NFL 2020-21 Season

I've said this already, but it seems relevant here. This front office does not have a very good track record when they target skill players and trade up to get them. (Brandon Aiyuk last year being the one notable exception). On the other hand, allowing Kyle Shanahan to handpick his QB of the future doesn't seem like the worst idea. Problem is, I'm not completely sold on any of the top 5 QBs this year based on what I've seen. Everyone who watches the NFL knows how often these elite QB prospects bust. I'm sure there's a gem somewhere amongst this group but I'm not going to try and predict who it is. If offensive wunderkind Kyle Shanahan looks at all the info available and wants to stake his future with the team on Mac Jones I'm willing to give him a fair shake.
 
Mac Jones was rumored to be coveted by Belichick and then there were the rumors that BB just wanted to get Jimmy G back. I'm not sure I buy either of these but it is interesting to me that now the 9ers control both of these QB futures.

I'm not high on Fields either, but a lot of times I think the main reason highly drafted QBs fail is because they go to the worst teams in the league and often have 3 different coaches during their first 4 seasons. Seems reasonable to think Kyle actually gets to develop his guy.
 
Here’s to Justin Fields killing his second pro day today and making Shanahan realize it’s HIM and not Mac Jones.
I think that Mac Jones is a smoke screen. His big selling point is being a pocket passer, but Justin Fields is also a pocket passer. He just also happens to be able to run.
 
I think that Mac Jones is a smoke screen. His big selling point is being a pocket passer, but Justin Fields is also a pocket passer. He just also happens to be able to run.
The beautiful thing about having a 4.4 QB in Fields is you can design the same misdirection-type runs with your TE,,WRs, RBs, and now mix-in QB for bootlegs, options, naked bootlegs, reverses, double reverses, WR tosses, flea-flickers, pitch and tosses..... the list goes on.....the 49ers would have top-shelf athletes at most of those positions for the open field -- now the defense is in a bigger bind, as they need to honor any one of those players, and the half second hesitation is good for 4+ yards much of the time. The run game will become magnified, just the way Shanahan likes it. If the 49ers also keep Garappolo, they may be able to afford to bring Fields in more slowly. If Garappolo's play falls off they can accelerate using Fields. I can't see them taking any other QB than Fields besides Wilson. You don't pass up 4.4 speed at QB as long as he's a satisfactory passer, unless the other option has some bigtime passing upside. There's no linemen in the NFL who could hope to catch Fields once at full speed, and many linebackers would have problems. I didn't like the trade-up at face value, but if they go after one of other QBs, I'll be more disappointed. Garoppolo has been a serviceable QB, and hopefully he'll get a chance to prove he perform at a high level and finish out his contract. Ideally you want to bring Fields in slowly as an understudy.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Fields (or other rookie QB) will be starting by the bye. Jimmy will either be injured or mediocre enough to have the team in last place behind the better QBs in the division. Jimmy with only a good D isn’t going to be good enough to get it done.

... Maybe ahead of the Rams, depending on how the Donald situation plays out.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I think that Mac Jones is a smoke screen. His big selling point is being a pocket passer, but Justin Fields is also a pocket passer. He just also happens to be able to run.
The whole Mac Jones situation is weird in that absolutely no one connected with the 49ers seemed to even indicate that that's the guy they were set on picking and yet for some reason every single dude in the media decided that that was their guy because he bears some passing resemblance to some dudes who have been in their system before while also disregarding that the Shanahan system has also featured dual threat QBs like Steve Young and Robert Griffin III.
 
The beautiful thing about having a 4.4 QB in Fields is you can design the same misdirection-type runs with your TE,,WRs, RBs, and now mix-in QB for bootlegs, options, naked bootlegs, reverses, double reverses, WR tosses, flea-flickers, pitch and tosses..... the list goes on.....the 49ers would have top-shelf athletes at most of those positions for the open field -- now the defense is in a bigger bind, as they need to honor any one of those players, and the half second hesitation is good for 4+ yards much of the time. The run game will become magnified, just the way Shanahan likes it. If the 49ers also keep Garappolo, they may be able to afford to bring Fields in more slowly. If Garappolo's play falls off they can accelerate using Fields. I can't see them taking any other QB than Fields besides Wilson. You don't pass up 4.4 speed at QB as long as he's a satisfactory passer, unless the other option has some bigtime passing upside. There's no linemen in the NFL who could hope to catch Fields once at full speed, and many linebackers would have problems. I didn't like the trade-up at face value, but if they go after one of other QBs, I'll be more disappointed. Garoppolo has been a serviceable QB, and hopefully he'll get a chance to prove he perform at a high level and finish out his contract. Ideally you want to bring Fields in slowly as an understudy.
I really love the speed that Fields brings, but especially like that he is a pass first QB. He was also one of the most accurate passers in college football last season. Watching his deep passes & then picturing that with the threats the 49ers have has me drooling.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
I really love the speed that Fields brings, but especially like that he is a pass first QB. He was also one of the most accurate passers in college football last season. Watching his deep passes & then picturing that with the threats the 49ers have has me drooling.
Just imagine letting the guys run routes downfield instead of shoehorning them into slant/YAC exclusively because Jim can’t throw past 7 yards. The playbook will be so much more open!
 
Fields (or other rookie QB) will be starting by the bye. Jimmy will either be injured or mediocre enough to have the team in last place behind the better QBs in the division. Jimmy with only a good D isn’t going to be good enough to get it done.

... Maybe ahead of the Rams, depending on how the Donald situation plays out.
It will depend as with most sports on the standings......If Garappolo is playing well but other 49ers are messing up, he'll probably have a longer leash.
 
Just imagine letting the guys run routes downfield instead of shoehorning them into slant/YAC exclusively because Jim can’t throw past 7 yards. The playbook will be so much more open!
True, but Shanahan is a run-game coach from his Dad's Broncos days.....blocking is what the 49er offense had honed in on during their runner-up year, and its a core and underappreciated part of football.
 
Just imagine letting the guys run routes downfield instead of shoehorning them into slant/YAC exclusively because Jim can’t throw past 7 yards. The playbook will be so much more open!
I have lost count of how many times I have watched 49er players have 2 or 3 steps on the defense only to have the ball under thrown. This allows the defense to recover enough to either make a play on the ball or make the tackle to save what should've been an easy touchdown.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Trey Lance’s second pro day is tomorrow, so another guy to get hyped about if he kills it.

It’ll definitely be the most interesting of the pro-days I’ve followed. He’s absolutely the scariest of the picks because of his inexperience and not playing last season but some say his upside is the highest of anyone outside of Lawrence.