Bobby Wagner is now an L.A. Ram, and other than that, how was the 49ers’ offseason play, Mrs. Lincoln?
DJ Jones is a Denver Bronco. Laken Tomlinson is a New York Jet. Raheem Mostert is a Dolphin. Kentavius Street is a Saint.
Mike McDaniel is the Dolphins head coach. Rich Scangarello is at the University of Kentucky.
Oh, and . . . . Jimmy G is a 49er.
What’s the Jock Blog equivalent of that “This is Fine” Fire Dog GIF?
The 49ers had one job this offseason. Trade Jimmy Garoppolo.
Trading Jimmy G would free up cap space, and free up the QB room for young Trey Lance to launch his reign.
Even Jimmy G knew he would be traded.
The 49ers did not accomplish that job.
We can argue about whether Jimmy’s surgery was the reason why, and whether the 49ers were powerless. Some apologists will defend the 49ers, and say they were powerless, that no teams made offers.
At best, the 49ers were undone by fate. At worst, they biffed the whole thing.
And they don’t know who their QB1 is. John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan and Jed York spent the last few days trying to explain to us just how the whole Jimmy/Trey thing will work out. Their answers were murky.
Two weeks ago, I Jock Blogged about the 49ers looking “unsettled.” Now it’s looking more settled — with apologies to Charvarius Ward, the offseason has been a bust.
The NFL is not an excuse league. The NFL is a bottom line league.
The bottom line is, the 49ers are worse today than they were when they lost the NFC Championship Game just two months ago.
We asked Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area if the current 49ers are better or worse than the NFC Championship runner-up 49ers. Maiocco said that, on paper, they are worse. He held out the 49ers’ viewpoint, which is that Javon Kinlaw would fill the DJ Jones void, that Aaron Banks would fill the Laken Tomlinson void, and that Kerry Hyder would fill the Arden Key void.
That’s what you call your best-case scenario.
The Wagner-to-the-Rams news was the gut punch the 49ers did not need. You can argue that the presence of Fred Warner negates the need for Wagner, but I covered the 49ers when Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. didn’t see talent as redundant. He saw talent — and winning talent — as necessary.
Listen, I’m not sticking a fork in the 49ers. I’m just saying they have gotten worse, not better, and that’s not necessarily the game plan.
There’s a draft in April. And there is the concept of coaching up Banks and Kinlaw, and the tantalizing possibility of Trey Lance’s future.
But the present is no fun. Jimmy G is now the story we have to put in the freezer for four months. We’ll thaw it out in July. Maybe the 49ers will be better by then.
Someone pass me the peanuts and Cracker Jack. Time for baseball to take my mind off all this.