I’ve already posted a forum about this but I already have a plan for the upcoming offseason since I have absolutely nothing to look forward to this year.

Lets look at the main problems with the Niner we’ll start with the obvious one, the offense. It has been so bad I have to reiterate that our offense sucks once again. Alex Smith may have regressed but this is not completely his fault. Our offensive line has completely underachieved after being one of our strongest parts last year.

The left side was dominant with Larry Allen and Jonas Jennings serving as the gateway for Frank Gore’s breakthrough season last year but they just haven’t held up that well this year. Gore led the league last year in plays over twenty yards and rushed for nearly 1700 yards with a yard per carry of 5. Now he’ll be lucky to reach 1,000 yards and has a ypc of only 4.2 Jonas Jennings has been out since midseason and is on IR with a bum ankle. The right side isn’t any better after losing “I want a long-term contract” Justin Smiley to IR with a shoulder injury. The line hasn’t held up well in pass protection as you can see from the impending start of Shaun Hill. Yeah I said it Shaun Hill! If there wasn’t a better symbol for the Niners failure.

We really lack depth at receiver and the ones we have now aren’t anything special. I’ve always liked Arnaz Battle and was very excited when we got Darrell Jackson but I’ve never seen a receiver with his numbers have such stone hands.

Let’s not forget Jim Hostler. If anyone just looked at the stats and saw that we were ranked 32nd in average points, passing yards and total yards then you know there must something wrong in the play calling after seeing what Norv Turner did with it last year.

So what should management do next season?

First off I don’t think you move on from Mike Nolan or Alex Smith. Some of the blame does rest with Nolan for hiring Hostler as offensive coordinator, but you can’t put all the blame on Smith who had a poor supporting cast this year outside of Frank Gore and was on his third offensive coordinator in three years. I never knew I would miss Norv Turner so much.

Nevertheless, the first thing they should do is solidify the line. Jonas Jennings is hit or miss when it comes to his health and he is under contract for several more year so he is staying at left tackle. Now the we come to Larry Allen. He isn’t getting any younger and I believe he is at the end of his contract this season. One player I would love for the Niners to target to solidfy the line is Alan Faneca. He will be a pricey free agent but the Niners are currently projected to have 31 million in cap space and that could increase with cuts. Joe Staley has been a solid addition even though he cost the Niners, I hate to say it, the No.2 overall pick, and even worse, to the Patriots as of Week 15. The Niners have all sorts of depth at right guard, so Faneca will help correct some of the problems on their line with his leadership and Gore could have another great year.

I loved the defense this year and the only reason their numbers say otherwise(towards the bottom in several major categories) is because they are on the field for so long with such a poor offense to complement them. I don’t know why I’m saying this but I think they could spend some of their money on a pass rusher event though we spent so much on Nate Clements last year. They just don’t get much of pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the secondary suffers because of it. We only managed 26 sacks this year and 12 of those came against the Rams. Jared Allen, Terrell Suggs would be great additions but Manny Lawson was on his way to an outstanding season before he suffered his season ending injury. As I posted earlier, Lance Briggs almost came to the Niners and their is a good chance he could end up in San Francisco, giving us two of the best inside linebackers with Patrick Willis alongside him.

Since receiving is such a big issue for San Francisco and their really isn’t much depth other than Bernard Berrian in free agency, I think the Niners should focus on it in the draft. There are plenty of great receivers available at the bottom of the draft including Early Doucet, Adarius Bowman and other receivers in later rounds. We need depth at this position period.

As far as offensive coordinator is concerned I don’t know what they are going to do. Maybe Cam Cameron? I don’t know how long he will be sticking around in Miami and he ran an offense similar to ours in San Diego with a power running back, a dynamic tight end and not much at receiver. He could be a great addition but we will be giving Alex Smith his fourth coordinator in four years in what will probably be his last year before the Niners decide to groom another quarterback for the future.

So until March I don’t have much to look forward to, but what can i say I find ways to bide my time until the Niners of old return to grace me with playoff and Super Bowl appearances galore.

-SCNorcal – Just so you know I wrote not assuming any players would be free agents as a result of cuts