ESPN is doing what they call the ‘Ultimate NFL Depth Chart’ where they rank all NFL teams. The overall rankings will be aired on Friday’s Sportscenter. We’ll save you some time and list some of the rankings they gave the 49ers.
Quarterbacks: 31 out of 32. Only ahead of the Browns. Of course if the trade of Dorsey for Dilfer didn’t go through, I’m sure they’d have the Niners at 32.
Runningbacks: 32 out of 32. The Niners were ranked 17th in rushing offense in the league last season, this with the likes of Anthony Clement on the line. No way the Niners are worse than the Jets, Lions, Raiders, Browns just to name a few.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: 32 out of 32.
Defense: Rushing D – 20 out of 32. Passing D – 22 out of 32.
[Rankings Courtesy of Matt Maiocco]
Mark said:
We will see who’s on the shitty end of the depth chart! As soon as start winning games. Then ESPN can kiss our ass!! Go ninners!
19 mins after the fact.GREG said:
screw salisbury…running backs and tight ends worst in the nfl a bunch of shit…
22 mins after the fact.ajizay said:
thats bull how can we have 32 on tight ends!! is not two start tight ends enough!! wtf! i believe we have the best tight en duo! name another team that has two tight ends that even sound as nice as davis n johnson!
2 hours after the fact.these rankings are complete garbage
BurlyD_83 said:
WOW TE Ranking #32… How is a team that has Eric Johnson, a guy who (when healthy) is a great player and Vernon Davis, the #6 Overall draft pick who may have the most potential out of any TE ever draft, RANKED #32 out of 32 in the TE position???
2 hours after the fact.Basically these guys all have to bash the 49ers as much as possible right now, because they know that very soon they won’t be able to anymore
HB said:
Salisbury??? The guy is a tool and was a horrible QB, just horible. It is funny how this clown and his retard TV buddies base everything soley on last year. Last year with the injury depeted roster, the revolving door rookie and castoff OL, the numerous straters injured, the Qb carousel, the new offensive system and coordinator. Funny how one of the owrst QB’s ever toplay the game (salisbury) failed to notice the improvement once AS had a line and a running game at the end of the season. Funny how he failed to mention how close the 9ers were beating chicago, Seattle, Jacksonville, and dallas. Pull your head out salisbury or you might sit down and break your neck. Wishfull thinking I guess
2 hours after the fact.SB said:
Anyone thats been watching 49ers football when we were kicking everyones asses knows that the rest of the league has always had it out for us…They hated eddie D because players loved him and being on the westcoast dominating the league irritated them even more..Now that these has beens and past bums(like salisbury)have media jobs, they’re going out they’re way to whip us verbally since they could’nt do it physically when they’re weak asses were playing.Its plain to see we are in rebuilding mode and going to often be underestimated, and hey that should be advantage 9ers.. Insulting us with them bogus rankings should be used as motivation.
4 hours after the fact.matt said:
Salisbury has been totally unimpressive as a commentator since he first began. The only time I’ve ever enjoyed or appreciated anything he’s had to say is when he takes on Michael Irvin (which is the equivalent of Forrest Gumps 71 IQ beating up a kid with a 69 IQ). The battle between those intellectual juggernauts is always good for a laugh.
He’s obviously totally incorrect with his tight end assessment. I also think we have more talent at the running back spot than he gives us credit for. You can see a slither of logic on the QB, based on last years stats, but I don’t feel like they are a valid framework. Wide receiver is open for debate – we can obviously say we’re way (and I mean way) better than last year.
Salisbury falls into the realm of “analysts” (for lack of a better term) who do little research and simply bandwagon onto mainstream opinions, making them their own by simply being louder than everyone else.
Commenting on anything he says is a total waste of my/our time. Thats two minutes of my life I’ll never get back…..
4 hours after the fact.Justin said:
Fuck these bitch ass critics on ESPN.com. Ranked #32 at TE?! That right there proves that all they do is bash on the Niners! Prove these bitches wrong 49ers. GO NINERS!
4 hours after the fact.mike said:
ESPN you can eat shit and the 49ers will show you who is #32.
4 hours after the fact.AntiG said:
I agree about the wide receivers and quarterbacks. Outside of Dilfer, both Smith and whomever wins the #3 job are the worst in the league at their respective depth spots. Our wide receivers are downright pitiful… a marginal #2 receiver like Antonio Bryant is our #1 guy by a large margin.
4 hours after the fact.AntiG said:
Our running backs are definately not last in terms of depth, but Barlow is by far the worst starter in the league. Gore, Hicks and Robinson provide good depth and if Gore wins the starting job, that brings up our starting RB to average.
It’s ludicrous to say Eric Johnson and Vernon Davis are #32 ranked. Easily top 10.
Our passing defense actually probably should be ranked last place.
4 hours after the fact.Moses said:
Eff ESPN. I pissed on them years ago and haven’t looked back.
5 hours after the fact.eezyE said:
when i first read this, i was like what the hell when i came across the tight ends. they can bash everything else on our offense and i have a feeling they can only do it legitimately for only a few more months because our offense will be much improved this season. but last place at tight ends? i seriously want to watch this shit and see what their reasons are for it. i’m calling they’re going to say that davis is a rookie and hasn’t proved anything and that EJ is injury prone. but these rankings shouldn’t be focused so much on the negative. basically ESPN sucks and i can’t wait to stick it up their ass
5 hours after the fact.Forrest said:
Eric Johnson has issues staying healthy and VD is unproven. I’ll take the 32nd rank for now.
The only ranking I really disagree with is running backs.
7 hours after the fact.ed gein said:
fuck sean salisbury and everyone who looks like him, including his kids, he is so mad at what our franchise has done and all the humps we overcame he cant stand it, is it really our franchise or its fans fault that he had a horrendous career(sugar coated)in the nfl? i wish i could just smack him one time
8 hours after the fact.Erickson said:
Edit: The Tight Ends and Wide Receivers are actually combined into Pass Catchers. So I fixed above. So it is WR/TE ranked 32 out of 32. Sorry for the confusion.
8 hours after the fact.Dave said:
These idiots at ESPN don’t even watch the niners. Not one single one of them. No one from the national media does either. They just put out some haterade articles and rankings.
That’s some blind fucking shit right there.
I’m done with this bullshit known as ESPN. These are the same idiots that think Brandon LLoyd is the shit. If you were to ask anyone of these clowns to name 5 Niners with out looking down at the roster list or depth chart, not one of them could do it.
They’re all too busy tossing Peyton Manning’s salad and I PROMISE you, that sucker will never win a ring.
8 hours after the fact.Arock49 said:
EVERYONE…..R E L A X…... These rankings that keep coming out that are all down on the Niners are not a bad thing, look at it like this…. No one really knows what this team is capable of achieving this next season, we havent seen what our team can really do the last couple of seasons nor has anyone else due to the injuries this team has endured. If this team stays healthy we all know were going to put up some wins next year, also by all these “so called analysts” with their shitty perdictions is helping our Niners by letting them (remember this)...Flying Under The Radar….. Its not a bad thing, just takes time to get that respect back. Fuck All Analysts anyway
!
9 hours after the fact.ed gein said:
after i read daves comment i got all fired up n ready to beat up an analyst, but thanks to arock49’s calm demeanor, i am at one with myself…..............
FUCK THESE ANALYSTS
!
9 hours after the fact.collnwd said:
Arock49 is absulutely, positively correct! Let everyone think that the Niners will be rock bottom. The team has to, and will prove to the Media, Analysts, and all the HATERS that this 2006 49er team is not as it seems on paper, or 2005 depth charts. It may be a rocky road ahead, but bring it on! This bunch will gel and the rest will take care of itself…. KEEP THE FAITH!!
13 hours after the fact.Eric said:
I’m not defending Salisbury, but this ranking system is a collective effort from Mike Golic, Mark Schlereth, Sean Salisbury and Trey Wingo. They’ve been showing this on ESPN and on their website. So, I just want the hatred to be spread out, not dumped on one dumb ass.
The real reason I point this out is Sean Salisbury, as dumb as he is, is more knowledgeable than Mark Schlereth. I HATE that fucker bad!
23 hours after the fact.A.Mendez said:
the one thing i don’t understand is the fact that salisbury keeps on hatin on the niners and this is how i know that all these analyst are full of shit because how can you rank the jets the bills in front of the niners. i mean the jets have one player and thats vilma. the bills are gonna regret not taking leinart(fuck leinart anyways we get to beat the shit out of him for the next ten years)at least nolan has a plan for the team whereas the jets and bills have no clue what they are doing.
4 days after the fact.