9-8, 5th place
Year II was a bit of a struggle, especially early, as they started 0-4 before finishing the year 9-4 to end up a game over .500. Losses to Lomé and Rome were particularly confounding, especially for a team that beat both Rio de Janeiro and Dublin. The overall performance was far short of Year I, but the team has all the pieces to rebound.
The challenge will be navigating the various drafts, as there are some areas of depth (especially WR) and some areas of frank need (LB, DB mostly).
For all of the offensive talent, however, the Sea Lions generally underperformed on that side of the ball. It’s a league of slim margins–Drew Brees was out of the MVP conversation, the offensive line was a tad weak, and that’s all it takes.
Defensively, the issue is clear: San Francisco was magnificent against the run and horrible against the pass. This is probably the greatest area of off-season need.
The Off Season
It’s a question of how to improve the pass defense first and foremost.
Bottom Line
Strengths
QB, WR, DL.
Needs
LB, DB, OL depth.
Offense
Pts: 12th
Rush/G: 13th
Pass/G: 9th
Yards/Play: 10th
Skill
Drew Brees (15 AV, 59% completion, 95.9 QBR, 3749 passing yards, 15:10 TD:interception) wasn’t as good as he was in Year I, but he’s still the undisputed leader for San Francisco. A great final game performance earned Bobby Hebert (0.9 AV) the backup role for Year III.
Frank Gore (10.6 AV, 1277 rushing yards, 10 TDs) has seized the starting job, eclipsing 1000 yards on the year. Joe Arenas (2.6 AV) can be an effective runner, but his main contribution is returning kicks while Bruce Miller (3.4 AV) is among the better FBs in the league. Beyond that, it’s a bit of a quagmire: Delvin Williams (0.7 AV) will be moving on and nobody else did enough.
The WR corps is massively deep, which is unlikely the last the offseason. Jerry Rice (13.4 AV, 99 receptions, 1161 yards, 9 TDs) grabbed the starting opportunity with both hands, ending the year as the Sea Lions’ clear #1 option. It gets hard beyond that: Terrell Owens (6.3 AV, 7 TDs, but 16 drops) remains the strongest deep threat, but Marques Colston (7.3 AV, 75 receptions, 796 yards) and Anquan Boldin (1.3 AV) were both highly effective, and that doesn’t even get to Stevie Johnson (0.5 AV) or Jake Reed (0.4 AV), both of whom were solid in limited appearances.
Jimmy Graham (4.1 AV) is an elite TE, and Monty Stickles (0.7 AV) showed enough to find time on another team.
OL
Ray Wietecha (9.0 AV, 19 holes) is the best of an underperforming lot in Year I, but returns as the C for Year III. Year I standouts Willie Roaf (4.2 AV) and Joe Staley (2.3 AV) both suffered serious injuries in Year II, and their replacements–mainly Woody Peoples (6.6 AV, 14 holes), Randy Cross (5.8 AV), and Chris Hinton (5.2 AV), with some help from LeCharles Bentley (4.6 AV)–were merely adequate.
Of that group, Hinton and Bentley were the best, but all of them, as well as Bryce Harris (3.5 AV), deserve opportunities somewhere.
Special Teams
Thomas Morstead (1.3 AV) remains one of the top punters in the league, but there are some questions at K. Shayne Graham (0.1 AV)–who had an excellent Year I–was sidelined early with injury, and Ray Wersching (1.1 AV) was more than adequate as his replacement.
Kicking is a game of thin margins, so Graham is out.
Joe Arenas has the return duties on lockdown; Jessie Tuggle (0.3 AV) stays on as the ST gunner.
Defense
Pts/G: 4th
Rush Yards/G: 2nd
Pass Yards/G: 15th
Yards/P: 8th
DL
While it’s not clear the Sea Lions stay with the 3-4 next season, the front 3 in Year II were absolutely stellar, led by the magnificent duo of Charles Haley (13.3 AV, 82 tackles, 12 sacks, 24 hurries, 12 stuffs) and Bryant Young (13.3 AV, 9 sacks, 75 tackles, 19 hurries, 11 stuffs). Justin Smith (7.0 AV, 77 tackles) was quite good, and Roger Brown (4.3 AV) and Cameron Jordan (1.3 AV) did well enough to earn playing time somewhere as well.
LB
The talent here isn’t being questioned, but the production sure is.
That’s excluding tackling machine Ken Norton, Jr. (9.2 AV, 96 tackles) in the middle. But Julian Peterson (4.9 AV, 42 tackles) was merely adequate, and Rickey Jackson (3.5 AV, 6 sacks in 10 games) and Sam Mills (2.1 AV) both missed significant time with injuries, as did Patrick Willis (1.0 AV).
That group–along with Nigel Harris (1.2 AV)–will play somewhere, but it’s not clear it will be in San Francisco.
DB
Bobby Bryant (8.3 AV, 5 blocked kicks, 3 interceptions) burst onto the scene to threaten Ronnie Lott (7.2 AV, 3 interceptions, 62 tackles) as the leader of San Francisco’s secondary. Eric Reid (5.2 AV, 17 deflections) and Perrish Cox (5.1 AV, 62 tackles) were quite good as well, but the level of play needs to increase across the board to improve the performance against the run.
Antoine Bethea (3.9 AV) was the best nickle back, but is likely to move on, and De’Vante Harris (1.8 AV), Jairus Byrd (1.6 AV), and Keenan Lewis (1.1 AV) all did enough to earn playing time.
Players Retained
Franchise
QB: Drew Brees
RB: Frank Gore
TE: Jimmy Graham
OL: Ray Wietecha, Joe Staley
DL: Bryant Young, Charles Haley, Justin Smith
LB: Ken Norton, Jr.
DB: Ronnie Lott
Protected
WR: Jerry Rice, Terrell Owens, Marques Colston
OL: Willie Roaf, Randy Cross, Woody Peoples, Chris Hinton
LB: Julian Peterson, Rickey Jackson
DB: Bobby Bryant, Eric Reid
K: Ray Wersching
P: Thomas Morstead
Reserves
QB: Bobby Hebert
RB: Joe Arenas
LB: Jessie Tuggle
Taxis Kept
LB: Derek Smith
LB: Vaughan Johnson
Players Waived
To Start Elsewhere
RB: Bruce Miller
WR: Anquan Boldin
DL: Roger Brown
LB: Sam Mills
DB: Perrish Cox, Antoine Bethea
To Play Elsewhere
RB: Delvin Williams
WR: Stevie Johnson, Jake Reed
TE: Monty Stickles
OL: LeCharles Bentley, Bryce Harris
DL: Cameron Jordan
LB: Nigel Harris, Patrick Willis
DB: De’Vante Harris, Jairus Byrd, Keenan Lewis
K: Shayne Graham
Released
QB: Bob Griese, Joe Montana, Steve Spurrier
RB: Ricky Watters, Derek Brown
WR: Dick Wilkins, Arnaz Battle, Trindon Holliday, Willie Richardson
TE: Ted Popson, Gordie Soltau, Thomas Duarte
OL: Andre Smith, Mike Iupati, Alex Boone, Bob Fry, Pace Murphy, A.Q. Shipley
DL: Brian Robison, Ronald Blair, Darius Latham, Lee Williams
LB: Riki Ellison, Karl Rubke, Dirt Winston
DB: Chris Davis, Keith Reaser, Dre Kirkpatrick, Taveze Calhoun