Shortly after the San Francisco 49ers hired Chip Kelly, I referred to his and Colin Kaepernick’s pairing as a “match made in the back-corner stall of an interstate rest area men’s room.” It was all part of my thesis that Kaepernick is unable to master the quarterback position in the NFL and that Chip Kelly, though a superb college football coach, can not master the head coaching position in the NFL.
While 2016 may have been a farting rat king carcass, I made quite a few solid predictions this season. I’ll get to some of them in my Friday Afternoon Quarterback column at the end of the season, but this one I want to gloat about a little early. Because the Chip Kelly and Colin Kaepernick marriage turned out worse than even I predicted. It was awesome.
https://twitter.com/LeadingNFL/status/816689802145775616
Not only did Kaepernick get benched for months to start the season, Kelly got fired and so did general manager Trent Baalke. It was a bloodbath that’s not over yet, since there’s no way Kaepernick suits up for the 49ers again. The very idea is ridiculous under any new head coach that actually watches game film with his head pointed at the screen and not secured firmly up his ass.
The 49ers have set up a goal and that’s to create the “New England Patriots West” so there’s no question that Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is the top man on their head coach wish list. They’ll have to wait and see what the Los Angeles Rams do on that, but other possible contenders are Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (but not really, if he doesn’t end up with the Rams, he’ll coach the Denver Broncos), Buffalo Bills interim head coach Anthony Lynn, Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay and Seattle Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable.
The #49ers have interviewed Anthony Lynn for head coach.
Details: https://t.co/9eqYANwVO1 pic.twitter.com/3dOisRJCcE
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 4, 2017
In their GM search, San Francisco has requested interviews with Eliot Wolf of the Green Bay Packers, Brandon Beane from the Panthers and Jimmy Raye from the Indianapolis Colts.
I really think the 49ers should go with Patricia if they don’t land McDaniels and I don’t see their GM on that list. They’re waiting on Nick Caserio, director of player personnel from the Patriots to come free for an interview, but there’s a chance they’ll have to wait out the Rams on him too.
#49ers brass will be in Green Bay today, interviewing #Packers execs Eliot Wolf & Brian Gutekunst for their vacant GM job.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 5, 2017
What kind of team is the new coach inheriting? A bad one and an empty one, but a team with a shitload of cap space and that’s before a single cut. The 49ers open 2017 with $80.3 million available. When Kaepernick is cut, that number shoots up to $97.2 million, if you can believe it. A handful of other cuts like wide receiver Torry Smith and linebacker Ahmad Brooks and San Francisco will enter the free agent period with a cool $100 million to spend as they wish.
The 49ers have 31 players getting loose as some type of free agent this offseason and there’s only a few on the list they should want to keep; linebackers Michael Wilhoite and Nick Bellore and wide receivers Jeremy Kerley and Quinton Patton. Everybody else can split.
Let’s look at the 49ers’ draft. They have their full compliment of picks in rounds 1-7 and could end up with an extra fourth rounder as a compensatory pick. San Francisco will pick second in every round. That means they could pull three or four day one starters out of this draft.
Insider alert: ESPN analyst Louis Riddick will interview next week in NY for 49ers' GM job, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 3, 2017
But, by God, they need a quarterback. And a real quarterback, for God’s sake. And if the Cleveland Browns do what they should do with the No. 1 pick (take Deshaun Watson), the 49ers will have North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky fall right to them.
And knowing they’ll get one of the two big quarterbacks, they need to plan the rest of their draft and their free agent spending spree around that. That means offensive lineman and offensive weapons, in that order. In the second round they could land a Ryan Ramczyk from Wisconsin or even O.J. Howard from Alabama. In the third, Dion Dawkins from Temple or Adam Bisnowaty from Pitt.
But with that much free agent money to spend there’s no reason to wait until the draft. If I ran the 49ers and had a guy targeted, there would be no way another team could beat my offer. Frankly, this 49ers’ GM job might be the funnest in sports right now. It’d basically be like playing Madden.
Of course, the success of that Madden season all depends on who Jed York ultimately picks for both jobs. And, man, doesn’t that throw a cold bucket of water on the whole thing?
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