I guess they figured there was no point in giving Sanchez a bunch of targets since he was going to miss them anyway. Still, Burress complements Holmes much better than Edwards did, even if he’s old and useless.
Possibly, but they played the toughest schedule in the NFL last season and endured many close losses…the types of close games that they found ways to win in 2009. They also had a lot of injuries on defense last season…and we had the Chad/TO thing going on, which proved a hot mess.
I think they actually have a shot at being competitive this season, I really do. All the players on offense are super excited about Gruden’s system now that lame-ass predictable Bob Bratkowski is finally gone.
He was diagnosed with mono back in early March. Local reports have said he’s lost around 25 lbs. Being a local kid in the NFL they keep tabs on him pretty regularly, especially since the Eagles are playing St. Louis week one.
I’m also pleased that the 49ers have signed Edwards. Crabtree hasn’t exactly filled me with confidence so far.
I like the Braylon signing, too. We haven’t had a real big (physically large) receiver since Owens left. Crabtree’s ability is fine so far, it will be improved with a coach willing to actually call a pass play. He just seems fragile.
So, who’s this Donte Whitner guy?
Oh, and the shopping of Mays was confirmed. Now we know what GM Trent Baalke and Mike Singletary were yelling at each other about last year during the draft.
Maybe. I guess I think of Santana Moss mostly a chain-mover, not a deep threat, but now he’s the only guy in that offense with any kind of speed.
Even Donte Stallworth would have made more sense, as a guy who can run fly patterns and keep the safeties back a step. IMO, that’s especially the case with a QB with shaky accuracy – run the ball, and then let him throw long off play action. Asking Sanchez to hit eight-yard out routes again and again seems crazy to me.
Santana Moss? You mean Santonio Holmes? Holmes averages ~15 yards per catch, and averaged 18 during his second year in Pitt. He’s got at least one 48+ yard catch in each pro season.
Stallworth’s quicks were totally gone last year, and he pulls a hammy every time he walks on the field.
I think Thigpen ought to be starting somewhere. He’s hugely underrated.
Ray Horton, new Cardinals defensive coordinator, sold his Mercedes to a cook at the Steelers’ practice facility for $20. It’s not like it was new; it was a '99 SL500 and probably only worth about $10k, but that’s still pretty cool.
garygnu:
Upthread you referred to Baalke as a “GM”. What did you mean by that? As a Niners fan living in St. Louis, I don’t hear a lot of the gossip.
Baalke took over for the fired Scot McCloughan shortly before the 2010 draft, but wasn’t given the official title of general manager until earlier this year. The quotes also were to reference his inexperience and his inability to re-sign some guys I thought were priorities. (Losing out on Asomugha was not an issue.)
These last few days have been much better, but a league-wide email shopping a high-profile player? :rolleyes: bush league.
The Saints have signed former Bears center Olin Kruetz. Rumor is that he passed up more money elsewhere to come to Who Dat Nation. We gonna be contenders this year 
Kreutz turned down a reported $4 million from the Bears, to sign for between 2 and 3 million from the Saints. Either he seriously misunderestimated his value.on the open market, ot he thinks the Bears won’t make the SuperBowl. Or, most likely, a bit of both.
Olin Kreutz signedwith the Saints today. He took a sizable pay cut from what the Bears were offering, down from a reported $4M for 1 year from the Bears to “between $2M and $3Mm” with incentives that could bring him up to $4M with the Saints. Usually these “incentives” are pretty tough to achieve, so unless he makes the Pro Bowl and the Saints win the championship he’ll probably be earning significantly less than the offer he turned down from the Bears. So yeah, the Bears probably should have considered meeting his $4.5M asking price, but they were right on with his actual value.
It’ll be interesting to see where Kreutz fits into the Saints plans. They’ve got a pair of elite OGs on either side so if he’s starting he won’t have any excuses for failure. The turf in New Orleans will be a huge change from the slush in Soldier Field, whether that’ll be for better or for worse on him is up for debate.
He wanted to be back with the Bears but he wanted his “respect”. He wasn’t looking to leave the Bears for a contender, but his stupid pride got in the way. Had a team on the Saints level not come calling he’d have retired. There’s implications that the 49ers and perhaps another couple young teams out there who offered him well over the $4M the Bears offered but he wasn’t going to go play for a team rebuilding for any price.
The Bears had to cancel, at the last minute, their Family Fest at Soldier Field, because the field at Soldiers Field was so shitty. Sometimes it’s so easy to just point and laugh.
OK, the initial thrill of the realization there is going to be a season, and the feeding frenzy FA period has worn off(partly because the Lions did slightly more than nothing).
I want a game, I want a game, I want a game now!!
Prediction: every team that spent big in free agency will be worse this year than last. Including the Iggles.
Argh!
I have a ticket for the 49ers open practice this Tuesday, but I might get selected for jury duty on Monday. Somehow I don’t think that’s an excusable prior commitment.
I think the good year was the fluke and everything around it was closer to being real. Carson Palmer was definitely not as good as he used to be, but he’s better than what Dalton or Gradkowski will provide this year. Benson is going to remember how much he sucks. You lost Joseph, one of your best defenders. I’m not convinced your young WRs are ready to step up yet.
We can revisit the topic later in the season.
Yeah, I guess we will have to. All the reports I am reading about camp have been overwhelmingly positive about Dalton, Green and Gruden’s new offense. And we did replace Joseph with Nate Clements, who isn’t quite as good as Joseph but he isn’t trash either. I am more excited about the fact that Andre Smith’s foot is healed and he showed up to camp in great shape, the signing of Jean-Gilles to replace Nate Livings at LG. If the offensive line plays well we should have a decent shot at a .500 record or slightly better.
I’ll say this: if Dalton turns out to be even decent (and I think he will, though he’s going to struggle horribly this year), the Bungles are going to have a phenomenal passing attack for years to come. Andre Caldwell really showed me something after Ocho and TO went down last year, and I love Jordan Shipley’s potential. AJ Green’s skillset complements theirs perfectly, and when you throw beast-in-waiting Jermaine Gresham in there and Jerome Simpson’s pure speed, there is terrifying potential there.