San Francisco Tribune

[Bill Walsh]

The 49’ers are the 12^th best team by winning record in FFL history yet they have only made 1 bowl game which ended in defeat a quarter of a century ago. That’s a long time for any team not to have reached their desired goal, it’s an even longer time for a Franchise that was considered elite in the old NFL. So when the York family looked for a new General Manager to hopefully return the 49’ers to elite status they looked at Bill Walsh, the grandson of legendry 49’ers coach Bill Walsh, the new GM who was named after his grandfather!


Last week Walsh announced that the philosophy of the team will be work ethic, excellence and teamwork. As we know a strong house is always built on solid foundations. So when General Manager Bill Walsh surveyed the 49’ers Niners roster he started to look for a foundation to add to the philosophy of the team. He did not have to look much further than star half back Kelvin Niechniedowicz (better known to team mates and fans as Niechy.)

Niechy had an exceptional rookie year with 1279 rushing yards at over 4.5ypc, 36 receptions, 10 touchdowns and just 4 fumbles on over 300 touches all on a team that finished just 6-10. Walsh told the media “You have to be impressed with Niechys output as a rookie, what’s great for us but maybe not for the rest of the league is the fact Niechys skills are going to only get better as he gains experience. 49’ers Head Coach Kenny Branch recently said this of Niechy. “Teams are going to have to play to stop our run game with Niechy in the backfield. That has to help our passing game. I appreciate we need to improve our passing game that’s very clear for all to see but Niechy is going to help it for sure.”


I think that brings this reporter on to his next thoughts for the 49’ers. The team is basically in a rebuild, so what will the 49’ers do with their picks? It’s clear they need a quarterback but can they get a franchise quarterback at 1.7. Well the Panthers have 1.3 and they certainly will looking for a quarterback with that pick, the Eagles at 1.6 are also desperately in need of a quarterback which means if the 49’ers want a franchise quarterback the Draft needs to be at least 3 deep which unlikely or they need to move up. Moving up certainly seems a big option for the 49’ers as it is believed they have a number of trades close to completion which will give them some trading options to move up. Another option maybe to build a defense to compliment the running game. All options are on the table when it comes to the 49’ers defense. But the 49’ers are only likely to go Defense if a real true stud is there, which is should be at 1.7.


No matter what he 49’ers decide to do the running game looks good and that should mean they will be competitive in what looks like a weak Division at the moment.

[Bill Walsh]

Breaking News from the 49'ers scouting department is that we won't be moving up from 1.7 to get a QB, we'll sit tight and get one

[Bill Walsh]

What a day was the statement made by Bill Walsh as he left the 49’ers Front Office. The Draft class showed five top Quarterbacks, just what the 49’ers were looking for! The 49’ers have 1.7 in the forthcoming draft and one of the five quarterbacks should fall to them without the need to move up above the Panthers and Eagles who must also be looking for a quarterback.

The question that is now on every one’s lips in the Bay area is will the 49’ers move up to get the quarterback they really want. The good news to the football loving people of San Francisco is that your General Manager gained two 1^st round picks, a 2^nd round pick, two 3^rd round picks and a 4^th over the next two years. This will give the 49’ers the firepower they need to move up and get the quarterback of your dreams if that is indeed the plan.

On the down side the 49’ers did lose two defensive stars to get those picks, defensive end Nolan Stargell and outside linebacker Shea McCellin. That is going to hurt the team in the short term but as the knowledgeable football fans of this great city know it’s highly unlikely you will win while your bedding in a new quarterback. So by the time the new quarterback is ready to win Stargell and McCellin will be in decline with maybe a year or two left on the football clock. Which means trading them now and getting top dollar for them was very likely the right move and the smart move.

The outlook for next season may have just taken a down turn but with halfback Niechy in the background if you like to see an offense run the ball then Levi Stadium is the place to be next year, hopefully we’ll see you all there watching our great team start its climb to greatness!

[Bill Walsh]

The first day of the Collegiate Draft is always highly anticipated amongst football fans everywhere, no more so than in San Francisco. The 49’ers owner, staff and fans were expecting great things from the 1.7 pick with many predicting the pick would be used to find the 49’ers quarterback of the future.

Our sources from within the 49’ers War Room told us that the Scouting team had targeted Boston’s Geno Smith or UCLA’s E.J Manuel. Furthermore enquires were made to the Ravens, Saints and Cowboys about moving up to get one of the quarterback targets. The Ravens did not want to deal their pick at 1.1 and the 49’ers decided the Saints wanted too much for 1.2. Later in the day once Geno Smith was off the board the Niners allegedly tried to trade with the Cowboys for 1.5. Alas the Cowboys decided not to drop down two places gaining picks on the way and still getting there man!!! Which left Niners scout Dan Gleebles screaming “Cowboys are now enemy number one!”

At 1.7 the Niners looked very hard at Matt Barkley but after seeing him at a private workout decided he was too much of a risk due to his ability to throw picks. Many experts are saying that passing on Barkley will be a huge a mistake. One thing the Niners scouting team maybe happy about is both Barley and Manuel both landed in the NFC East, later in the day Scout Dan Gleebles was heard to say “ Karma is a *****!”.

The Niners instead went for Mississippi State’s Safety Eric Reid(53/86). Head Coach Kenny Branch later said this of Reid “Reid is so fast with that 4.4 speed, hits hard and is excellent in coverage and with us being a running team Defense and especially stopping the pass is going to be critical for us, it was a no brainer really.”

During the day the 49’ers switchboard took a number of calls asking why Barkley was not taken at 1.7. The answer became a lot clearer later in the day when the 49’ers made a surprised trade for forgotten Chiefs Quarterback Robert Griffin the 3^rd. In a complex deal a future 1^st and 2^nd went to the Chiefs along with veteran cornerback Phillip Brady, in return came Griffin and a future 3^rd. The Niners are supposed to be very happy with the acquisition of Griffin, with rumblings of discontent amongst some 49’er fans at the price paid for Griffin only time will tell if this was a good deal for the Niners.

[BazookaJohnny]

I liked Reid a lot. I was really hoping Vaccaro would fall to 1.4 but instead we took a big risk and will maybe move Ball to WR. Reid is a safe player and a beast to be sure.

[Bill Walsh]

Well the draft is over for another year and the 49'ers war room was looking a very happy place last night. The 49'ers picked up some very solid looking players right the way through the draft. At the present time most of them are likely to be starters. That's for two reasons, reason one being the roster was left as a mess by the last incumbant and two the solid natue of the draft. But as we know all to well players that look good at this stage can look very different by the time they go through Camp. The Tribunes football writer and hall of famer Ronnie Lott said this of the 49'ers draft. "Reid looks a great pick and could be a pro bowl material, Tackle Stuart I think looks solid but nothing spectacular. Guard Stewart could become a starter but he looks more of a projct at this stage. Now the special teams guys , DeFelice and Vaughn look great picks. Kickers and Punters are huge and can give you an extra 20 yards on each drive, so the 49'ers will be especially pleased with those picks at 4.6 and 6.7. I'm not convinced with the defensive backs taken, although they look very good considering they were taken at 5.8 and 6.11. Both will need to work very hard this camp. My feel at this stage is both are a little bit overated and won't be starters on this team. Overall though GM Bill Walsh has to be very happy with the picks so far. But as i said Trainig Camp can change all that.

1.7 Eric Reid - Mississippi State - Safety - 54/86
3.10 Preston Stuart - Miami Florida - Tackle - 19/60
4.6 Chester DeFelice - Texas Christian - Kicker - 56/68
4.14 Eddie Stewart - Iowa- Guard - 19/51
5.8 Barry Coronado - Texas Southern - Safety - 27/60
6.7 Carl Vaughn - Tulane - Punter - 40/65
6.11 Carlos Devine - Stanford - Cornerback - 27/58
7.11 Kendall Sasaki - Southern Illinois - Outside Linebacker - 16/39

[Bill Walsh]

Well it all looked great going in Training Camp, we picked some great looking players all the way down our picks. But as expected and as normal Training Camp brought me down to earth with a bang. RG3 our newly acquired QB went -6/-6 after holding his ratings throughout his career, star HB Niechi took a big hit of -8/-8 and the rookies took a number of hits. Our starting tackles got hammered but luckily most of the defense stayed roughly where they were. Overall we had the 6th worse Training Camp in the FFL, not good!

[Bill Walsh]

49'ers Draft picks and TC for 2037

PICK	TEAM	PLAYER	POSITION	COLLEGE	RATING	RATING	TC	TC
1.10	49'ers	Dana Bell	DE	Indiana State	38	64	3	-2
1.29	49'ers	Ty Terry	DT	Baylor	28	65	1	-8
2.9	49'ers	Brock Newhart	WR	East Central (Okla.)	20	39	1	-4
3.28	49'ers	Adam List	RB	Ohio State	21	24	3	6
3.29	49'ers	Vernon Nelson	CB	East Carolina	23	42	3	-2
4.22	49'ers	Troy Green	P	Wake Forest	60	60	3	3
5.1	49'ers	Gerald Rasmussen	WR	Pennsylvania	18	29	3	3
5.22	49'ers	Jared Johnstone	T	Oregon State	13	39	9	7
6.18	49'ers	Albert Acker	QB	Oregon	11	46	3	-6
7.1	49'ers	Claude Vince	OLB	Arizona State	19	30	4	3

We had 3 players drop -4 or more in TC, one being 1st round pick Terry which really disapointed me, Johnstone and List made great TC jumps and will be nice projects for the team.

[Bill Walsh]

RND	PICK	POS	2038 DRAFT	COLLEGE	HGHT	WGHT	SOL	DASH	BENCH	AGIL	BJ	POS	DEV	CUR	FUT
1	19	QB	Bryce Stewart	Oregon State	73	205	41	4.75	13	7.68	108	82	26	13	49
2	20	SE	Keith Burks	Clemson	74	204	15	4.44	11	7.06	108	52	40	23	41
3	19	LT	Johnny Lang	Mississippi	81	348	15	5.19	34	7.77	97	0	14	21	49
4	22	WLB	Troy Rodgers	Kansas	74	236	32	4.73	18	7.28	108	29	52	22	47
4	32	LCB	B.J. Sutor	Duquesne	74	209	22	4.52	13	7.34	106	45	62	23	35
5	9	RG	Stanley Turnbull	Penn State	76	324	29	5.1	29	7.86	86	0	40	24	41
6	20	SS	Byron Lofton	New Mexico	72	207	20	4.52	15	7.29	104	38	32	11	17
7	19	TE	Joel Bisson	Louisiana - Lafayette	78	289	18	4.8	21	7.94	109	21	59	24	42