry.
Don’t write off Kwame Harris. The guy is only 27 years old. Adam Snyder could not beat him out at RT. Who do I want at RT? Jonas “Help me I can’t get on the field” Jennings or Kwame Harris. My money is with Kwame Harris who at least will play injured and wants to be on the field.
With Larry Allen retiring, Niner’s need to resign Justin Smiley. Yeah he had an off season. But, you cannot have too many quality linemen.
Dude, look at the Kwame Harris video on this site and then you will realize that what you just said is the dumbest think I’ve seen on this site. He fuckin sucks!
los banos….did u just say don’t be surprised if we trade for MCNABB?!?!?!wttttffffffffffffffff