NFL 2020-21 Season

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#64
I wanted one of the stud receivers. But this makes so much more sense. Kid needs to be very good very quickly though, or else I fear Armstead falling back to being a perfectly average space-eater like he was before last season.

And it’s not like Jimmy would hit the stud receiver when it mattered anyways. HEYOOOOOOOO!
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#71
Kinda really wish the Niners did what the Packers just did.
The thing that makes Mahomes so good is that his supreme arm talent is secondary to his actual ability to play QB. It's like putting Peyton Manning's mind into one of those jugs machines that can shoot the ball several hundred feet into the air. Love has some of that arm power with even less of those intangibles and is being thrust into a QB room that probably makes the Brady/Jimmy G/Jacoby QB situation seem like the carebears in comparison.

I mean Aaron Rodgers is a turd to his own family. I don't expect him to pull off the Alex Smith kindly mentor role at all.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#73
So you're saying I don't have a new favorite player yet? Traded out right.

Hopefully stocking up for next year. This season, assuming it happens, is going to be a tough one to watch.
Wouldn't be surprised if he used one of those extra picks to scoop up Andy Dalton from the Bengals or something though. The Pats' player development system is second to none but I don't anticipate them finding another GOAT level QB in the late rounds of the draft this year.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
#74
Hey what do you know, Brandon Aiyuk is from Rocklin! There's lots of great WR prospects to get hyped about in this draft -- I would have been happy with 6 or 7 different receivers. With Deebo, Kittle, and now Aiyuk I think we're planning to corner the market on yards after the catch. I also like the idea of getting another monster defensive tackle to keep the pressure on up front. Does Kinlaw/Aiyuk instead of Buckner/Sanders get us back to the Super Bowl? Don't know. They certainly are a lot younger and cheaper with the potential to develop into productive starters. I'm looking forward to more Niners football. Like every other Niners fan that last quarter of the 2019/2020 season left a bad taste in my mouth.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#75
The more I think about it, the more I’m (probably unfairly) thinking this upcoming season will largely depend on how good Kinlaw actually is.

Because if he can’t live up to somewhere around what Buckner was (a very very tall order to be sure) the dominoes will fall rapidly. Teams can then focus elsewhere. Armstead will regress to average space eater he was the first four years of his career (I believe his season was less him breaking out and more his ability to take advantage of having excellent teammates surrounding him). Bosa will get his but have to work harder through all the focus shifted his way. Ford absolutely needs to stay healthy. If the front line doesn’t get it done near to the tune of what they did last year, the secondary will crumble.

If the defense isn’t what it is, I simply don’t expect JimmyG to pick up the slack. I’m with each and every media person who rightfully called him out all season long for being perfectly average.

Also; the Cards are the future of the NFC West. Maybe not this season, but they are on the up, and up fast. The Niners and Rams could very well be the bottom of the division in short order.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#76
Kinlaw came to football late, missed lots of action in high school due to off- the-field personal issues, and went to a college that doesn’t quite have the positional coaching staff it once had. Physically he is Richard Seymour, Ndamukong Suh levels of scary, just preternaturally strong/satanicly athletic. You pair those tools with the best defensive line coach in football today (maybe arguably 1a/1b with Jim Tomsula when it comes to maximizing defensive line talent) and you’ve potentially got a chance at a second consecutive DROY (not going to happen because Chase Young is possibly the best pure edge talent to come out of college since Von Miller but stranger things have happened).
And for all the talk of Arik Armstead seeing increased attention from offenses without Buckner playing DT, by the end of the season it was Armstead and Bosa getting doubleteamed constantly and Buckner being the beneficiary of one-on-one matchups (plus by the end of the season the nose tackle depth chart was so depleted that we started a dude we literally had just pulled out of retirement in the super bowl).
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#77
A underrated aspect of the shelter-in-place draft storyline is Kyle Shanahan jedi-mindtricking the Raiders into panicking and picking Ruggs by leaving scouting footage of the guy up on his monitor during his pre-draft home tour video.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#80
Belichick trading up twice to take two different tight ends while seemingly still having no long term offensive solution on the roster is certainly something
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#82
They did say TE was his focus coming in. Either they really like Stidham or they are loading up the roster for their future QB.
It might even be as simple as them deciding to pick auxiliary pieces this year, pulling off the stealth tank, and putting themselves in prime position to draft Trevor Lawrence next year and immediately being back in Super Bowl contention once again.
 
#83
It might even be as simple as them deciding to pick auxiliary pieces this year, pulling off the stealth tank, and putting themselves in prime position to draft Trevor Lawrence next year and immediately being back in Super Bowl contention once again.
that possibility isn't lost on me but going with #1 overall QB is very non BB. The Pats roster looks like a team that isn't counting on the 2020 season even being played, which is either proof of the tank or just smart thinking in the event the season is cancelled.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#85
Also if this is truly the end of Joe Staley’s HOF playing career, I’m looking forward to his future as an all-time great football commentator.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#87
A fifth and a third. Wow. Good work.
The Redskins apparently asked Bill O’Brien for trade advice. I mean, before Trent Williams stopped playing for the Redskins because he was mad they tried to get him to play through potentially having a tumor in his head he was probably one of the best two or three tackles in the league and the Niners just got him for a low pick this year and a 3rd round pick in a draft that may potentially feature an entire class of guys who haven’t played football in a year.