http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000156693/article/nnamdi-asomugha-agrees-to-contract-with-49ers


looks like all that "No Cal players on the Niners" talk is put to rest

Soon, he'll be sporting the Jim Harbaugh Collection

http://www.49ers.com/media-gallery/photo-gallery/jim-harbaugh-collection/b27512e4-18f9-441b-8e6c-889f6725d20e

CalBearinLA;842109421 said:

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000156693/article/nnamdi-asomugha-agrees-to-contract-with-49ers


looks like all that "No Cal players on the Niners" talk is put to rest

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But But But they HAVENT drafted anyone from Cal since 2001. They are biased toward Furd!!!

:sarc:


:hatters no matter how many Cal players are on the Niners.

That's a steal.. Stoked on this signing. Go Niners!

Awesome! Can't wait to see Nnamdi in a Niners uniform. Hopefully, he can put the stench of the Eagles behind him.

I like the fact that he didn't want any guaranteed money. Seems like he wants to prove that he still has it.

glb78;842109426 said:

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That's a steal.. Stoked on this signing. Go Niners!

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Agreed--great to see a Cal player on the Niners again! Hopefully more to come!

:gobears:

Boot;842109431 said:

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I like the fact that he didn't want any guaranteed money. Seems like he wants to prove that he still has it.

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+1 - great guy who has something to prove and I wouldn't bet against him. Charles Woodson looked like crap in a raiders uniform and bounced back pretty well when he went to Green Bay. Hoping for the same to Nnamdi.

NYCGOBEARS;842109427 said:

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Awesome! Can't wait to see Nnamdi in a Niners uniform. Hopefully, he can put the stench of the Eagles behind him.

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Stench of the Eagles? He stunk, not the Eagles. He was not in game condition, either mentally or physically. He was repeatedly beaten deep and short. He will not last long with the Niners unless he regains his focus. This signing was mostly for PR, I suspect.

gardenstatebear;842109445 said:

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Stench of the Eagles? He stunk, not the Eagles. He was not in game condition, either mentally or physically. He was repeatedly beaten deep and short. He will not last long with the Niners unless he regains his focus. This signing was mostly for PR, I suspect.

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while that might be true, the eagles have been pretty awful the last two years.

gardenstatebear;842109445 said:

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Stench of the Eagles? He stunk, not the Eagles. He was not in game condition, either mentally or physically. He was repeatedly beaten deep and short. He will not last long with the Niners unless he regains his focus. This signing was mostly for PR, I suspect.

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I'll chalk it up to scheme. The Niners need DBs and with no guaranteed money Asomugha's upside is more than worth the signing.

gardenstatebear;842109445 said:

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Stench of the Eagles? He stunk, not the Eagles. He was not in game condition, either mentally or physically. He was repeatedly beaten deep and short. He will not last long with the Niners unless he regains his focus. This signing was mostly for PR, I suspect.

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If Bill Barnwell is to be believed, part of it is on the Eagles for misusing him as a zone-defense corner playing far off the line when he is better suited to being a man-to-man bump-and-run guy. Perhaps if the 49ers can put him in a more suitable position he can still play well.

Anyway, at this price it's a great deal for the Niners.

sycasey;842109454 said:

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If Bill Barnwell is to be believed, part of it is on the Eagles for misusing him as a zone-defense corner playing far off the line when he is better suited to being a man-to-man bump-and-run guy. Perhaps if the 49ers can put him in a more suitable position he can still play well.

Anyway, at this price it's a great deal for the Niners.

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Exactly. The Eagles didnt use him correctly.

sycasey;842109454 said:

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If Bill Barnwell is to be believed, part of it is on the Eagles for misusing him as a zone-defense corner playing far off the line when he is better suited to being a man-to-man bump-and-run guy. Perhaps if the 49ers can put him in a more suitable position he can still play well.

Anyway, at this price it's a great deal for the Niners.

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The Eagles also didn't have the Niners D-line. The Niners pass rush makes the secondary better than it is, and Nnamdi is probably good enough in coverage to contribute heavily to this defense.

Cal Panda Bear;842109424 said:

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But But But they HAVENT drafted anyone from Cal since 2001. They are biased toward Furd!!!

:sarc:


:hatters no matter how many Cal players are on the Niners.

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I really want this to die. It makes me angry how much people stretch the truth to make this sound true. This is the second Cal player the niners have rostered in the last six years, and both have been good signings that fit the team at the time. There isn't an anti-Cal bias, and it's insane to argue there is one.

CalBearRJ;842109498 said:

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I really want this to die. It makes me angry how much people stretch the truth to make this sound true. This is the second Cal player the niners have rostered in the last six years, and both have been good signings that fit the team at the time. There isn't an anti-Cal bias, and it's insane to argue there is one.

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, after picking ASmith over ARodgers, people cant bring themselves to forgive the Niners even though ARodgers ended up in a better situation.

Cal Panda Bear;842109424 said:

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But But But they HAVENT drafted anyone from Cal since 2001. They are biased toward Furd!!!

:sarc:


:hatters no matter how many Cal players are on the Niners.

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its gotta be a red thing

Cal Panda Bear;842109499 said:

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, after picking ASmith over ARodgers, people cant bring themselves to forgive the Niners even though ARodgers ended up in a better situation.

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This is exactly right. And as both a Niners fan and a Cal fan...I'm actually happy Rodgers ended up in Green Bay. There's no telling if he would have had the same success here.

CalBearRJ;842109508 said:

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This is exactly right. And as both a Niners fan and a Cal fan...I'm actually happy Rodgers ended up in Green Bay. There's no telling if he would have had the same success here.

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AR wouldnt look good in red anyway. can you imagine, AR i think would have been fairly successful but then Mike Nolan would still be the coach and harbaugh would still be at stanfurd....

Cal Panda Bear;842109499 said:

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, after picking ASmith over ARodgers, people cant bring themselves to forgive the Niners even though ARodgers ended up in a better situation.

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Yeah, and that was mostly a stupid Mike Nolan decision and not an anti-Cal decision.

StillNoStanfurdium;842109453 said:

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I'll chalk it up to scheme. The Niners need DBs and with no guaranteed money Asomugha's upside is more than worth the signing.

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Yeah, it's not like the rest of the dream team did anything. Were the other DBs out of shape too? Lets see...OL coach as DC. Fire DC mid season. Lead league in turnovers. Yep. All NA's fault.

CalBearRJ;842109508 said:

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This is exactly right. And as both a Niners fan and a Cal fan...I'm actually happy Rodgers ended up in Green Bay. There's no telling if he would have had the same success here.

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He would've still been great for the Niners, making them just good enough to keep Nolan employed.
So it works out for everybody.

LethalFang;842109570 said:

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He would've still been great for the Niners, making them just good enough to keep Nolan employed.
So it works out for everybody.

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:headbang

Are you serious? There is NO evidence pointing to Aaron Rodgers fairing better than Alex Smith. Let's face it - the Niners were a mess pre-Harbaugh. People thinking the Niners wouldve been better off with AR are insane. If anything, AR couldve done worse since he had to change his throwing mechanics anyways.

I get that everyone here loves Aaron Rodgers and thinks he's the greatest player ever. But let's put our bias aside and face reality - AR is only at where he is now because he avoided going into a messy situation with the Niners.

Cal Panda Bear;842109581 said:

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:headbang

Are you serious? There is NO evidence pointing to Aaron Rodgers fairing better than Alex Smith. Let's face it - the Niners were a mess pre-Harbaugh. People thinking the Niners wouldve been better off with AR are insane. If anything, AR couldve done worse since he had to change his throwing mechanics anyways.

I get that everyone here loves Aaron Rodgers and thinks he's the greatest player ever. But let's put our bias aside and face reality - AR is only at where he is now because he avoided going into a messy situation with the Niners.

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Well, some people think that Aaron Rodgers had significantly more ability than Alex Smith and that would have meant something even with the Niners as they were at the time. Crazy notion, I guess.

Cal Panda Bear;842109581 said:

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:headbang

Are you serious? There is NO evidence pointing to Aaron Rodgers fairing better than Alex Smith. Let's face it - the Niners were a mess pre-Harbaugh. People thinking the Niners wouldve been better off with AR are insane. If anything, AR couldve done worse since he had to change his throwing mechanics anyways.

I get that everyone here loves Aaron Rodgers and thinks he's the greatest player ever. But let's put our bias aside and face reality - AR is only at where he is now because he avoided going into a messy situation with the Niners.

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Huh? I don't think anyone is arguing arod would have had the same success w the niners, but I think it's a fair assumption that he would have been better than smith was w the niners. Unless you are arguing that smith and arod are equal talent wise.

I think smith is going to be absolutely exposed next year outside the safe harbor of harbaughs system.

ducky23;842109606 said:

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Huh? I don't think anyone is arguing arod would have had the same success w the niners, but I think it's a fair assumption that he would have been better than smith was w the niners. Unless you are arguing that smith and arod are equal talent wise.

I think smith is going to be absolutely exposed next year outside the safe harbor of harbaughs system.

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People have definitely argued in the past that AR would have done just as well if he'd started with SF. I don't agree at all given the crappy supporting cast, a different OC every year, and crappy head coaches that Alex Smith had. AR would've done better than Smith for sure, but how much more?

Reid has a pretty QB friendly system too, so we'll see.

Cal Panda Bear;842109581 said:

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:headbang

Are you serious? There is NO evidence pointing to Aaron Rodgers fairing better than Alex Smith. Let's face it - the Niners were a mess pre-Harbaugh. People thinking the Niners wouldve been better off with AR are insane. If anything, AR couldve done worse since he had to change his throwing mechanics anyways.

I get that everyone here loves Aaron Rodgers and thinks he's the greatest player ever. But let's put our bias aside and face reality - AR is only at where he is now because he avoided going into a messy situation with the Niners.

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Green Bay was not as great a situation as you let on especially by the time Aaron took over. Zero running game, so-so defense, line protection not great (took tons of sacks). It was all AR. And that stuff about his mechanics is BS. Rodgers set an NCAA record for consecutive completions in 2004, not against some sh*ty team when such records are usually set, but against the #1 team and the #1 defense on their home field.

Meanwhile the Niners were putting together a great defense and great running game but no QB...

philbert_Cal;842109610 said:

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People have definitely argued in the past that AR would have done just as well if he'd started with SF. I don't agree at all given the crappy supporting cast, a different OC every year, and crappy head coaches that Alex Smith had. AR would've done better than Smith for sure, but how much more?

Reid has a pretty QB friendly system too, so we'll see.

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The supporting cast was pretty good. The defense was steadily improving, the running game was strong, they just did not have a QB. That is what did in all those OCs and HCs.

still cb ?

calumnus;842109612 said:

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The supporting cast was pretty good. The defense was steadily improving, the running game was strong, they just did not have a QB. That is what did in all those OCs and HCs.

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The defense was starting to improve, but the offense was not very good. There were no wide receivers and if the offensive line was that good, why did they burn two #1 draft picks a few years ago on a guard and a tackle? Gore was a good RB and Staley was a good LT, but who else stood out on offense during Smith's early years?

I'd say McCarthy and Norv Turner were decent OCs for Smith, but each only stayed for one year before getting a HC job. Every single one after that didn't have a clue what they were doing. Jim Hostler, Mike Martz, Jimmy Raye, and Mike Johnson haven't exactly become offensive geniuses since leaving SF.

I'm using this latest A. Smith - A. Rodgers draft references to learn if anyone else has heard the following theory (inside story?):

I was listening to Damon Bruce awhile back and only heard the very last bit, but someone was saying the Niners actually meant to get Rodgers draft day '04. This person had been in the press room at Niner HQ and he said that either Nolan or an assistant would pop in after each round and give a brief bio and selection rationale for each and every new playerEXCEPT Alex Smith.

The word spread that the Niners picked Smith first but they had a tentative deal with team drafting later who would pick Rodgers (not the Packers). They would then swap Smith for Rodgers and get another draft pick in addition.

BUT the unnamed team reneged because there was somebody left on the board that they wanted more than Rodgers.

StillNoStanfurdium;842109453 said:

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I'll chalk it up to scheme. The Niners need DBs and with no guaranteed money Asomugha's upside is more than worth the signing.

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It was the scheme. He's not a zone-heavy kind of DB. He'll be fine away from that scheme.

ghostof37;842109692 said:

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I'm using this latest A. Smith - A. Rodgers draft references to learn if anyone else has heard the following theory (inside story?):

I was listening to Damon Bruce awhile back and only heard the very last bit, but someone was saying the Niners actually meant to get Rodgers draft day '04. This person had been in the press room at Niner HQ and he said that either Nolan or an assistant would pop in after each round and give a brief bio and selection rationale for each and every new playerEXCEPT Alex Smith.

The word spread that the Niners picked Smith first but they had a tentative deal with team drafting later who would pick Rodgers (not the Packers). They would then swap Smith for Rodgers and get another draft pick in addition.

BUT the unnamed team reneged because there was somebody left on the board that they wanted more than Rodgers.

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That seems like an absolutely stupid draft strategy

philbert_Cal;842109630 said:

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The defense was starting to improve, but the offense was not very good. There were no wide receivers and if the offensive line was that good, why did they burn two #1 draft picks a few years ago on a guard and a tackle? Gore was a good RB and Staley was a good LT, but who else stood out on offense during Smith's early years?

I'd say McCarthy and Norv Turner were decent OCs for Smith, but each only stayed for one year before getting a HC job. Every single one after that didn't have a clue what they were doing. Jim Hostler, Mike Martz, Jimmy Raye, and Mike Johnson haven't exactly become offensive geniuses since leaving SF.

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Everyone is using the wrong players for comparison. Staley joined the team in 2007. Frankie G didn't start till 2006. Kevan Barlow led the team in rushing attempts despite running at 3.3 yards per rush. The number two receiver on the team was Arnaz Battle with 32 receptions. No Niners receiver eclipsed 50 receptions.

This was a terrible team, and the good players donning red and gold have been added since 2005. There are three regular contributors to the 2005 team that are still playing for the Niners: Frank Gore, Andy Lee, and Brian Jennings, the long snapper. This was not a team on the cusp of breaking out that just needed a quarterback; it needed a full roster overhaul, which is exactly what happened over the last eight years.

No one can assume that Rodgers would have been successful on that team. He stepped into a team that featured two receivers coming off of 900+ yard seasons (Driver and Jennings) a running back that had 956 yards and 5.1 yards per attempt (Ryan Grant)* a reliable Tight End (Donald Lee) and a third receiver that may have been a #1 for that Niners team (James Jones). The year that Rodgers took over, Jordy Nelson proved to be a solid fourth option. A lot of these players are still on the roster and those that aren't have retired or moved on to get paid somewhere else.

These are drastically different situations, and, without question, success came easier to Rodgers in Green Bay than it would have in San Francisco. Would Rodgers have succeeded in SF? Maybe. But it would have been much harder.

*Grant was no slouch the next two seasons either. He rushed for more than 1200 yards in 2008 and in 2009. The Green Bay running game woes are much more recent than people realize.