2022 Offseason thread

[CrimsonCrew]

Not Niner news, but a few more surprise cuts around the league:

Raiders OL Alex Leatherwood. He's chronically underperformed, but was a first-round pick not long ago. Awful pick by Mayock that was widely panned at the time.

Bucs WR Tyler Johnson. A fifth-round pick two years ago, he was a beast in college and looked like he might move into a role in TB. Their depth chart is ridiculous, though. Could catch on somewhere else.

Bills TE OJ Howard. This one is a bit of a shock. They brought him in this year, and he has often seemed on the cusp of breaking out. Really surprised to see that.

[Samurai]

Rapid update: Jordan Willis will be back after the IR stash's

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Good, I like Willis and he has a solid amount of value. It didn't seem to make sense to release him.

Lombardi also reported that the Niners believe Poe should clear waivers so they can re-sign him to the PS and continue his development. Hope it works out that way; surprised they decided to prioritize Zakelj over Poe.

[Samurai]

Not Niner news, but a few more surprise cuts around the league:

Raiders OL Alex Leatherwood. He's chronically underperformed, but was a first-round pick not long ago. Awful pick by Mayock that was widely panned at the time.

Bucs WR Tyler Johnson. A fifth-round pick two years ago, he was a beast in college and looked like he might move into a role in TB. Their depth chart is ridiculous, though. Could catch on somewhere else.

Bills TE OJ Howard. This one is a bit of a shock. They brought him in this year, and he has often seemed on the cusp of breaking out. Really surprised to see that.

Jaquiski Tartt was also released by the Eagles. Do the Niners bring him back? Have to admit that I still have a very bad taste of that dropped interception in my mouth that cost us a trip to the Super Bowl but since it appears we will be starting a 2nd year guy in Hufanga it may be helpful to have another veteran around.

[thesack12]

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[thesack12]

Rapid update: Jordan Willis will be back after the IR stash's

Read on Twitter

Good, I like Willis and he has a solid amount of value. It didn't seem to make sense to release him.

Lombardi also reported that the Niners believe Poe should clear waivers so they can re-sign him to the PS and continue his development. Hope it works out that way; surprised they decided to prioritize Zakelj over Poe.

I'm a little surprised they kept Zakelj over Poe, but they do have more invested in Nick and apparently he made noticeable improvements towards the end of camp/preason. They also probably feel like they have a better chance of sneaking Poe onto the PS since he was undrafted.

Either way, I'm with you I also hope Poe clears waivers and he rubberbands back to the team on the PS. He's has good developmental potential.

[thesack12]

Looks like Jordan Mason made it, which is good to see. He earned it.

Unfortunately they got rid of Hasty in favor of Sermon. Its not like Hasty is a great player or anything, but at least he provides some value as a 3rd down/receiving back. Now, Jeff Wilson is the only RB capable of filling that role.

At this point in time, the only value Sermon provides is merely being a warm body. Until injuries hit the RB room, its not hard to imagine Sermon racking up game day inactives.

Mason received some solid reviews as a receiver. He might be able to take on that role, though usually rookies struggle with pass blocking.

It would be great if he does have potential to eventually fill that role, but it might take awhile to develop that part of his game. I'm not going to pretend like I watched a lot of Georgia Tech ball, but the writeups on him say he never showed much as a receiver and struggled with pass protection in college.

But.... Mason has a good amount of promise overall

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Just further shows that they shouldn't be using 3rd rounders in back to back drafts on unremarkable RB prospects that aren't unique and don't have anything remotely special in their measurables or skillsets. Shanny's system consistently pumps out solid RB production with minimal investment.

[thesack12]

Not Niner news, but a few more surprise cuts around the league:

Raiders OL Alex Leatherwood. He's chronically underperformed, but was a first-round pick not long ago. Awful pick by Mayock that was widely panned at the time.

Bucs WR Tyler Johnson. A fifth-round pick two years ago, he was a beast in college and looked like he might move into a role in TB. Their depth chart is ridiculous, though. Could catch on somewhere else.

Bills TE OJ Howard. This one is a bit of a shock. They brought him in this year, and he has often seemed on the cusp of breaking out. Really surprised to see that.

I imagine Leatherwood will go unclaimed, as I doubt any team will want to pick up that 1st round contract. After clearing waivers, I'd kick the tires on him. That said he wouldn't be a guy that can help much in the short term, and would basically just be another developmental in a position group with several developmentals already in house. But his upside should be higher than most of the guys already on the team. If they can pick him up on the cheap, I'd sign him and cut a guy like Jaylon Moore.

As for Howard, supposedly he didn't have a good camp and never really flashed. He also played deep into the 2nd half of the preseason games, so apparently he never really had a good hold on making Buffalo's 53. In any event, 9ers could use another TE with receiving skills and red zone target potential, but I don't know if he provides enough as a blocker for Kyle's liking.

Another surprise cut was Minnesota releasing Kellen Mond. Was a 3rd rounder just last year, and he had a good amount of fanfare going into the draft. He proceeded to underwhelm since being drafted, but you would have thought he would have been afforded more time. Then again, the Vikings are under a new regime and they didn't draft Kellen so they cut ties with him.

Cowboys also cut every QB not named Dak Prescott. None of them were too good, but it is notable that they currently don't have a backup QB.

[thesack12]

Nate Sudfeld actually got signed by Detroit.

Good news for the 9ers, as now part of his dead cap hit will be offset.

[CrimsonCrew]

Nate Sudfeld actually got signed by Detroit.

Good news for the 9ers, as now part of his dead cap hit will be offset.

Just saw that and was going to post about it. Pretty shocking, but I'll definitely take it. Apparently they had trade talks. What would we not have taken???

[thesack12]

Nate Sudfeld actually got signed by Detroit.

Good news for the 9ers, as now part of his dead cap hit will be offset.

Just saw that and was going to post about it. Pretty shocking, but I'll definitely take it. Apparently they had trade talks. What would we not have taken???

Yes, its quite surprising.

"Trade talks" is a very broad classification. It easily could have been the 49ers initiating those calls, and Lions weren't interested. But since the 49ers and Lions "discussed" a Sudfeld trade, the two teams held "trade talks." If Detroit was actually interested, it was likely something along the lines of swapping 7th rounders with the 49ers picking up 100% of Sudfeld's contract or Lions offering a player they were going to cut and Frisco had no interest in taking. Other than something along those lines, I agree with you what would they not have accepted?

[thesack12]

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Nice!

[CrimsonCrew]

Some PS and cuts updates.

Washington claimed Castro-Fields. That sucks. I was hoping to keep him on the PS. That said, for all that he seems to have a lot of talent, dude was a fifth-year player who turned 23 in January and still lacks play strength. Obviously an NFL weight program can improve that, but he was playing at a legit school that would have been expected to have a relatively strong program already.

Poe cleared waivers and is on the PS. That's good news.

Knight and McCrary-Ball also make it, which is good. A couple promising youngsters who could develop into depth at least.

Snead and Gipson as vets. A little surprised about Snead, but we're only keeping five receivers and Snead can play STs, too. Gipson makes sense as long as Ward is out as insurance.

More to come, presumably.

[thesack12]

Hasty claimed by Jacksonville
Castro Fields claimed by Washington. That's disappointing he would have been a nice developmental addition to the PS

[thesack12]

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No word yet, on who they are releasing to make way for Hance.

Maybe, Zakelj?

[thesack12]

Some PS and cuts updates.

Washington claimed Castro-Fields. That sucks. I was hoping to keep him on the PS. That said, for all that he seems to have a lot of talent, dude was a fifth-year player who turned 23 in January and still lacks play strength. Obviously an NFL weight program can improve that, but he was playing at a legit school that would have been expected to have a relatively strong program already.

Poe cleared waivers and is on the PS. That's good news.

Knight and McCrary-Ball also make it, which is good. A couple promising youngsters who could develop into depth at least.

Snead and Gipson as vets. A little surprised about Snead, but we're only keeping five receivers and Snead can play STs, too. Gipson makes sense as long as Ward is out as insurance.

More to come, presumably.

Yeah losing Castro Fields is a bummer. Its not hard to imagine him having a better career than Ambry Thomas.

Great to have Poe back in house. He's a solid developmental prospect.

Gipson makes a lot of sense, considering they are thin at S. Snead is a bit of a head scratcher, but they are still pretty young at WR, so having a veteran in house makes sense. Not sure Snead is the best guy for that, although he does have experience with a very run heavy team which the 49ers figure to be.

[CrimsonCrew]

Watch on YouTube

Fields showing some great accuracy in the third preseason game. Not going to make too much of this. It is preseason, after all. But I don't think Lance will ever be as accurate as Fields is right now, and that's the reason I wanted Fields at three last year. He makes these pretty deep throws look so effortless. With Lance, it feels like a toss of the dice even when the guy is wide open.

Unless Fields just can't read the field - which I don't buy - and has just awful pocket presence, it's hard for me to envision Lance being the better QB. Granted Fields probably has the worst supporting cast in the NFL. Will be interesting to watch how these guys develop.

[thesack12]

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No word yet, on who they are releasing to make way for Hance.

Maybe, Zakelj?

Trey Sermon is the guy that got the axe

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Not sad to see Sermon go, what a godawful draft pick that was.

[arich35]

What a waste of a draft pick that was. Maybe Kyle will stop drafting RBs

[CrimsonCrew]

So frustrating. We could be adding good interior OL with picks that we keep burning on RB busts. A position that, even if it pans out, is the least valuable in football.

[CrimsonCrew]

Turay onto the PS. Wouldn't be shocked if he makes the active roster at some point. No Dohnovan West. Pretty disappointed by that. I was hoping he would be in the mix to take over the center position in another year or two.