Twitter: Stephen Jones on 105.3 Recap 04/28/14

[ufcrules1]

Just my opinion. So, according to me I guess. I wish I knew exactly what the FO thought.

I just hope that we stick to BPA, and that player fills one of our needs very well, and immediately.

No, it is not just your opinion, it is clear as day. Anyone who doesn't think this team has a ton of holes is brain dead.

 

[ufcrules1]

Dallas has had more DLineman by far in for Pre-Draft visits than any other position.

Mentioning Safety "has to be dominant to take one in the 1st round" (plus Ward visiting) pre-notes at least some acknowledgement of the positional need.

Good catch.. pun intended. I think we are heavily leaning towards the dline as well. Reading through the lines, if the guy or guys we want at dline are gone.. we will consider safetey (Dix/Pryor only) and if they are gone too.. then we will trade down.

I think the Cowboys REALLY like Manziel but at the same time they have a really difficult time grabbing him with that massive contract they gave Romo.

 

[starfrombirth]

It would be nice if a transcript of Stephen Jones' comments were available. As far as the draft is concerned, Jon Machota was able to somewhat relay Stephen/the team's public comments of:

• coveting a defensive lineman with 1-tech and 3-tech flexibility - This screams "Jernigan" to me.
• allowing the big board to dictate the selection if the player is "high enough", which is open to various interpretation
• evaluating whether safety candidates are worthy of a first-round selection, with dominating ability being a prerequisite for staying pat or trading up
• being notably ambiguous about Johnny Manziel - Scared to death JJ would take him but don't think he will be there at our pick and JJ is stupid enough to give up picks this year.
• labeling Timmy Jernigan as a "great football player" - See above. Strong 1 tech that can spell and excel at 3 tech.

It's probably worth less than nothing, but it's interesting how Stephen slightly isolated Jernigan from the rest of the commentary. Makes one wonder how the big board is being constructed and where Jernigan is, has been, and will be situated come draft time.

Everything I see says that Jernigan could be the pick and isn't necessarily excluded from that spot.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

I disagree. He gives nothing to the media except archetypal statements and ambiguous explanations.

Again, worse.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Again, worse.

OK, that's really worse than the Glory-Hole-Special-Sauce boys.

 

[jterrell]

I'm @ that point as well. Got my pet choices (Pryor,Barr,Donald) but if the team makes a logical choice, I am more than fine by that (Dix, Martin, etc.). Just don't trade back hoping we strike gold twice (Frederick). Slight drop, okay, not half the round.

Dropping half a round is fine by me... if the reward is right. All depends on the haul.

 

[casmith07]

There are holes and then there are HOLES. We have the HOLES variety. We are nowhere near a team like the Seahags or 49'ers right now. Those teams are fully rebuilt. We are in the broke building phase right now.

The 49ers have significant question marks at LB, S, CB, and arguably QB. They are not "fully rebuilt." Frank Gore and Patrick Willis are also aging.

 

[casmith07]

Pryor isn't that dominant.

And neither was Clinton-Dix.

 

[jterrell]

various:
if you hate carter and claiborne you dont have the stomach to draft and develop guys.
that is the normal way of young guys to be up and down, flash potential then settle in as what they are about year 3 or 4.
our draft picks this year are very unlikely to be different.
tyron smith and dez bryant are arguably top 5 at their position in the entire league but it took 3 years each to get there.
thats why vet coaches love vet players. by the time rookies can really play a coach is often fired.

the myth you rebuild quickly in this league is just that: a myth:
seattle and san fran were awful for years, got slightly better, had another couple mediocre seasons then broke through.

it takes time to rebuild.

stephen is far more controlled with the media than his pops. nothing wrong with that except that people will hang on his every word assigning value to them he doesn't even mean.

 

[ufcrules1]

The 49ers have significant question marks at LB, S, CB, and arguably QB. They are not "fully rebuilt." Frank Gore and Patrick Willis are also aging.

You are always going to have a pieces moving every year on every team. Players get older and newer eventually need to be brought in. As a whole the 49'ers have way less problems than the Cowboys do right now. They were literally one throw away from going to the super bowl last year and the year before that they were one throw away from winning it. The Cowboys can't even make the playoffs in an extremely bad NFC east. Comparing us to the 49'ers is silly right now. Like I said.. there are holes, and then there are HOLES. We have HOLES.

 

[jterrell]

The 49ers have significant question marks at LB, S, CB, and arguably QB. They are not "fully rebuilt." Frank Gore and Patrick Willis are also aging.

no, they really don't.
they have an off-field question with their QB but that's got nothing to do with where they are in the talent accumulation process. ---they are very far down that path.
Kaep and Gabbert form a solid QB depth chart.

They have a quality starting 2nd year Safety. Could upgrade at other safety spot. Could also upgrade at one CB spot.
Both lines are solid as is LB though Aldon Smith's issue and Navarro Bowman's injury have taken the league's best unit and driven it down to the mean.
They are a very solid team with a draft still to conduct.

 

[ufcrules1]

tyron smith and dez bryant are arguably top 5 at their position in the entire league but it took 3 years each to get there.
thats why vet coaches love vet players. by the time rookies can really play a coach is often fired. .

Both Dez and Tyron were above average when they first started and have since improved to extremely good. Claiborne and Carter have been nothing but disappointments since they have come into the league. Carter in particular has regressed to a level where he can't even be trusted in coverage. I'm pretty much ready to give up on Carter. Claiborne I'm holding out hope on. He has a good head on his shoulders.

 

[jterrell]

Both Dez and Tyron were above average when they first started and have since improved to extremely good. Claiborne and Carter have been nothing but disappointments since they have come into the league. Carter in particular has regressed to a level where he can't even be trusted in coverage. I'm pretty much ready to give up on Carter. Claiborne I'm holding out hope on. He has a good head on his shoulders.

No, they weren't.

Tyron Smith was a fairly poor RT his rookie year. Dez was a 1 route player who was benched repeatedly for running the wrong route.

Easy to forget that now that they've developed All Pro talent but it doesn't change what was.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

And neither was Clinton-Dix.

Agreed.

I don't see a high-impact safety in this year's draft.

 

[jterrell]

Both Dez and Tyron were above average when they first started and have since improved to extremely good. Claiborne and Carter have been nothing but disappointments since they have come into the league. Carter in particular has regressed to a level where he can't even be trusted in coverage. I'm pretty much ready to give up on Carter. Claiborne I'm holding out hope on. He has a good head on his shoulders.

Carter and Claiborne were both asked to do jobs they weren't drafted for last year. Carter was an ILB in a 3-4 that was asked to play outside in a 4-3 covering players man for man up the sideline and he couldn't and it got in his head. Claiborne was asked to play a zone CB and he couldn't and it got into his head.

Whether a fan gives up on a player or not is simply irrelevant. Plenty had given up on saggy pants Dez that would gladly wear his jersey now.

 

[jterrell]

Agreed.

I don't see a high-impact safety in this year's draft.

Both Pryor and Dix were outstanding, impactful college safeties.
They were not Earl Thomas, Ed Reed however.
If you need a starting caliber NFL safety both those guys are great fits.

15-25 looks about right for both safeties.

 

[DBOY3141]

no, they really don't.
they have an off-field question with their QB but that's got nothing to do with where they are in the talent accumulation process. ---they are very far down that path.
Kaep and Gabbert form a solid QB depth chart.

They have a quality starting 2nd year Safety. Could upgrade at other safety spot. Could also upgrade at one CB spot.
Both lines are solid as is LB though Aldon Smith's issue and Navarro Bowman's injury have taken the league's best unit and driven it down to the mean.
They are a very solid team with a draft still to conduct.

Plus they have 6 picks in the top 100 I believe to fix those "hole". Agree, the 49ers are a good team and will be for a few more years.

 

[xwalker]

various:
if you hate carter and claiborne you dont have the stomach to draft and develop guys.
that is the normal way of young guys to be up and down, flash potential then settle in as what they are about year 3 or 4.
our draft picks this year are very unlikely to be different.
tyron smith and dez bryant are arguably top 5 at their position in the entire league but it took 3 years each to get there.
thats why vet coaches love vet players. by the time rookies can really play a coach is often fired.

the myth you rebuild quickly in this league is just that: a myth:
seattle and san fran were awful for years, got slightly better, had another couple mediocre seasons then broke through.

it takes time to rebuild.

Yes, it takes time and changing schemes sets you back with some players.

 

[xwalker]

So many holes? According to fans or the team?

I don't think there are as many "holes" as some people believe. I think they have a lot of serviceable NFL players on defense, just not many star players.

I would take having the DEs as Selvie, Mincey and Crawford with all having gone through training camp and staying healthy during the season over Ware in and out of the lineup backed up by players that just signed few weeks earlier.

At 1-tech, I watch game footage of McClain and he is not a star, but it much much better than Hayden, IMO. Melton might not duplicate Hatcher's sack numbers, but he knows the defense which should help everybody around him.

Lee will be back and Holloman had a really good game in week 17 as MLB.

Carter either ups his game or is likely to get replaced by Holloman.

SLB is not a full time position (goes off the field in the nickel) and they have multiple options there. Whoever does not play WLB between Holloman and Carter, Wilber, and Durant.

Church is serviceable at one safety spot.

Wilcox has a lot of upside at the other safety spot and was playing well in the pre-season. He eventually just had to much to overcome. He was a rookie with only 1 year of experience playing defense, then his mother died and then he got injured. Everybody laughs, but Matt Johnson, Heath and Jakar Hamilton all have good physical ability. The odds are that 1 of 4 players will step up to be a decent option as the 2nd safety.

CB should be OK if they can improve the pass rush and get everybody more developed within the scheme. A healthy Claiborne is at a minimum, a quality 3rd CB. He is likely to be much better with more time in the scheme because he is a known slow learner.

Biggest issues, IMO:
Need an elite pass rushing DE, even if he's only a nickel pass rushing specialist.
Need depth at DT.
Need Lee to stay Healthy, but have options behind him.
Huge question mark at the 2nd Safety position, but have several options.

 

[ufcrules1]

Carter and Claiborne were both asked to do jobs they weren't drafted for last year. Carter was an ILB in a 3-4 that was asked to play outside in a 4-3 covering players man for man up the sideline and he couldn't and it got in his head. Claiborne was asked to play a zone CB and he couldn't and it got into his head.

Whether a fan gives up on a player or not is simply irrelevant. Plenty had given up on saggy pants Dez that would gladly wear his jersey now.

I don't know anyone who gave up on Dez, that is silly talk. There were some who criticised his off the field behavior but that has nothing to do with his on the field play. Both he and Tyron have been solid since day one. They both made some rookie mistakes but that happens to ALL players. Claiborne and Carter have never looked good.. even when they played in a 3-4.. so not sure how the switching of schemes comes into this? I personally hate the Tampa 2 with the players we have but that is what we are going to run and the players have to deal with it. Carter having head problems is his own fault. He had plenty of time to adjust in camp and so did Claiborne.