Kirun
Buzzfeed Editor
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LB - They ended up getting Wilhoite back at LB, who pretty much filled in for Willis most of the season anyhow. If Bowman is even 90% of his former self (I have my doubts. I think the dude might be done. When I saw the injury live I definitely thought it was career ending), they'll still have one of the better LB cores in the NFL.
RB - Carlos Hyde was an absolute steal in the 2nd round and has shown shades of being a pretty powerful, fast back. His biggest issue so far is that his lateral movement needs a lot of work. We also have Kendall Hunter coming back from injury who is great out of the flat and has been a staple to the 49ers offense for a number of years now. We also signed Bush, who is getting older, but still has moments of brilliance.
DL - Dockett is going to replace Smith on the line, so while it definitely sucked to lose him, it was completely expected (Dockett was seriously one of our first signings). Smith has hopefully cleaned up his shit and if he has, he's one of the best edge rushers in the entire NFL. Also, Lynch looks like he might be the real deal on the opposite edge. So, there's still a pretty solid amount of talent along the DL.
TE - Davis was a non-factor after the Dallas Cowboys game because the playcalling was so predictable. Any time Davis came into the game on a particular offensive set, it was almost always a deep route to him across the middle of the field. Teams wised up to this after that Dallas game and just had a safety sit there every time. It's why he was a complete non-factor. That should change this year with a new coaching staff.
WR - Boldin is aging, but he's still one of the most physical guys on the team. He's a absolute monster on 3rd down. If you need to convert on 3rd, you can almost guarantee it will be a Boldin play. I like Smith and his speed/ability to stretch the field. He's no worse than any of the guys we lost (Crabtree, Johnson, Lloyd).
Honestly, the only major hits the 49ers took in the offseason were to the OL (Davis' retirement, mostly. Iupati can't stay healthy and isn't that great anyhow) and Borland. And Borland was only because he was such an unknown factor. He came out of nowhere and had insane pursuit to the ball, but it's unclear if that success would've been maintained. Willis is probably in this category as well, but he was really starting to show his age (he even talked about it in his retirement presser - his feet are starting to go). He was plagued with foot injury after foot injury. While even an older Willis is probably better than Wilhoite, I really think Wilhoite did a solid job filling in.
