SB Nation - Mark Bradford

49ers cut 5 players

Fooch — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:31:43 -0000

Well then, that was pretty quick. The 49ers just announced that they've released 5 players to meet the 75-man roster requirement:

WR Mark Bradford
WR Chris Francies
K Alex Romero
CB Carlos Thomas
CB Jahi Word-Daniels

None of these roster moves is really all that surprising given our earlier discussion of the topic.

The 49ers next deadline is to cut down to 53 players by September 5. The 49ers final preseason game is the night before so they'll get one last chance to see what they've got from folks before making their decision. I'll have a new 53-man roster projection fairly early in the week.

2009 Roster Projections: Wide Receivers

Fooch — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:00:17 -0000

Now that the initial OTAs are finished, it's time to take a look at another position projection for the 2009 season. Thus far we've checked out the cornerbacks, offensive line, running backs and defensive line.

Today I thought we'd take a look at a particularly interesting position: wide receiver. Barrows and and Maiocco have both noted at times that this is the deepest group of 49ers wide receivers since 2003, when they still had Terrell Owens in camp. I actually think this current group is deeper. In 2003, after TO the 49ers rolled out guys like Tai Streets, Cedrick Wilson, and Brandon Lloyd. Not exactly a murderers' row of receivers.

Locks
Isaac Bruce, Brandon Jones, Josh Morgan, Jason Hill, Michael Crabtree

No Chance
Micheal Spurlock, Maurice Price, Dobson Collins, Mark Bradford

Bubble
Arnaz Battle, Dominique Zeigler

Among the locks there are certainly big issues surrounding playing time. For the purposes of this article, we're focusing more on the bubble guys. In this instance, it's a very clear-cut battle between Arnaz Battle and Dominique Zeigler. On the one hand you've got the veteran Arnaz Battle. He's certainly not spectacular and has stood out more as the only decent receiver on some crappy teams in the past. It's easy to see how he might have been overvalued given the players around him. At the same time, he has been a productive receiver for this team.

On the other hand you've got the youngster Dominique Zeigler. Zeigler spent the last season and a half on the practice squad before finally getting promoted, coincidentally enough, after Battle got hurt. Zeigler has shown some very solid hands, but did not exactly light up the world in his half season of play.

It's safe to say none of the no chance guys will get that spot. Maybe one of them shocks the world and makes it happen, but I'm not holding my breath. For now, there are a couple options, thanks to the fact that Zeigler does in fact still have practice squad eligibility remaining. The options are:

1) Cut loose Battle and give the spot to Zeigler
2) Keep Battle and place Zeigler on the practice squad
3) Cut Battle, place Zeigler on the practice squad and go with 5 receivers

If there's an injury in training camp that certainly changes the equation. However, for now, assume everybody stays healthy. How do you see this playing out? Looking back at parts of last year, the 49ers actually only carried 5 wide receivers for various stretches of the season (Bruce, B. Johnson, Morgan, Hill, Zeigler/Battle). And that was with the supposed aerial attack of Mike Martz.

Does that change your thoughts on carrying Zeigler or Battle as a sixth receiver? If the 49ers are switching to a strong run-oriented offense, is a 6th receiver a useless commodity? Throw in the fact that you can use Delanie Walker and/or Vernon Davis in a typical receiver role on occasion and it makes even less sense. I think in these last two paragraphs I might well have talked myself out of it. And I'm a big Zeigler fan. Thoughts?

Poll

Who will get the 6th receiver spot out of training camp?

Arnaz Battle

630 votes

Dominique Zeigler

682 votes

Other

17 votes

Nobody - the 49ers will only carry 5 receivers to start the season

725 votes

2054 votes | Poll has closed

49ers reportedly sign four more undrafted free agents

Fooch — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:49:41 -0000

We've had a lot going on the last few days with the draft and now undrafted free agent signings. At some point I'll put together a post including all the links from both days of the draft since they're all onto the second page and beyond now.

In the meantime, it's being reported by various media (local to the specific players) that the 49ers have signed four additional undrafted free agents. Maiocco linked to the stories on these, but has not gotten final confirmation. These players include DE Brandon Long (Michigan St), G Matt Huners (South Florida), WR Dobson Collins (Gardner-Webb), and CB Terrail Lambert (Notre Dame).

As we get later and later in the UDFA signings the scouting reports decrease significantly. A search of Brandon Long came up with some video tape against Ohio State and Georgia. Also, I found a short feature article at NCAA.com from last September about Long.

From what I can tell, the early part of Matt Huners college career was hurt by injury as he tore his ACL in the spring of 2007, but returned for a few games late in the season. He earned the team's Coaches Award for his recovery. According to Huners, he spoke with Chris Foerster (49ers O-Line coach) and was assured he'd have a "fair chance to make the roster." I'm curious if that covers practice squad as well. Either way, that's one of the main reasons he chose the 49ers over the Chiefs in free agency.

Collins apparently received calls from nine teams and the article about his signing is under the impression that there is plenty of opportunity for Collins to earn playing time. As I look at it, he's competing with Arnaz Battle, Dominique Zeigler, Mark Bradford and Micheal Spurlock for that sixth wide receiver spot. I'm glad he's excited to come out, but he's gonna have to do something amazing to make the team.

As for Lambert, you'd think a Notre Dame player, any Notre Dame player, would have a fair amount of news clippings. Not so much. Most of the stuff I came across were some reports from when he was coming out of high school and they didn't even have scouting reports. From what I have gathered though, Lambert was the best corner on a mediocre Notre Dame team this past year. According to the 2008 secondary preview at our Notre Dame blog, "Lambert has good speed and a lot of experience and [wa]s likely playing [last] year to audition for a future role in the NFL." I'm looking for more info on him though.

FOOCH'S UPDATE 9:33PM: Turns out Brandon Long failed his physical so is not joining the 49ers at this point.

49ers-Rams: Arnaz Battle, Josh Morgan, Dashon Goldson OUT

Fooch — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:04:47 -0000

It's been less than 48 hours since monday Night Football and we've got some updated injury news for this weekend's matchup with St. Louis. The 49ers will be without the services of WRs Arnaz Battle and Josh Morgan and S Dashon Goldson.

The loss of Morgan to a groin injury, coupled with Battle's continuing foot problems means even more playing time for our dynamic duo of Jason Hill and Dominique Zeigler. It looks like the wide receiver depth chart will be as follows:

Flanker: Isaac Bruce
Split End: Bryant Johnson
Slot Receiver: Arnaz Battle Jason Hill
Primary backup/4th receiver: Dominique Zeigler

It looks like Zeigler will be on the field in four receiver formations, as the primary backup to Johnson and Battle. Additionally, the 49ers signed former Stanford WR Mark Bradford. Bradford was originally signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted rookie following the 2008 draft.

The 49ers currently have four wide receivers on the active roster, so there's certainly a chance Bradford could end up being activated this Sunday. However, it also wouldn't surprise me if they just utilized Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker in some of the wide receiver roles...particularly Walker, who was a wide receiver in college.

Either way, expect more balls going Zeigler's way and given his quality hands, that could turn into a good thing. And I'd imagine Jason Hill could be a rather solid fantasy pickup for this weekend. You heard it here first!

Even in a Losing Effort, Chiefs Play One of Their Best Games

Chris Thorman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:50:47 -0000

via NFL.com

Great game to watch yesterday, wasn't it? I haven't been entertained like that in a long time when watching the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm still waiting to see if patterns or trends of success develop from this game but like DJ said, the Chiefs lost in a good way yesterday. Here's a few things I took away from the game yesterday.

Three straight rushes wasn't that crazy

I've read more than a few things already this morning about Herm being responsible for the three straight runs by the Chiefs with 5:00 minutes left, which gave the Jets the ball with 3:01 left.

First, I don't think Herm Edwards has as much influence over play calling as many fans think he does. Chan Gailey is a legit, respected and experienced offensive coordinator. This isn't first timer Mike Solari in there anymore. Do you really think Herm said to Chan Gailey, "Rush the ball three straight times"? I don't believe he did. It's possible, and Gailey said it was all his call after the game, but as you'll see I don't think who called it matters much.

Regardless who made the call to rush the ball three straight times, I'm going to defend it as not as an insane idea as some fans want to make it out to be. Before those three rushes, the Chiefs had 20 offensive plays in the second half (not including kicks) and they had passed the ball on 17 of those plays. I'm guessing part of the logic of those three play calls was doing something unexpected, which is exactly what three rushes was at that point in the game. The Chiefs had only rushed the ball two times in a row twice so far that entire game, making three rushes in a row (hypothetically) one of the few things expected by the Jets' defense.

If the Chiefs gain three yards on that 3rd and three, this conversation is of course moot. I think that a lot of fans, feeling bitter about the loss, needed to find something in this game to bite back on and those fateful three plays by the Chiefs are it.

You can make the argument that Tyler Thigpen could have rushed for those three yards (if the pass had broken down) but I suspect people would have been angry at that call as well if it didn't result in a first down. Thigpen could have thrown a short pass too, which he was successful at for most of the game. Still, you don't know if he would have made it. Rushing the ball on 3rd and 3 isn't crazy by my football standards.

Including this game, on the season, the Chiefs have had 34 3rd downs between 3 and 5 yards to go, rushed on 7 of those and passed the other 27. They've converted first downs almost equally as much on the pass v. the run. So, if you want to say Herm has a tendency, the stats say it's to pass the ball on 3rd and short. Here's a bit more to support that.

Yards to Go	% Rushing Plays, All	% Passing Plays, All	% Rushing Plays, Red Zone	% Passing Plays, Red Zone	% Rushing Plays, Goal to Go	% Passing Plays, Goal to Go	% Rushing Plays, Own Side of Field	% Passing Plays, Own Side of Field	% Rushing Plays, Opp. Side of Field	% Passing Plays, Opp. Side of Field
1	88.89%	11.11%	100.00%	0.00%	0	0	75.00%	25.00%	100.00%	0.00%
2	33.33%	66.67%	0.00%	100.00%	0.00%	100.00%	33.33%	66.67%	33.33%	66.67%
3	18.18%	81.82%	0.00%	100.00%	0	0	25.00%	75.00%	0.00%	100.00%

It's one of those calls in a football game that if you make the right call and you get the first down, of course you made the right call. If you don't get it, then the call is immediately over analyzed and blown up as if the alternative was so clearly superior.

Come on DJ!

Still shaking my head over Derrick Johnson dropping that possible interception.

Pretty good run defense but with a fatal flaw

You almost feel bad for the Kansas City Chiefs defensive line after a game like yesterday's. They put on a pretty good show for most of the game but gave up a long run (almost at the end of the first half no less) to Jets RB Leon Washington. If the Chiefs simply hold the Jets for a bit, the first half runs out and we can forget about a gift touchdown that gave away points in a close loss.

Ah, that's what a passing game looks like

I had been wondering what the Chiefs had planned to do with their 3rd round pick out of Tennessee Brad Cottam. He looked big, fast and added four catches in his first significant action of the year.

You'd be hard pressed to find a free-agent acquisition that has done less with more potential to make an impact on a team than Devard Darling. The Chiefs added WR Mark Bradley earlier this month and he's already a better player than Darling.

I won't say much about Tyler Thigpen. I've never seen him throw the ball like he did yesterday- with accuracy and power behind his throws. Very few of his passes made me gasp as they have so many times before this season. He played very well, deserves to be the Chiefs starter for the rest of the 2008 season and may end up being a good backup in the NFL. For those ready to anoint him the QBOTF, ahem, let's see if he can (a) win a game and (b) play that well twice in a row. Crazy, I know.

A decent pass rush helps so much

The Chiefs only registered one sack in the box score but if you watched the game, Brett Favre was pressured for a good portion of the game. This is Brett Favre and interceptions are part of the package but don't let that discount the contributions made by the Chiefs' pass rush.

Other stuff

The Chiefs had scored 23 points in the first half all season long and yesterday they scored 14 in the first half. It's amazing what not playing from behind will do for this team, or any team for that matter.

I'm cheering the Chiefs effort yesterday but I will point out how a team that is +3 in turnovers should almost never lose. The Chiefs played markedly better on offense but with one turnover a pick-six and another leading directly to a Thigpen passing TD, you still have to shake your head a bit that the offense didn't do more.

This was a fun offensive strategy to watch by Chan Gailey. No-huddle offense (which I'm always a fan of), mixing up receivers and a fight in the offense I hadn't seen this year made this fun to watch. The Chiefs went no huddle over a dozen times this game after using it only sparingly earlier in the season.

What I am going to take away more than anything from yesterday was how much fun this game was to watch. I watch football ultimately to be entertained and yesterday was a blast to cheer for the Chiefs.