What now? An Off-season Overview, Part I
By Avo Arikian

The 49ers head into the off-season with, in all likelihood, a massive amount of change on the horizon. Clearly, Mike Nolan and his staff have their work cut out for them in building a team that can compete in the NFL on a consistent basis. The good news for them is that for once, the team finally has the ammunition – about $20 million in cap space, plus the 6th or 7th pick in the draft – to add some really quality players.

With that in mind, here’s a basic breakdown of what the team needs to be looking for at each position as they gear-up for the important months ahead. Part I is an overview of the offense.

Quarterback: Alex Smith is the starter and will be for the foreseeable future. Clearly, they need to surround him with more weapons, and he has to do his best to take a step forward in terms of his own development if the team wants to improve. The team wants desperately to add a true veteran QB to play behind Smith and teach him the ropes rather than compete with him for a job (as Tim Rattay did). It’d be preferable if it were someone who’s played in Norv Turner’s offense before, and there are a couple of guys out there who would make a lot of sense. There’s no indication as to whether Ken Dorsey or Cody Pickett would stay on as the 3rd QB, but clearly, it won’t have a lot of bearing on things.

Running back: This position came on strong at the end of the year, and surprisingly, the team finished in the middle of the pack in yards per carry. Frank Gore flashed real potential as a starter, displaying the combination of vision, power and speed that few backs have. The question is though (and it is a big one), will he hold up? Gore recently underwent surgery on both shoulders and likely won’t be ready until training camp. Maurice Hicks is probably going to be back as a nice change-of-pace runner, and is good for a few touches per game.

The one decision that will determine what happens at this position in the off-season is what they do with Kevan Barlow. My assumption is that they will bring him back, but this time without the guarantee of a starting job, and have him share the load with Gore. If they end up releasing or trading him for whatever reason, there may be another back on his way to San Francisco via free agency or the draft. But in the end, I think the team will give Barlow the benefit of the doubt, since he did run harder this season than last.

Fullback: The chances that Fred Beasley will return next season are extremely slim. Beasley has a well-known feud with running backs coach Bishop Harris, and there are conflicting reports as to why. Some say it’s because Beasley showed up very unprepared for training camp and was uninterested the entire time. Others say it’s because Harris is just flat-out hard to work with.

As it stands, the Niners can go a few different directions here. Norv Turner will more than likely utilize a fullback in his offensive sets, so the choice then becomes whether the team wants a big, bruising fullback, or one that can catch out of the backfield well and provide a safety valve for Smith. My personal preference is to get a guy who’s a solid blocker, but can also get open and be a safety blanket for Smith when nothing else is open. We’ll certainly see what Turner prefers, as they are likely to acquire someone to replace Beasley.

Offensive line: The strength of the 49ers’ offensive line this coming season is going to rest on the shoulders of two men: Jonas Jennings and Jeremy Newberry. If the team thinks both can come back and remain healthy for most of the season, there’s a good argument that the line is set with Jennings, Justin Smiley, Newberry, David Baas, and Adam Snyder as the starting five. Smiley, Baas and Snyder all had strong finishes to the season and really came into their own as run blockers, with their pass blocking ability coming along a little more slowly.

It’s hard to make a contingency plan for a left tackle, especially when you’ve spent as much on him as the Niners did on Jennings. There is some thought that the team should draft D’Brickashaw Ferguson if given the opportunity, but that would be sinking an awful lot of resources into a position that has already had a lot of draft picks and money pumped into it. The likelihood is that the team will take its chances with Jennings as the left tackle and Kwame Harris as the swing backup. If Newberry isn’t able to come back, which is very much a possibility, the team would probably start Eric Heitmann at center and groom a draftee to take over in the long run.

There is some talk of the team making a run at one of the elite free agent linemen (Steve Hutchinson or LeCharles Bentley), but the chances of one actually landing in San Francisco are slim at this point. The team more or less has to continue to let its young players develop, and continue to develop more depth/possible starters through modest investments in the draft and free agency.

Tight end: Eric Johnson has committed to working hard this off-season to get back healthy, and the team isn’t going to give up on him. However, with him missing as many games as he has (32 of his last 48 were spent on the sidelines), the Niners can’t afford to count on him as the only option at tight end this season. Billy Bajema and Trent Smith are not capable of being quality options for Alex Smith to throw to, so there’s an excellent chance that someone will be brought in to either start or challenge to start. With the tight end depth being as good as it is this year in the draft, that’s almost surely the direction they’ll go in. And if the draftee and Eric Johnson are both healthy and playing well, nobody’s to say that two-TE sets can’t be used.

Wide receiver: There’s a couple of decent players here, and a couple others who are completely unproven, but are worth hanging onto as developmental prospects. Brandon Lloyd and Arnaz Battle are a solid, but not spectacular starting tandem. The problem is that Battle was hurt for much of the year, leaving Johnnie Morton as the starter opposite Lloyd much of the time. When healthy, Battle is a tough possession receiver with very good hands. Lloyd will get railed on by many fans for being soft, but the fact is, he could very realistically be a 1,000 yard receiver if he ever gets a stable QB throwing to him. The team can’t afford to let that kind of talent go at this point.

What needs to be done at this point is that the team has to bring in an experienced player who is of starting quality. He doesn’t have to be a bonafide, dynamic #1, but rather someone that can be counted on to get open and make plays. That would create a trio of solid receivers for Smith to throw to, when last season only one of them was available (Lloyd). With any luck, at least one out of the young receivers (Rashaun Woods, Derrick Hamilton, Marcus Maxwell) will become an NFL-quality receiver. The bet would have to be on Hamilton at this point, who has gamebreaking ability, but is also raw and coming off a torn ACL. Woods is a complete enigma. Maxwell is liked by the coaching staff very much and like Hamilton, he has size and speed as well.

That’s all for Part I. Part II will look at the defense and what needs to be done at each position on that side of the ball. Until next time.