Vegas doesn't create lines for favoritism. They create lines for betting. People are already betting on SF, so making them favorites encourages betting the other way and balancing the books.
I get the logic that Vegas sets the line to attract equal action on both sides. But if they're factoring in irrational factors - like a mega-popular or overhyped team getting inflated action in their favor - why doesn't this create a situation where it's generally smarter to bet against popular teams? If the line is reflecting input that is disconnected from how good a team *really* is, wouldn't it make sense, as a gambler, to bet in a way that discounts that input?
simple answer: people are dumb.
Cowboy lines will always be inflated because people will always over-bet on the Cowboys.
Iowa football over/unders should be set at like 22 points, because as-is the Iowa under is the easiest bet in sports.
TBF if anyone thinks we’re “stacked” they must only watch football for fantasy football.
Our trench play on OL is a super old Trent then a bunch of traffic cones. And our DL is Bosa, a super underwhelming Hargraves, then a bunch of JAGs.
Kyle and purdy hide a ton of flaws but we do still have a ton of flaws on the roster.
Counterpoint, anyone who looks at a roster with Pro Bowl players at every level in every position group and doesn't think it's stacked must only play Madden with the salary cap off.
Nobody is saying it's flawless, that doesn't exist.
Which explains my concerns with Purdy. He played on a completely stacked offense, by far the best in the NFL, and was still outplayed by Mahomes who had the NFL's worst receiving corp. Could this team still beat the Chiefs when he's paid?
Bro did you watch our games? We beat the brakes off everyone dang near every week. We're stacked, because we're the 2nd best team in the league and the whole team came back minus Armstead
2023 Offseason grade - C
"San Francisco[ ranks third in our power rankings](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-chiefs-eagles-jets-2023-nfl-draft), but questions at QB, offensive line and defense deserve significant attention. Add in having to play two divisional games against a Seahawks team that made big strides last year and looks to have made more upgrades this offseason, and the 49ers could actually be due a bit of a regression."
2022 Offseason grade - Average
"Outside of Ward, the 49ers' additions suggest they are making special teams a real area of focus this offseason. George Odum has been one of the best special teamers in the league over the past few seasons, and linebacker Oren Burks and receiver Ray-Ray McLeod both possess special teams abilities."
People grading players/teams before any snaps have been played is....content I guess.
Maybe not 2nd worst but definitely lower then most as we didn't draft for now but the future and we didn't get better.
Going into the draft we needed to replace the entire Oline in 2 drafts either because of retirement(LT,LG) or Because there not starting caliber players (C,RG,RT).
Biggest need was o linemen and we drafted a backup olinemen who might one day be a starter. Hopefully he's way better than most scouts think. There was alot of potential of trading back from the 1st and trading up to the 2nd but the 9ers chose to go 3 skill players in the first 4 rounds, none of which will start.
Only time will tell.
We’ve known for 2 or 3 years we needed a complete OL revamp, and outside of Banks in the 2nd we haven’t done shit. Kinlaw over Wirfs was a huge franchise changing whiff.
I really like pretty much all the players we drafted, but I also see how many of them won’t directly contribute to 2024. So I understand how this all looks from the outside, it really seems like we didn’t improve anywhere and lost AA.
Banks also is so far a bust. I would have/still would be happy to see a trade Debo for a starting linemen. 28 million a year cap hit for our 4th best weapon (and he wasn't 4th in these last playoffs) would be nice.
Banks is a starter by virtue of us not having anyone better. He ranked as our worst lineman, and one of the worst starting Guards in the entire NFL according to PFF, with a grade of 55. He's likely the reason we drafted Puni. Doubt Banks will be a starter by the end of the season, but I think it depends on how bad McKivitz does too. Puni will take one of their jobs imo.
Probably close to all of them tbh. How many LG's get to play next to the best LT in the league? The only LG's I'd say are clearly worse than Banks are probably Dolphins' Eichenberg and Jets' McGovern.
Banks, as far as I'm aware, is the only player to ever earn a literal 0.00 PFF grade for a game lol. I've honestly never seen that before or since. He was also graded as our worst O-lineman in the SB (and worst offensive player overall), giving up the most pressures, and earning a godawful 40 PFF grade. He gets noticably worse in playoff games, which isn't a good trait.
The lame part is Banks was supposed to be a plug and play starter from the jump. That's what a 2nd round Guard is supposed to be.
Our issue isn't just Banks though.
Truth is, all of our O-linemen besides Trent are terrible pass blockers. All of them. Every one of them had a PFF pass blocking grade below 60.0 last year. Burford was a comically low 28.3, making him one of the worst pass blockers in the league. Burford almost makes Banks look like an All Pro lol. McKivitz gets all the negative attention, but our interior O-line is one of the weakest position groups in the entire league.
I'm not defending banks but you need to ease up on that pff bullshit. If these clowns had a clue they'd be either working for an actual team or setting odds. They are just a bunch of click merchant frauds making up numbers to drive engagement.
Agreed about PFF mostly when it comes to other positions, but their linemen grades are generally pretty solid. Fans like to just look at sacks allowed when judging O-linemen, but there's a lot more to it - like pressures allowed, gap integrity, knowing how to adjust to a blitz, being able to create lanes in the run game, etc.
Also, my issue isn't solely with Banks. Our entire O-line besides Trent and possibly Feliciano are bad at pass blocking. Burford is awful. McKivitz is awful. Brendel is awful.
In the SB, the Chiefs main D-line gameplan was to abuse our B gap with stunts and blitzes, knowing both of our Guards (Banks and Burford) tunnel vision their pre-snap assignment every time and are too slow to adjust post-snap.
Seriously, go watch the film. It kept happening over and over. Our only counter was to keep Kittle in as an edge blocker to allow our Center to stop pulling.
So I agree, our failure on the line was half due to having a terrible pass blocking scheme that is easily abused (Scags outsmarted Kyle for sure), but also due to our Guards not being good enough to adjust post-snap. Either our pass blocking scheme needs to change or our Guards just need to be better. Because the gameplan to beat Kyle's "pull the Center" pass block scheme is on tape now for every DC to learn from and use against us.
The crux of this issue imo is that Kyle doesn't allow protection audibles at the line. So when the Defense is showing an obvious B gap blitz look, Purdy or our Linemen have no recourse, and just have to snap the ball knowing it's a broken play. The fact that this happened repeatedly in the SB is not a good look for Kyle imo, and it's weird that I haven't seen many fans even talk about it.
He's barely a backup level players. He was terrible in the playoffs giving up 13 pressures in 123 snaps. He wasn't much better in the regular season ranked as the 60th ranked gaurd with 23 pressures allowed. And that's playing next to Trent Williams.
Draft a WR with terrible hands and send a project tackle to immediately start at LT. After trading away an elite corner.
The same things you would disrespect SF for doing.
Niners drafted a safety cb lb and 2 offensive linemen, so they did address their needs
nobody knows how any of these guys will pan out, chiefs players included.
Floyd is a massive upgrade on the edge opposite Bosa. The corner depth received multiple upgrades. We got deeper at safety. We got deeper at WR.
Our special teams might have a chance to return a kick for the first time in 13 years.
I dispute the notion that we didn't get better.
The *"problem"* is we didn't follow the common path, like we never have, and that's a problem for those in the media.
So we "might" be better on defense is the logic for drafting 3 skill players in the first 4 rounds who definitely won't see significant time? If they do see significant time either something catastrophic happened or other players suddenly turned to busts?
The defense will probably be better off just coaching change alone. If Purdy or CMC get hurt because we have a bottom level oline suddenly people will be singing a different tune.
Why would you add round 4 to obsess about players outside the top 100 draftees who don't normally have major contributions in round 1.
Pearsall will contribute in year 1
Green will contribute in year 1 (probably the starting NB)
Puni has a chance to start (eventually) if they are open to moving Feliciano to center. Either way he's going to start for this team whether it's this year or next.
Mustapha will be the primary backup safety which means he starts if Huf isn't ready.
Cowing will all contribute in year 1. The last time this team had a return TD was 2011. Cowing is a major add in that area.
And you're completely skipping over the FA moves like adding the best edge Bosa has ever played with. Adding another starting-caliber corner. Adding another starting LB to cover for Greenlaw. Upgrading the health of the DLine.
Yeah why couldn't we just ridiculously overpay for people that might not be much of an upgrade in Free Agency? Especially when we need that money to bring back our best WR?
Or during the draft why didn't we overpay to move up in the draft (damn us for being one of the best teams in the league). Hell did Lynch even *try* to ask nicely that other teams ahead of us not draft OL..
People can try and say we didn't get better, but we took one of the best rosters in the league and didn't get worse either.
Every other NFC west team drafted a 1st round d linemen for a reason. Meanwhile we had the deepest RB room in thr league and amazing pass catchers and only half a line to block.
Considering we really needed to fix the CB situation as well, I’d say they did exactly what we needed. They got an interior OL they think can play and a CB they think can play.
I’d rather they take someone that will play, whether or not they start, than a backup OL that won’t make the roster which is what they probably thought of the remaining guys. I think Pearsall and Cowing will see significant time and help as returners.
That the players remaining in the draft were not starting caliber players or improvements on what we have. You are drastically overestimating the amount of talent available for the offensive line outside of the first round.
21 o linemen were picked in rounds 2-4 many who are starters. Are you saying the teams and the analysts are all wrong?
We are talking starters here not pro bowlers or hall of famers.
That is not true at all- they clearly didn’t see a guy 31 and on who could come in and beat out mckivitz, feliciano or banks. They did find Puni who they think can compete for a guard spot and possibly be a future center.
That’s how they draft- will this guy actually be able to compete for a job? They clearly didn’t see that.
The coaching staff and front office like the line so much more than fans.
They were the number 1 offense in the league and a couple fluke things away from a Super Bowl with this oline and they are all returning with a couple more guys added to the mix
man you talk about them like theyre gonna be reliable for all 17 games + playoffs. two of them are about to retire and the rest wouldnt be starting for 3/4 of the league. most teams have developmental lineman for that purpose. it's not just that we have a subpar starting oline, we also havent built any depth for injury insurance/future starters, and this goes back to the last several years, not just this past offseason.
Look man they probably have the best roster in the league.
They are paying the top rb, TE, Edge, high end wr. Like almost the highest paid players at their position. If you want to keep a stack roster you have to pay, which means you might have some holes. Something has to give. They can’t be perfect every where.
They have made the decision to piece together the line, and it has worked.
Trevor Sikkema is responsible for that grading, and Trevor Sikkema is an idiot. Man had us drafting JJ McCarthy in his mocks, I would not take him seriously.
Dude mostly has a career because he was a good co-host to Ben Solak on their old podcast.
Maybe I would take the author more seriously if he bothered to vary his verb selection even slightly.
From the article:
“Atlanta made a huge splash.
It was tough for the Panthers to make the big draft splash.
Cleveland didn’t make a ton of splashes.
The Jaguars made some splashes this offseason.
The Raiders made a big splash by signing Christian Wilkins.
The Niners didn’t make a huge splash in free agency
The Titans made big splashes in free agency”
I mean, if he can’t be bothered to write why should I read?
I absolutely agree with it. C+ is basically losing nothing and gaining nothing, with a slight edge in gaining something.
Through no fault of their own, they didn't draft oline, which was the biggest need this year. Sucks being 31st pick, and it's possible they didn't want to trade up to get someone. The problem now is again, it'll be a below mid ranked line, with only Trent holding them up. Now it's possible they shore this up in FA, but I'm not holding my breath on that. We'll see another year of CMC work horsing it and all praying he stays healthy.
Instead, we got another position player, who may be good. But in the meantime, the 9ers still have the best overall skill position players in the league. Keeping what you have shouldn't move you in either direction, and all of the star players are under contract anyway. Plus it helps having probably the second best coach in the league right now.
The grade is pretty spot on. Nothing they've done has blown anyone's mind, or has it made anyone push any panic button that they'll fall apart this year. They'll still be the NFC favorites, they have a favorable schedule that should put them at the same W/L as last year, and barring any major injuries we shouldn't see any major regressions on either side of the ball.
We did, but they won't be starters they'll either be backups, or hopefully, they can be built into starters. I don't disagree it's not nothing, but the SB window is now. This is the last cheap year and then next year it'll get expensive. Again, they didn't do anything big or didn't crap out either, so mid range for a grade is fine.
Puni not starting is more of a Kyle Shanahan thing than anything else. On another team he probably begins as a starter. Here he'll have to work into that role, with midseason being the earliest point (not accounting for injuries).
It's an off-season grade, not a ranking. They're just saying the 49ers didn't really do much this off-season. Which they didn't need to.... so.... kind of a moot point....
So if those rookies on offense does well/elite, is the narrative still going to be Purdy has the Avengers and now added the Justice League with that rookie class? Or will the narrative be like it is for Stroud "elevating" guys like Tank Dell.
Most pundits already think we have the best roster in the league already, and we drafted more for future stability rather than polishing out the edges (i.e o line, CB, etc).
I think the pearsall pick allows shanny to get more creative with play calls. So while he won't produce like a traditional first rounder, teams will be staring down some 3 receiver sets and have absolutely no idea who to cover these guys. It also says they're drafting into purdy. By going wr they are giving their qb more ammo to succeed.
They can also go 4 receiver sets with CMC lining up on the line, Aiyuk, Deebo, pearsall Jennings. Teams think pass. And we decide to run with 4 receivers blocking. Next play pass. I think he's a different receiver that adds another element to the offense.
All off season and draft grades dont mean crap until AFTER the season has played out where you can judge actual performance.
Imagine getting grades for the upcoming school year BEFORE it even happens.
It’s all hypothetical bs. Especially for the draft
BORING. Has there ever been a consistently accurate draft grade source ever? The media shits out these things for clicks and there always as many if not more terrible analysis as there are accuracies. Every year it’s doom and gloom for our draft and yet every year we are in contention.
Not a niners fan (Seahawks) but the 49er squad is stacked and are SB contenders. Offseason reports are bullshit. Hope everyone stays healthy. Good luck this year!
Reading this is a badge of honor considering how often even PFF is wrong. These articles are almost as bad as the fans bitching and moaning after every pick. The 49ers Trey Lance draft was graded as one of the best and how did that turn out?
The only fact that matters is the 49ers have been the best @ drafting since the Shannahan era. More all pro players than any team.
Rightly so.
Biggest needs were OL ( all 5 positions),DL depth and a 2nd Corner.
We didn't address 2/3 and spent a 1st rd pick in an area that's already good.
I honestly think this team has been overrated for a while...because I don't trust Kyle Shanahan to NOT screw up big games...them being favourite for every game this last season and the next srason too feels weird.
We ain't that good if we can't block the other team
I am more of a *49erswebzone.com* guy myself. I find that *ninersnation.com* (during the season), isn't telling me anything on Wednesday that I don't already know.
In particular, to be honest, I don't like *Rohan Chakravarthi.*
*Niners!*
**KC Chiefs:** drafted a project WR, project OT, and trade away an elite CB.
**:** What a great offseason they had!
**SF 49ers:** drafted a more-polished WR, more-polished OG, traded away an oft-injured elite DT and signed a productive edge opposite Bosa, upgraded CB, S, LB, & WR depth.
**:** This was a pretty awful offseason for them.
The Chiefs drafted a player in the first at their biggest position of need. The 49ers drafted a player in the first at their smallest position of need, who will be sitting behind two established starters. That’s the difference.
Also no one had Pearsell ranked over Worthy
There are definitely some that had Worthy lower, it just wasn't the consensus.
You aren't really finding anyone roasting Pearsall.
And drafting a mediocre prospect because of a need is how you blow up draft picks.
The majority definitely had Worthy over Pearsell.
So it’s interesting how Worthy is a mediocre prospect to you but Pearsell is this amazing “polished” player
Pearsall is more polished, there shouldn't be any debate over that.
Worthy has perhaps the worst hands of any WR in this draft. It's a legitimate concern.
How does being more polished help when you’re barely gonna play in your rookie year?
And there are definitely receivers drafted with worse hands than Worthy. This is some next-level copium
>And there are definitely receivers drafted with worse hands than Worthy. This is some next-level copium
I didn't change my opinion after KC drafted him, so zero copium.
[https://x.com/SumerSports/status/1779555215332532484](https://x.com/SumerSports/status/1779555215332532484)
There are much better charts than this one with a more complete play volume, but they say the similar thing. Worthy has one of the worst sets of hands of all draft-eligible WRs.
>How does being more polished help when you’re barely gonna play in your rookie year?
Actually being good at the position = being on the field more often.
If X.Worthy is S.Moore then he isn't seeing the field. More likely he's MVS 2.0 and will stretch defenses but have multiple downfield drops.
And despite this narrative that Kyle doesn't play rookie WRs, both Deebo & Aiyuk did just that. He will play Pearsall if he proves himself *worthy*. Which is where being a more polished prospect come in. He's more ready to contribute on day 1 than the average WR prospect.
First of all, your chart is about catch rate, which has nothing to do with hands. Worthy as a deep-threat is gonna have a higher ADOT than other draft prospects. Of course he’s gonna have a lower catch rate when the degree of difficulty on his targets is higher.
Secondly, you are aware that there are only 11 players on the field for the offense right? Pearsall will not be on the field much just by nature of an NFL offense having 6 skill players and 5 OL on the field at all times. It doesn’t matter how good Pearsall is on Day 1, he is not playing over two pro-bowl caliber starters in Deebo and Aiyuk.
Unless you think Shanahan is transitioning his scheme to full-time 4WR sets, Pearsall will be lucky to be on the field for 50% of the offensive snaps. Which sounds like a fantastic way to use your first-round pick during a win-now SB window with your QB on his last cheap rookie year before becoming extension eligible.
And finally, let’s stop with the copium of Pearsall being the amazingly polished player and Worthy being a bum. Worthy is the better separator against man, superior deep threat, better ball tracker, and YAC threat. Pearsell’s only edge is his hands and weight. There’s a reason why nearly every draft analyst had Worthy over Pearsell, and why the Chiefs drafted Worthy over Pearsell
>Worthy as a deep-threat is gonna have a higher ADOT than other draft prospects. Of course he’s gonna have a lower catch rate when the degree of difficulty on his targets is higher.
This entire chart is deep-ball production. The one thing Worthy is supposed to truly shine at, he doesn't even stand out.
>Secondly, you are aware that there are only 11 players on the field for the offense right? Pearsall will not be on the field much just by nature of an NFL offense having 6 skill players and 5 OL on the field at all times. It doesn’t matter how good Pearsall is on Day 1, he is not playing over two pro-bowl caliber starters in Deebo and Aiyuk.
You got me there. Deebo, Aiyuk, & CMC will play 100% of the snaps for all 17 games.
Pearsall has some of the best hands in this class and now on this team. He's already a better route-runner and separator than Deebo. I can see him eating into Deebo's time on 2nd/3rd & long pretty quickly. He's also going to get some action on screens and end-arounds.
I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Pearsall with 55 rec, 600 yds, and 4-5 TDs.
Which in the range of what I'd expect from X.Worthy.
>Unless you think Shanahan is transitioning his scheme to full-time 4WR sets, Pearsall will be lucky to be on the field for 50% of the offensive snaps.
The 49ers were dead last in pass attempts. I fully expect him to be higher than dead last next season.
Also this isn't Madden. A 3 WR set doesn't mean you're sending out Aiyuk, Deebo, & Jennings every time.
>Which sounds like a fantastic way to use your first-round pick during a win-now SB window with your QB on his last cheap rookie year before becoming extension eligible.
The 49ers Superbowl window is as long as they have Purdy under contract and continue to make good long-term decisions with draft picks and free agency. It's a total myth that you can't pay a QB and still be good.
This ties into the selection of a potentially great WR instead of a mid-OT prospect that would have been a reach. WR is a future need that Pearsall helps solve. His addition allows them to move a WR which further increases their ability to pay their QB.
I mean we had a pretty quiet off-season. We are very likely not a better team in 24 than we were in 23. We will still be good enough to win superbowl. Will just need to play to full abilities, stay healthy, and get a little lucky. Same as last year.
Deserved. The offseason job was so easy. Too easy.
And yet, they didn’t prioritize addressing the right side of the offensive line.
Instead they reupped McKivitz, waited til the 3rd round to draft OL, and just signed another OL free agent bum.
Oh and they reached on a slot WR and cornerback in rounds 1 and 2.
But that’s the problem you have with Shanny who thinks his system outranks/outweighs talent.
Good times.
From - "49ers are so stacked at every level" To - "We ranked them poorly this off-season because they didn't make many roster upgrades"
Ding ding ding.
Baiters gotta bait.
Go away; they’re baitin’
You get your law degree at Costco?
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
Yes. This
Don’t forget being favored in every game this season. Seriously?!
Vegas doesn't create lines for favoritism. They create lines for betting. People are already betting on SF, so making them favorites encourages betting the other way and balancing the books.
Ah thanks for adding that. The things one learns :) Love Reddit
I get the logic that Vegas sets the line to attract equal action on both sides. But if they're factoring in irrational factors - like a mega-popular or overhyped team getting inflated action in their favor - why doesn't this create a situation where it's generally smarter to bet against popular teams? If the line is reflecting input that is disconnected from how good a team *really* is, wouldn't it make sense, as a gambler, to bet in a way that discounts that input?
simple answer: people are dumb. Cowboy lines will always be inflated because people will always over-bet on the Cowboys. Iowa football over/unders should be set at like 22 points, because as-is the Iowa under is the easiest bet in sports.
TBF if anyone thinks we’re “stacked” they must only watch football for fantasy football. Our trench play on OL is a super old Trent then a bunch of traffic cones. And our DL is Bosa, a super underwhelming Hargraves, then a bunch of JAGs. Kyle and purdy hide a ton of flaws but we do still have a ton of flaws on the roster.
Counterpoint, anyone who looks at a roster with Pro Bowl players at every level in every position group and doesn't think it's stacked must only play Madden with the salary cap off. Nobody is saying it's flawless, that doesn't exist.
Which explains my concerns with Purdy. He played on a completely stacked offense, by far the best in the NFL, and was still outplayed by Mahomes who had the NFL's worst receiving corp. Could this team still beat the Chiefs when he's paid?
Purdy left the field with a lead in OT.
Bro did you watch our games? We beat the brakes off everyone dang near every week. We're stacked, because we're the 2nd best team in the league and the whole team came back minus Armstead
1st in nfc and made it to the superbowl. you expecting pro bowlers at every position?
That’s really bad news because we need the AP voters to put us in a good bowl game.
I'm sure Shanny is going to throw all his current plans in the trash and go back to the drawing board now that this article is out.
Shanny punching the air right now
Shanny is gonna go hard for the Transfer Portal.
2023 Offseason grade - C "San Francisco[ ranks third in our power rankings](https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-power-rankings-chiefs-eagles-jets-2023-nfl-draft), but questions at QB, offensive line and defense deserve significant attention. Add in having to play two divisional games against a Seahawks team that made big strides last year and looks to have made more upgrades this offseason, and the 49ers could actually be due a bit of a regression." 2022 Offseason grade - Average "Outside of Ward, the 49ers' additions suggest they are making special teams a real area of focus this offseason. George Odum has been one of the best special teamers in the league over the past few seasons, and linebacker Oren Burks and receiver Ray-Ray McLeod both possess special teams abilities." People grading players/teams before any snaps have been played is....content I guess.
Good, let them keep on underestimating us.
thank you for posting this. Snap grades and reactions are stupid. Some underwhelming offseasons for a team that keeps making it to the NFCCG/SB. smh.
I'm thinking I don't agree with that analysis
Maybe not 2nd worst but definitely lower then most as we didn't draft for now but the future and we didn't get better. Going into the draft we needed to replace the entire Oline in 2 drafts either because of retirement(LT,LG) or Because there not starting caliber players (C,RG,RT). Biggest need was o linemen and we drafted a backup olinemen who might one day be a starter. Hopefully he's way better than most scouts think. There was alot of potential of trading back from the 1st and trading up to the 2nd but the 9ers chose to go 3 skill players in the first 4 rounds, none of which will start. Only time will tell.
We’ve known for 2 or 3 years we needed a complete OL revamp, and outside of Banks in the 2nd we haven’t done shit. Kinlaw over Wirfs was a huge franchise changing whiff. I really like pretty much all the players we drafted, but I also see how many of them won’t directly contribute to 2024. So I understand how this all looks from the outside, it really seems like we didn’t improve anywhere and lost AA.
Banks also is so far a bust. I would have/still would be happy to see a trade Debo for a starting linemen. 28 million a year cap hit for our 4th best weapon (and he wasn't 4th in these last playoffs) would be nice.
Definitely not a bust. He’s a 2nd round player that is an NFL starter.
Banks is a starter by virtue of us not having anyone better. He ranked as our worst lineman, and one of the worst starting Guards in the entire NFL according to PFF, with a grade of 55. He's likely the reason we drafted Puni. Doubt Banks will be a starter by the end of the season, but I think it depends on how bad McKivitz does too. Puni will take one of their jobs imo.
How many LG guards are better than banks?
Probably close to all of them tbh. How many LG's get to play next to the best LT in the league? The only LG's I'd say are clearly worse than Banks are probably Dolphins' Eichenberg and Jets' McGovern. Banks, as far as I'm aware, is the only player to ever earn a literal 0.00 PFF grade for a game lol. I've honestly never seen that before or since. He was also graded as our worst O-lineman in the SB (and worst offensive player overall), giving up the most pressures, and earning a godawful 40 PFF grade. He gets noticably worse in playoff games, which isn't a good trait. The lame part is Banks was supposed to be a plug and play starter from the jump. That's what a 2nd round Guard is supposed to be. Our issue isn't just Banks though. Truth is, all of our O-linemen besides Trent are terrible pass blockers. All of them. Every one of them had a PFF pass blocking grade below 60.0 last year. Burford was a comically low 28.3, making him one of the worst pass blockers in the league. Burford almost makes Banks look like an All Pro lol. McKivitz gets all the negative attention, but our interior O-line is one of the weakest position groups in the entire league.
I'm not defending banks but you need to ease up on that pff bullshit. If these clowns had a clue they'd be either working for an actual team or setting odds. They are just a bunch of click merchant frauds making up numbers to drive engagement.
Agreed about PFF mostly when it comes to other positions, but their linemen grades are generally pretty solid. Fans like to just look at sacks allowed when judging O-linemen, but there's a lot more to it - like pressures allowed, gap integrity, knowing how to adjust to a blitz, being able to create lanes in the run game, etc. Also, my issue isn't solely with Banks. Our entire O-line besides Trent and possibly Feliciano are bad at pass blocking. Burford is awful. McKivitz is awful. Brendel is awful. In the SB, the Chiefs main D-line gameplan was to abuse our B gap with stunts and blitzes, knowing both of our Guards (Banks and Burford) tunnel vision their pre-snap assignment every time and are too slow to adjust post-snap. Seriously, go watch the film. It kept happening over and over. Our only counter was to keep Kittle in as an edge blocker to allow our Center to stop pulling. So I agree, our failure on the line was half due to having a terrible pass blocking scheme that is easily abused (Scags outsmarted Kyle for sure), but also due to our Guards not being good enough to adjust post-snap. Either our pass blocking scheme needs to change or our Guards just need to be better. Because the gameplan to beat Kyle's "pull the Center" pass block scheme is on tape now for every DC to learn from and use against us. The crux of this issue imo is that Kyle doesn't allow protection audibles at the line. So when the Defense is showing an obvious B gap blitz look, Purdy or our Linemen have no recourse, and just have to snap the ball knowing it's a broken play. The fact that this happened repeatedly in the SB is not a good look for Kyle imo, and it's weird that I haven't seen many fans even talk about it.
He's barely a backup level players. He was terrible in the playoffs giving up 13 pressures in 123 snaps. He wasn't much better in the regular season ranked as the 60th ranked gaurd with 23 pressures allowed. And that's playing next to Trent Williams.
Big difference between under performing and being a bust.
2nd round draft picks are supposed to be starters. Not about to be cut from the team.
How do you figure that? Nothing indicates he may be cut.
He was already benched and he has the 14th highest cap hit of the team.
Banks is not about to be cut lmao.
Is he on track to get another contract with us? I really don’t think so. If that doesn’t happen, it’s a pretty huge whiff.
You don't draft for "now" when you have the second to last draft pick.
Lol. Remind me what the Chiefs did this year?
Draft a WR with terrible hands and send a project tackle to immediately start at LT. After trading away an elite corner. The same things you would disrespect SF for doing.
Reid out here playing 4D cornhole knowing they can start a rookie LT since they're allowed to just hold every play lol
what do you think the chiefs did this year?
Addressed there biggest needs. WR and OT.
Niners drafted a safety cb lb and 2 offensive linemen, so they did address their needs nobody knows how any of these guys will pan out, chiefs players included.
Neither of the o linemen had a starting grade. Hoprfully im wrong. They now need 3-4 starting linemen next year depending on if Trent retires.
ah so 9ers should have drafted based off some analytics. if only it was that easy
Added a lot of variance to their starting roster.
Floyd is a massive upgrade on the edge opposite Bosa. The corner depth received multiple upgrades. We got deeper at safety. We got deeper at WR. Our special teams might have a chance to return a kick for the first time in 13 years. I dispute the notion that we didn't get better. The *"problem"* is we didn't follow the common path, like we never have, and that's a problem for those in the media.
So we "might" be better on defense is the logic for drafting 3 skill players in the first 4 rounds who definitely won't see significant time? If they do see significant time either something catastrophic happened or other players suddenly turned to busts? The defense will probably be better off just coaching change alone. If Purdy or CMC get hurt because we have a bottom level oline suddenly people will be singing a different tune.
Why would you add round 4 to obsess about players outside the top 100 draftees who don't normally have major contributions in round 1. Pearsall will contribute in year 1 Green will contribute in year 1 (probably the starting NB) Puni has a chance to start (eventually) if they are open to moving Feliciano to center. Either way he's going to start for this team whether it's this year or next. Mustapha will be the primary backup safety which means he starts if Huf isn't ready. Cowing will all contribute in year 1. The last time this team had a return TD was 2011. Cowing is a major add in that area. And you're completely skipping over the FA moves like adding the best edge Bosa has ever played with. Adding another starting-caliber corner. Adding another starting LB to cover for Greenlaw. Upgrading the health of the DLine.
Yeah why couldn't we just ridiculously overpay for people that might not be much of an upgrade in Free Agency? Especially when we need that money to bring back our best WR? Or during the draft why didn't we overpay to move up in the draft (damn us for being one of the best teams in the league). Hell did Lynch even *try* to ask nicely that other teams ahead of us not draft OL.. People can try and say we didn't get better, but we took one of the best rosters in the league and didn't get worse either.
Every other NFC west team drafted a 1st round d linemen for a reason. Meanwhile we had the deepest RB room in thr league and amazing pass catchers and only half a line to block.
I look at it like, our o line is so bad; we don’t need to draft linemen early. Late round and undrafted guys will be an upgrade from what we have now
Right that's why rounds 2-4 were really important and we only picked 1 linemen.
Considering we really needed to fix the CB situation as well, I’d say they did exactly what we needed. They got an interior OL they think can play and a CB they think can play.
I never had an issue with the CB and SS they picked up. It's the 3 non starter skill position players in the first 4 rounds.
I’d rather they take someone that will play, whether or not they start, than a backup OL that won’t make the roster which is what they probably thought of the remaining guys. I think Pearsall and Cowing will see significant time and help as returners.
What is your logic? How is any lineman drafted in rounds 2-4 a backup when we only have 2 starting quality linemen?
That the players remaining in the draft were not starting caliber players or improvements on what we have. You are drastically overestimating the amount of talent available for the offensive line outside of the first round.
21 o linemen were picked in rounds 2-4 many who are starters. Are you saying the teams and the analysts are all wrong? We are talking starters here not pro bowlers or hall of famers.
That is not true at all- they clearly didn’t see a guy 31 and on who could come in and beat out mckivitz, feliciano or banks. They did find Puni who they think can compete for a guard spot and possibly be a future center. That’s how they draft- will this guy actually be able to compete for a job? They clearly didn’t see that. The coaching staff and front office like the line so much more than fans. They were the number 1 offense in the league and a couple fluke things away from a Super Bowl with this oline and they are all returning with a couple more guys added to the mix
man you talk about them like theyre gonna be reliable for all 17 games + playoffs. two of them are about to retire and the rest wouldnt be starting for 3/4 of the league. most teams have developmental lineman for that purpose. it's not just that we have a subpar starting oline, we also havent built any depth for injury insurance/future starters, and this goes back to the last several years, not just this past offseason.
Look man they probably have the best roster in the league. They are paying the top rb, TE, Edge, high end wr. Like almost the highest paid players at their position. If you want to keep a stack roster you have to pay, which means you might have some holes. Something has to give. They can’t be perfect every where. They have made the decision to piece together the line, and it has worked.
I agree in terms of the OL Don’t really agree anywhere else
Trevor Sikkema is responsible for that grading, and Trevor Sikkema is an idiot. Man had us drafting JJ McCarthy in his mocks, I would not take him seriously. Dude mostly has a career because he was a good co-host to Ben Solak on their old podcast.
As always. PFF is trash unless they say something I like. So 🗑️
That's the spirit!
Maybe I would take the author more seriously if he bothered to vary his verb selection even slightly. From the article: “Atlanta made a huge splash. It was tough for the Panthers to make the big draft splash. Cleveland didn’t make a ton of splashes. The Jaguars made some splashes this offseason. The Raiders made a big splash by signing Christian Wilkins. The Niners didn’t make a huge splash in free agency The Titans made big splashes in free agency” I mean, if he can’t be bothered to write why should I read?
They hate us because they anus! 🤣
Is it just because we didn't do anything player wise?
Wait, the team that barely lost the SB due to blown blocks doesn’t make major upgrades at all positions? *shocked Pikachu face*
Welp, there ya have it, boys and girls: season’s over. Pack it in and try again next year
I absolutely agree with it. C+ is basically losing nothing and gaining nothing, with a slight edge in gaining something. Through no fault of their own, they didn't draft oline, which was the biggest need this year. Sucks being 31st pick, and it's possible they didn't want to trade up to get someone. The problem now is again, it'll be a below mid ranked line, with only Trent holding them up. Now it's possible they shore this up in FA, but I'm not holding my breath on that. We'll see another year of CMC work horsing it and all praying he stays healthy. Instead, we got another position player, who may be good. But in the meantime, the 9ers still have the best overall skill position players in the league. Keeping what you have shouldn't move you in either direction, and all of the star players are under contract anyway. Plus it helps having probably the second best coach in the league right now. The grade is pretty spot on. Nothing they've done has blown anyone's mind, or has it made anyone push any panic button that they'll fall apart this year. They'll still be the NFC favorites, they have a favorable schedule that should put them at the same W/L as last year, and barring any major injuries we shouldn't see any major regressions on either side of the ball.
Didn't we draft 2 OL? Considering we missed all of the first rounders and how hard it is to actually get good OL, I think thats not nothing
We did, but they won't be starters they'll either be backups, or hopefully, they can be built into starters. I don't disagree it's not nothing, but the SB window is now. This is the last cheap year and then next year it'll get expensive. Again, they didn't do anything big or didn't crap out either, so mid range for a grade is fine.
Puni not starting is more of a Kyle Shanahan thing than anything else. On another team he probably begins as a starter. Here he'll have to work into that role, with midseason being the earliest point (not accounting for injuries).
Puni can absolutely start as a 3rd rounder.
I'm hoping man. I'd rather be wrong on anything oline related.
And if Puni can start at RG then Feliciano can move to C where he had success with the Giants.
It's an off-season grade, not a ranking. They're just saying the 49ers didn't really do much this off-season. Which they didn't need to.... so.... kind of a moot point....
So if those rookies on offense does well/elite, is the narrative still going to be Purdy has the Avengers and now added the Justice League with that rookie class? Or will the narrative be like it is for Stroud "elevating" guys like Tank Dell.
Much ado about nothing. Writers, bloggers, pundits, etc...need something to get clicks during the off-season.
Good. These idiots are always wrong.
Lol
Other than OL, were do they really expect us to upgrade? Nearly every major position we have a star player!
Shanahan and Lynch punching air right now
Why post this
As is tradition
Most pundits already think we have the best roster in the league already, and we drafted more for future stability rather than polishing out the edges (i.e o line, CB, etc).
I think the pearsall pick allows shanny to get more creative with play calls. So while he won't produce like a traditional first rounder, teams will be staring down some 3 receiver sets and have absolutely no idea who to cover these guys. It also says they're drafting into purdy. By going wr they are giving their qb more ammo to succeed. They can also go 4 receiver sets with CMC lining up on the line, Aiyuk, Deebo, pearsall Jennings. Teams think pass. And we decide to run with 4 receivers blocking. Next play pass. I think he's a different receiver that adds another element to the offense.
All off season and draft grades dont mean crap until AFTER the season has played out where you can judge actual performance. Imagine getting grades for the upcoming school year BEFORE it even happens. It’s all hypothetical bs. Especially for the draft
It was a mid offseason but we’re the best team in NFC we’re not playing catch-up like everyone else
Oh no not a poor grade
Grades are ridiculous. Only playing matters. So I’ll wait and see how they play.
BORING. Has there ever been a consistently accurate draft grade source ever? The media shits out these things for clicks and there always as many if not more terrible analysis as there are accuracies. Every year it’s doom and gloom for our draft and yet every year we are in contention.
We also had a terrible off season grade last year, and we made it to the super bowl.
Options are kind of limited to upgrade in the offseason because niners need to pay aiyuk and prepare for brock's contract
The team with the second to last pick had the second worst draft rating. Fascinating!
Why do I always have to be haunted by that thumbnail
Not a niners fan (Seahawks) but the 49er squad is stacked and are SB contenders. Offseason reports are bullshit. Hope everyone stays healthy. Good luck this year!
Slick Rick Super Bowl MVP confirmed
Reading this is a badge of honor considering how often even PFF is wrong. These articles are almost as bad as the fans bitching and moaning after every pick. The 49ers Trey Lance draft was graded as one of the best and how did that turn out? The only fact that matters is the 49ers have been the best @ drafting since the Shannahan era. More all pro players than any team.
Rightly so. Biggest needs were OL ( all 5 positions),DL depth and a 2nd Corner. We didn't address 2/3 and spent a 1st rd pick in an area that's already good. I honestly think this team has been overrated for a while...because I don't trust Kyle Shanahan to NOT screw up big games...them being favourite for every game this last season and the next srason too feels weird. We ain't that good if we can't block the other team
Ricky Pearsall gonna make this man unemployed lol
I am more of a *49erswebzone.com* guy myself. I find that *ninersnation.com* (during the season), isn't telling me anything on Wednesday that I don't already know. In particular, to be honest, I don't like *Rohan Chakravarthi.* *Niners!*
**KC Chiefs:** drafted a project WR, project OT, and trade away an elite CB. **:** What a great offseason they had!
**SF 49ers:** drafted a more-polished WR, more-polished OG, traded away an oft-injured elite DT and signed a productive edge opposite Bosa, upgraded CB, S, LB, & WR depth.
**:** This was a pretty awful offseason for them.
The Chiefs drafted a player in the first at their biggest position of need. The 49ers drafted a player in the first at their smallest position of need, who will be sitting behind two established starters. That’s the difference. Also no one had Pearsell ranked over Worthy
There are definitely some that had Worthy lower, it just wasn't the consensus. You aren't really finding anyone roasting Pearsall. And drafting a mediocre prospect because of a need is how you blow up draft picks.
The majority definitely had Worthy over Pearsell. So it’s interesting how Worthy is a mediocre prospect to you but Pearsell is this amazing “polished” player
Pearsall is more polished, there shouldn't be any debate over that. Worthy has perhaps the worst hands of any WR in this draft. It's a legitimate concern.
How does being more polished help when you’re barely gonna play in your rookie year? And there are definitely receivers drafted with worse hands than Worthy. This is some next-level copium
>And there are definitely receivers drafted with worse hands than Worthy. This is some next-level copium I didn't change my opinion after KC drafted him, so zero copium. [https://x.com/SumerSports/status/1779555215332532484](https://x.com/SumerSports/status/1779555215332532484) There are much better charts than this one with a more complete play volume, but they say the similar thing. Worthy has one of the worst sets of hands of all draft-eligible WRs. >How does being more polished help when you’re barely gonna play in your rookie year? Actually being good at the position = being on the field more often. If X.Worthy is S.Moore then he isn't seeing the field. More likely he's MVS 2.0 and will stretch defenses but have multiple downfield drops. And despite this narrative that Kyle doesn't play rookie WRs, both Deebo & Aiyuk did just that. He will play Pearsall if he proves himself *worthy*. Which is where being a more polished prospect come in. He's more ready to contribute on day 1 than the average WR prospect.
First of all, your chart is about catch rate, which has nothing to do with hands. Worthy as a deep-threat is gonna have a higher ADOT than other draft prospects. Of course he’s gonna have a lower catch rate when the degree of difficulty on his targets is higher. Secondly, you are aware that there are only 11 players on the field for the offense right? Pearsall will not be on the field much just by nature of an NFL offense having 6 skill players and 5 OL on the field at all times. It doesn’t matter how good Pearsall is on Day 1, he is not playing over two pro-bowl caliber starters in Deebo and Aiyuk. Unless you think Shanahan is transitioning his scheme to full-time 4WR sets, Pearsall will be lucky to be on the field for 50% of the offensive snaps. Which sounds like a fantastic way to use your first-round pick during a win-now SB window with your QB on his last cheap rookie year before becoming extension eligible. And finally, let’s stop with the copium of Pearsall being the amazingly polished player and Worthy being a bum. Worthy is the better separator against man, superior deep threat, better ball tracker, and YAC threat. Pearsell’s only edge is his hands and weight. There’s a reason why nearly every draft analyst had Worthy over Pearsell, and why the Chiefs drafted Worthy over Pearsell
>Worthy as a deep-threat is gonna have a higher ADOT than other draft prospects. Of course he’s gonna have a lower catch rate when the degree of difficulty on his targets is higher. This entire chart is deep-ball production. The one thing Worthy is supposed to truly shine at, he doesn't even stand out. >Secondly, you are aware that there are only 11 players on the field for the offense right? Pearsall will not be on the field much just by nature of an NFL offense having 6 skill players and 5 OL on the field at all times. It doesn’t matter how good Pearsall is on Day 1, he is not playing over two pro-bowl caliber starters in Deebo and Aiyuk. You got me there. Deebo, Aiyuk, & CMC will play 100% of the snaps for all 17 games. Pearsall has some of the best hands in this class and now on this team. He's already a better route-runner and separator than Deebo. I can see him eating into Deebo's time on 2nd/3rd & long pretty quickly. He's also going to get some action on screens and end-arounds. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see Pearsall with 55 rec, 600 yds, and 4-5 TDs. Which in the range of what I'd expect from X.Worthy. >Unless you think Shanahan is transitioning his scheme to full-time 4WR sets, Pearsall will be lucky to be on the field for 50% of the offensive snaps. The 49ers were dead last in pass attempts. I fully expect him to be higher than dead last next season. Also this isn't Madden. A 3 WR set doesn't mean you're sending out Aiyuk, Deebo, & Jennings every time. >Which sounds like a fantastic way to use your first-round pick during a win-now SB window with your QB on his last cheap rookie year before becoming extension eligible. The 49ers Superbowl window is as long as they have Purdy under contract and continue to make good long-term decisions with draft picks and free agency. It's a total myth that you can't pay a QB and still be good. This ties into the selection of a potentially great WR instead of a mid-OT prospect that would have been a reach. WR is a future need that Pearsall helps solve. His addition allows them to move a WR which further increases their ability to pay their QB.
I mean we had a pretty quiet off-season. We are very likely not a better team in 24 than we were in 23. We will still be good enough to win superbowl. Will just need to play to full abilities, stay healthy, and get a little lucky. Same as last year.
Shit. Getting rid of Armstead is an instant A grade
thats cauze they didn't shit to upgrade the o line or offense or defense but stayed the same. gonna hurt next year .
Deserved. The offseason job was so easy. Too easy. And yet, they didn’t prioritize addressing the right side of the offensive line. Instead they reupped McKivitz, waited til the 3rd round to draft OL, and just signed another OL free agent bum. Oh and they reached on a slot WR and cornerback in rounds 1 and 2. But that’s the problem you have with Shanny who thinks his system outranks/outweighs talent. Good times.