Willis retires, boreland retires
Willis was definitely surprise, but it wasn't a completely devastating blow. He was really starting to "age", despite only being 30. Since 2010, he has only played 1 complete season. Borland was completely out of left field and a definite blow, seeing as he had an amazing season and was the heir apparent to Willis. Wilhoite is his likely replacement and he's fairly serviceable. I'd rather have Skuta in that spot, but we let him go to FA (likely before knowing of Borland). There's also the possibility of Brooks making a move to ILB and keeping Lynch at the edge full-time, instead of sharing time there with Brooks. Keep in mind, the defense had games without Willis, Bowman, and A. Smith, yet still looked very competent. This year we'll have Bowman back and Smith.
Smith is seemingly leaning towards retirement.
Smith was a foregone conclusion. Most people expected retirement and that's a large part of the reason for Dockett. Dockett should serve as a solid replacement, assuming he can stay healthy and Smith does retire. Dorsey will also be back and is a very overlooked talent. The jury is still out on Carradine.
You lose both your starting corners.
Cox had an awesome first half of the season, but he really started to suffer toward the latter half. Culliver is seemingly starting to develop, but apparently everybody forgets who was giving up the gigantic plays in the Super Bowl against the Ravens. Brock is a great CB when he can stay healthy, so I'm not worried there. Dontae Johnson showed some great flashes last year, but I'm not 100% sold. Jimmie Ward is horrible at CB, where they seem intent to keep him, so I agree that this is a position that may suffer a bit. Then again, everybody said our secondary would be horrid at the start of
lastseason also, but it turned out pretty well. We were still one of the top defensive units in the league, despite a boatload of injuries.
Iuapati goes to a division rival.
This was another situation that was a foregone conclusion. We drafted his replacement last season and essentially "red-shirted" him, since he suffered an ACL injury on his workout with the Saints. Thomas was considered a "steal" in the draft. We also grabbed Pears from the Bills. There's also the fact that for as good as Iupati is at run-blocking, he's absolute garbage at pass blocking, nor can he stay healthy. Last year he played with a broken foot for most/all of the season and only played 12 games the year before.
One of the faces of your franchise for the last ten years goes to another team.
I don't really see how you can pay a 30+ year old RB what the Colts were offering, especially with a potential stud in Hyde sitting on the bench. Gore is right on the cusp of still being decent and total mediocrity. I'd rather we let him go a year too early than a year too late. It sucks to watch a guy like him go, but that's the unfortunate side of free agency.
Oh and let's not forget your front office forced out a coach who had three nfc championship and one super bowl appearance in four years.
It's always hilarious watching all the cognitive dissonance surrounding this sentiment. On one hand, 49er haters are quick to point out what an idiotic decision it was to let Harbaugh go after so much success, while
alsoholding onto the position that the 49ers are dogshit after one 8-8 season in a really good divison. So, which is it? Are the 49ers dogshit or did they just have a rough season mired with injuries, poor execution, and questionable coaching/FO drama? If they are dogshit, it was probably a good choice to let Harbaugh go, right?
