LA Rams Wednesday Walkabout Diner Fare 2.0

San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers were rumored to be one of the teams that had bid on Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford. Will they pursue Houston Texans Deshaun Watson now, or run it back with Jimmy Garoppolo?

Jay: Every team, other than the handful of fortunate ones with established franchise quarterbacks in place should at least make a phone call (or two or three) to Houston to see if they can land a truly elite-level player such as Watson. But frankly, the asking price for Watson has now been set (and somewhat elevated) directly because of the Goff-Stafford trade and it’s awfully pricey.

The 49ers have the 12th overall pick. Should they draft a QB? I don’t think so. I think Garoppolo has sorta gotten a bad rap for being fragile. He’s already proven once before that he can take a team to the Super Bowl. (of course, the same thing could be said about Goff). I say they will be fine if they just keep Jimmy G healthy and keep him upright. I somewhat appreciate a QB that doesn’t mind handing the ball off to his running backs.

You gotta take what the defense gives you, and sometimes it is not a deep pass. I’m not sure who said this, but some great football mind once said that when you throw a pass three possible things can happen. . . and two of them are bad. It’s OK to pound the rock.

In fairness, the injury bug bit the 49ers hard last season. This team was absolutely devastated by injuries to key players on both sides of the ball. And let’s not forget this team beat the Rams in Week 12. I don’t think they were all that far off from being a playoff team this season, either.

I’d expect them to beef up their o-line and possibly add a cornerback, somebody that Richard Sherman can mentor and hand over the keys to the secondary. Of course, there will be tremendous pressure for them to draft a young QB with both Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard both slated to test the NFL Free Agency market.

But there are capable veteran backups available such as Robert Griffin III, Tyrod Taylor, A.J McCarron, or maybe even Ryan Fitzpatrick. Invest in the o-line and the secondary for this year’s draft, instead. Resist the urge to go sexy and go for steady and proven, instead.

Bret Stuter:

The San Francisco 49ers have been wildly swinging in the NFC West because they are injured, everyone gets healthy at once for one season, then they are all injured again. Is that all there is? Not exactly. A first-place team’s schedule is very difficult to play the following year. First-place teams face one another, and the best of the bunch has less time in the offseason to recoup and get rejuvenated.

The 49ers tried three different quarterbacks in 2020 and did not seem satisfied with any of them. Don’t let anyone fool you, they wanted the market for Matthew Stafford to fall to them. Now that he is a key member of the LA Rams, the 49ers realize that they need to get more aggressive.

Need to, but will they? I’m not convinced that they do. After all, the 49ers felt as though their 2020 performance was capped by a relentless string of injuries to their team. So if they heal up, much as the Rams roster did in 2020, they should be all set to compete for a playoff spot again?

Perhaps. But that will mean that the 49ers will attempt to rally behind Jimmy Garoppolo once more. That strategy seems unwise since even in the best of times Garoppolo cannot be counted on to deliver. Of course, the 49ers can bid for Houston Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson. But with the price now set at 2-3 1st round picks, 2 2nd-round picks, and a player, the cost of Watson is steep enough to cripple a hasty team.

In the end, the Rams made a huge move because, in reality, they needed to do so. No other NFC West team is in a similar situation, and will likely ride out the 2021 NFL season as close to ‘as is’ as possible. That gives the Rams a distinct advantage.