2003Contenders

How much of that $ is dead cap?

He was Bruce's understudy his first couple of years in the league. In 2000, the season after Bruce/Andre/Thurman were unceremoniously released, Wiley moved into the starting position and played pretty well in a contract year. When John Butler headed to San Diego the following off-season he snagged Wiley as a free agent. Even when he was backing Bruce up, he was a favorite of reporters' for quotes as he was very engaging and articulate -- which stands to reason, coming from Columbia, I guess.

First and foremost, Beane has done a remarkable job of retaining key players, and even re-signing many of them to long-term extensions. That alone, gets the front office a passing grade IMHO. Compare to last year where, due the salary cap restrictions, the team lost some key players. This year the only noteworthy players who have left are Hollins and Martin -- and neither of them were a great loss. As much as we will miss Hollins the character, I think Palmer is an improvement at WR. Bosa and Forrest are low risk/high reward rolls of the dice. Dane Jackson is familiar with the system and will probably enter the season as the starter at CB opposite Benford. Getting anything at all for Elam, I think was also commendable. I would still like for Beane to bring in another corner -- and there are a couple of familiar faces still out there in Gilmore and Douglas. If not for the PDE issues with Hoecht and (especially) Ogunjobi, I would say the off-season has been Excellent rather than merely Acceptable. Let's not forget that the draft is coming up too!

The Ogunjobi situation really bothers me as well. I noticed that Beane chose his words very carefully when talking about how the team did not know about his situation at the time that the agreement was made vs. at the time of the signing. I will say that there is some precedent with Ogunjobi and his camp in regards to proper disclosure of information prior to working out a contract: After his career year with the Bengals, Ogunjobi agreed to terms with the Bears but failed to disclose a foot injury, which the Bears uncovered when they did a physical. The Bears were able to get out of the contract thanks to the physical, and Ogunjobi signed with the Steelers instead.

Let's just assume for a moment that Diggs has had something of a epiphany -- that he is willing to be a good soldier, bury the hatchet with Josh and the team, and return to the level of play he exhibited in his prime. Is that good enough to help the team get over the KC hump? Well, even in his best years, Diggs historically had problems against KC. In three playoff games against them (2020, 2021 and 2023), he failed to haul in a single TD pass. His overall numbers in those 3 games were terrible: 12 receptions on 25 targets for 106 yards and 0 TDs. That is over 3 games, NOT a single game. His average for a single game in the playoffs against the Chiefs looks like: 4 receptions on 8.3 targets for 35.3 yards. Not exactly worthy of the drama.

I like CB Trey Amos out of Ole Miss, who would seem to be an ideal fit for what McDermott looks for in a corner. He may even be there in the 2nd round.

Very well said! Suddenly the safety depth chart looks much deeper with Bishop/Rapp/Hamlin all returning and the low-cost acquisition of the Forrest kid. Drafting a safety high is no longer the priority I thought it was going to be -- and Beane could (and should) still invest at least one of the mid-round picks on a young safety with upside. Not really any downside to re-signing Damar. He will probably never be elite, but he is a professional and understands this defense. I like him on the team in 2025, regardless of role: -- Providing quality depth -- Mentoring younger players -- Keeping the seat warm until a better player DOES come along

I'm only half joking when I say (especially in this draft where the top-end talent appears to be weak), they should go ahead and use all of those picks and draft multiple players (defensive backs in particular). Throw enough you-know-what against the wall, and maybe something will stick! After all, the miss on Elam was somewhat salvaged in that same draft by acquiring Benford in the 6th.

The issue for the 49ers, I believe, is that he has a large roster bonus coming up -- and if they designate him as a post-June 1 cut, I believe they are responsible for paying him that bonus (even if he is picked up by another team). Personally, I would prefer a healthy Ayiuk over Metkalf -- and we just saw the large contract (plus trade compensation) the Steelers gave up for Metkalf. Of course, the operative word there is "healthy", and the injury that Ayiuk experienced last season was devastating.

Interesting about Golden. Conventional wisdom has him as WR 4 in the draft (behind McMillan, Burden and Egbuka). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I saw that the Bills reportedly met with him at the combine. I never expected him to last until 30 but thought that he could potentially be the target of a mild trade-up like the team should have done to acquire BTJ last year. If this news is true about him being the first WR off the board, there's probably no chance of such a trade up now.

And let's not forget Billy Joe "I never read my playbook" Tolbert.

And to think, while the Josh Allen "no 1st down" call will forever be remembered, the officials also spotted the ball short of where it should have been SEVERAL times in that game. If the ball is properly placed in all of those situations, maybe the game doesn't come down to a "failed" 4th down attempt.

You're not the only one. We saw last year how much $$$ went to mediocre WR free agents (including Gabe Davis). The FA market isn't great this year, so I expect the few "name" WRs to command over-priced contacts again. I just don't see Beane investing that much money when there are pretty big needs along the DL and secondary. Simply maintaining the status quo at the position (as underwhelming as it was) from 2024 won't even be easy. They just re-signed Shakir to a decent contract, and I expect that they will do whatever they can to retain Mack. Will they try to bring back Cooper at a reasonable deal?

Interesting take about the pre-injury Coleman vs the post-injury Coleman and how he stacked up against Worthy. At the time of the injury, as I referenced earlier Coleman had: 35 targets/22 receptions (62.9%) for 417 yards and 3 TDs, He averaged 11.9 yards per target and 18.95 yards per reception. Meanwhile, Worthy had the following stats at that time: 37 targets/19 receptions (51.35%) for 235 yards and 3 TDs. He averaged 6.35 yards per target and 12.37 yards per reception. So indeed Coleman was noticeably more productive pre-injury (at least in the passing game). On 2 fewer targets, he had 3 more receptions and nearly 200 more yards receiving than Worthy. Granted, Worthy turned it on more in 2nd half of the season (and in the playoffs). But on the full season, despite his hyped 40-time, his average yard per reception (10.8) dwarfed that of Coleman (19.2). I know he was very productive in the playoffs against the Bills and Eagles -- but how much of that was because the Bills fielded a MASH unit in the secondary, and virtually all of Worthy's production came after the Eagles had the game well in hand?

Agreed. Also, he and Josh need to find the time to work one-on-one during the off-season. Improve chemistry on timing routes -- and Coleman needs to learn how to best help his QB when a play breaks down.