No Love for Hakeem Nicks

[JPsPats]

He's a number 1 however you slice it.

 

[Deus Irae]

He's a number 1 however you slice it.

53/692/3
56/896/0


Those aren't WR1 numbers in this era.

 

[supafly]

53/692/3
56/896/0


Those aren't WR1 numbers in this era.

Definitely not. This is one of the reasons why I think Nicks is a bit overvalued, and may see lesser money than many project.

I wouldn't be opposed to taking a one year prove it deal with us, while the hope is that Dobson uses his year two season to significantly progress; although this way we're not dependent upon that definitely needing to happen.

I would be much more interested in a guy like Boldin though. I think he fits in better with our offense, who needs more of a physical presence as opposed to a deep threat, long ball kind of guy. Just my opinion, obviously.

Either way, the point may be moot, since I wouldn't want to see us spending more than 5.5--6m (tops), and closer to 4.5m by addressing the position.

 

[condon84]

I'd rather go for Anquan.

Brady is not a great deep ball thrower and it's not the main forte of our offense anyways. We have Dobson who can fill the role of a guy who can go deep, who has enough speed and who can go up and get the ball.

What we need is a guy who can work the middle (where Brady loves to throw) and get those tough catches. Anquan is perfect for that role IMO. Not to mention he's about as tough as competitor there is at WR. He'd be awesome in our offense and would also provide leadership.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Fans like Generals always want to fight the last war, not the next one.

WR is much less an issue APerp replacement is the #1 item on the agenda. Knowing BB's MO, he will sign a medium vet FAs or a vet star on his last legs, Think Pitta or Gonzalez as examples. Then he will double down as he always does, and draft a TE/H-back.

At WR, he already has the vets Dobson and Thomkins, so he will only draft a single big WR. I predict he will like two time Academic and big Rutgers WR Coleman.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

As usual, the options are limited, and that makes giving a guy you normally may not want like Hicks a longer pause before saying "no."

who the hell is Hicks???

and FWIW..I'd burn on a bed of dry sticks for one night with Stevie Nicks....(circa 1980)

She always had the serious hots for Meatloaf

 

[jsull87]

No.

The physical tools are obviously there. But there are issues. There reports of Nicks being late for meetings, and questions of his dogging it last season. He had 0 TD receptions last year, and 3 in his last 30 games.

It could be a question of his physical health. But I'd be very careful about investing anything significant in him without a darn good understanding of what makes him tick. As a really cheap signing it might work, but that's not likely. I'd rather have Riley Cooper or Jeremy Maclin given the issues.

Spot on. My offseason receiver targets are Boldin, Maclin and Sanders. All realistically are probably not good enough to be a clear set number 1 receiver but are right at the top of being a number 2.

Bring in one of these guys, Gronk gets healthy + our rookies make the leap. Draft a TE and this offense is completely changed in one off season.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

SF would be idiotic not to resign boldin..they have no one else but crabtree. Boldin won't be on the pats radar becasue he won't be a FA

 

[Snake Eyes]

Brady is not a great deep ball thrower and it's not the main forte of our offense anyways. We have Dobson who can fill the role of a guy who can go deep, who has enough speed and who can go up and get the ball.

What we need is a guy who can work the middle (where Brady loves to throw) and get those tough catches. Anquan is perfect for that role IMO. Not to mention he's about as tough as competitor there is at WR. He'd be awesome in our offense and would also provide leadership.

People used to say that we don't use TEs much in our offense, they we got a few great ones and we used them a ton. They said the same thing about running, we got Blount and we ran a ton when it made sense.

If we got really good deep receivers you'd see us going deep a lot more.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

He's a number 1 however you slice it.

no...not really

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

If we got really good deep receivers you'd see us going deep a lot more.

Just becasue they get a good "deep" WR..doesn't mean they will go deep more. It does mean that teams will be forced to play the deep ball opening up the middle and shallow part of the field for gronk and edelman to exploit.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Just becasue they get a good "deep" WR..doesn't mean they will go deep more. It does mean that teams will be forced to play the deep ball opening up the middle and shallow part of the field for gronk and edelman to exploit.

If you're not willing to attack it why should the other team bother defending it?

 

[supafly]

If you're not willing to attack it why should the other team bother defending it?

I don't think they'd be taking that many more shots than they have been doing lately, but teams would still have to respect the possibility of it.

It takes too damn long to hit those longer throws, and one of the reasons that Brady's career is getting prolonged is the tendency to get rid of the ball quickly on short, timing patterns.

I think they'd take a couple/few shots every couple of games or whatever the ratio has been lately (upped slightly), when we could catch someone biting on play action.

Either way, we need a more physical receiver much more than a deeper, downfield threat due to how our offense is run. I'd much rather bring an Anquan Boldin here, then have a speedster. There's absolutely no way we're suddenly going to be a deep throwing team again too often. It doesn't fit in with Brady's skillset, his strength of getting rid of the ball quickly, or our ability to make our OL look better and prolong his career.

 

[Elijah T.]

Talent, talent, talent, talent.....

Yes...he has some issues with injury and alleged discipline but anyone that is disputing that Hakeem Nicks is capable of dominating games (often important games against the Patriots) in the NFL is nearsighted and has completely dismissed his "entire" career.

He's 26 years old. A baby. He can be had at a reasonable price likely due to his 'issues'.

If the Pats don't sign Nicks, and he signs with the Jests or Ravens and does what he's already shown he can do in the NFL the same people hating on Nicks will be wondering why we didn't sign him.

True story.

 

[supafly]

I'd rather go for Anquan.

Brady is not a great deep ball thrower and it's not the main forte of our offense anyways. We have Dobson who can fill the role of a guy who can go deep, who has enough speed and who can go up and get the ball.

What we need is a guy who can work the middle (where Brady loves to throw) and get those tough catches. Anquan is perfect for that role IMO. Not to mention he's about as tough as competitor there is at WR. He'd be awesome in our offense and would also provide leadership.

I couldn't agree more, and unfortunately we haven't had the opportunity lately to attempt to get him as one brother traded him to the other brother.

There's about a 1% chance that SF lets him walk in free agency (they are very happy with him, he fits into their scheme perfectly, and they are more than fine under the cap), but if they somehow do, I would imagine that Belichick may be more interested than he's been in the past.

Anquan Boldin would be great here. It's exactly what we need, much more than a fragile, rookie, speedster again. Boldin is smart, physical, and dependable. I'd love the thought of having him for the next year, maybe even two.

 

[supafly]

Talent, talent, talent, talent.....

Yes...he has some issues with injury and alleged discipline but anyone that is disputing that Hakeem Nicks is capable of dominating games (often important games against the Patriots) in the NFL is nearsighted and has completely dismissed his "entire" career.

He's 26 years old. A baby. He can be had at a reasonable price likely due to his 'issues'.

If the Pats don't sign Nicks, and he signs with the Jests or Ravens and does what he's already shown he can do in the NFL the same people hating on Nicks will be wondering why we didn't sign him.

True story.

I don't dispute what you're saying, or at least the chances of it happening in the right environment anyway.

The most important aspect will be how much teams offer him, and if he's forced into a one year type of deal or not (probably doubtful).

Are we talking 4m or 8m? There's a wide open grey area that is hard to assess in my opinion. We'll have to see how the market plays out.

 

[condon84]

People used to say that we don't use TEs much in our offense, they we got a few great ones and we used them a ton. They said the same thing about running, we got Blount and we ran a ton when it made sense.

If we got really good deep receivers you'd see us going deep a lot more.

Nicks is a good player when he is healthy but I don't see the reason why we should invest so much money in the cap to a player who doesn't necessarily fit into what our offense does best.

Brady is one of the best ever at throwing in the middle short/intermediate part of the field. Give him weapons who can operate in that area. We suffered there when Gronk got hurt. Edelman and Amendola are both not physical enough to make tough catches in the middle or to escape DBs when they're grabbing and holding. I like what Dobson and Thomkins did in the outside, but they too dropped passes when they were called on to run the inside slant or run routes that made them easy targets in the middle. They will probably get better, but if we were to invest money in a receiver, it would make sense to bring in a receiver who can accentuate what Brady does best.

Boldin to me is that person. Here is what Bruschi said about Boldin http://espn.go.com/blog/san-francisco-49ers/post/_/id/4826/anquan-boldin-earns-high-praise

Clutch. Pure Clutch. Ask the Baltimore Ravens what they missed this year and if the immediate answer is not Anquan Boldin, they're telling a fib. Is he the biggest receiver? No. Is he the fastest receiver? No way. Is he the most valuable player you can have on a team? Absolutely! The 49ers think so. Boldin was the Bill Walsh Award winner, given to the team's MVP. Boldin has been with the 49ers for one season and has already established himself as a leader and tone setter. It's not just the 85 receptions, 1,179 yards and 7 TDs. He also blocks like a beast and gives the entire team confidence in knowing that when the ball is in the air and the game is on the line, Boldin will find a way to get the job done and put the team on his back if he's on the field. He's a two-time All-Bruschi selection. This is my captain. If I had a Boldin jersey, I'd be wearing it right now.

We need a player just like this.

 

[supafly]

Nicks is a good player when he is healthy but I don't see the reason why we should invest so much money in the cap to a player who doesn't necessarily fit into what our offense does best.

Brady is one of the best ever at throwing in the middle short/intermediate part of the field. Give him weapons who can operate in that area. We suffered there when Gronk got hurt. Edelman and Amendola are both not physical enough to make tough catches in the middle or to escape DBs when they're grabbing and holding. I like what Dobson and Thomkins did in the outside, but they too dropped passes when they were called on to run the inside slant or run routes that made them easy targets in the middle. They will probably get better, but if we were to invest money in a receiver, it would make sense to bring in a receiver who can accentuate what Brady does best.

Boldin to me is that person. Here is what Bruschi said about Boldin



We need a player just like this.

Unfortunately, this is also the exact reason why Jim Harbaugh is in love with him, and will never let him go in free agency.

He produces very well for a WR who costs anything in his price range.

I know this will be debated, but I'd still offer something as high as a 3rd/4th round draft pick to SF AND have no problem paying Boldin 5m dollars on top of that. I think it would go a lot farther than some think it would. He's a great fit for our offense, a great fit.

There's a reason why Harbaugh gave him to his brother.

 

[condon84]

Unfortunately, this is also the exact reason why Jim Harbaugh is in love with him, and will never let him go in free agency.

He produces very well for a WR who costs anything in his price range.

I know this will be debated, but I'd still offer something as high as a 3rd/4th round draft pick to SF AND have no problem paying Boldin 5m dollars on top of that. I think it would go a lot farther than some think it would. He's a great fit for our offense, a great fit.

There's a reason why Harbaugh gave him to his brother.

The franchise tag for WR last year was $10.357 million and probably around $11 million this year. I don't think SF is going to commit that much money to Boldin so I doubt he'll get franchised. I think they'll try to negotiate maybe a two year deal around 10-15 million. Crabtree is going to be a FA after 2014 and Kap is due a raise, which will probably all factor in how much money they'll offer to Boldin.

Point is, I think Boldin hitting the FA market is pretty high. I think he should be the offensive player we target.

 

[supafly]

The franchise tag for WR last year was $10.357 million and probably around $11 million this year. I don't think SF is going to commit that much money to Boldin so I doubt he'll get franchised. I think they'll try to negotiate maybe a two year deal around 10-15 million. Crabtree is going to be a FA after 2014 and Kap is due a raise, which will probably all factor in how much money they'll offer to Boldin.

Point is, I think Boldin hitting the FA market is pretty high. I think he should be the offensive player we target.

Well, obviously they aren't going to franchise him and pay 10.5m, but he'll most likely command something around his 6m dollar figure from last season. He probably only has another couple of seasons left, so I see no reason why he'd be expecting anything over 2/10 or so, and SF is in a fine position to pay that.

Also, just because Kaepernick is eligible for a pay raise doesn't necessarily mean that he'll get it this particular season, it could wait until next year and his options are quite limited in holding out, etc. Remember that NE was one of the few proactive teams in terms of immediately paying their players immediately after their 2nd year. Kaepernick may just as well want to wait another year to see how far he can lead them again, especially if they don't offer him enough money in a quick band-aid like fix.

SF is in a good cap situation, and Boldin recently tweeted that he'll definitely be staying in SF, so I think they have something tentatively worked out. I respect your position, but I honestly don't see anyway that Boldin hits free agency. The 2 brothers obviously worked out that trade for a reason, since it was highly beneficial for SF. I doubt they suddenly just allow him to walk away due to him commanding something in the 5 to 5.5m range. It's not like that's a ton of money for a blue chip wide receiver who benefits their offense greatly.