by Arlos » Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:20 pm
Young was once good, now he's old and just adequate. Carter has the potential to be good, but he is ALWAYS hurt, and is undersized to boot, so he's not too good against the run. Engleberger, eh, he's a warm body, he's nothing special. He's not pitiful, like that Reggie McGrew guy we blew a 1st rounder on, but he's nothing special, either. Plummer, I'm sorry to say, would be a 3rd string CB on any reasonable defense. He would've been a practice squad player back in the 49er heyday. The LB corps IS passable, but there's no one truly dominant on there. Even Peterson, before he blew out his achilles tendon, was no Rey Lewis. He's fast, sure, but is not too large. He might do a lot better if moved to FS.
Barlow was good last year more when he got to trade off with Hearst. He and Beasley don't like each other at all, which must make for a great working dynamic between RB and FB. He's not AWFUL, but he sure disappeared in a hurry once he got his $$$ in the offseason. Eric Johnson's not bad, but he's a LONG way from Brent Jones. At least he's better than, say, Rickey Dudley.
Beyond that, we've got crap at WR, crap at QB, no depth at RB, Half an O-line at best (with no depth), crap at CB, crap at S.
Now, I could live with that, if they didn't have a ownership group and front office with a collective IQ lower than my shoe size. If they actually had someone who at least had once made a vague pretense of competance, I might actually have a faint glimmer of hope that the team would improve. As it is now though, I predict that by the end of the decade we'll be about like the Buc's of the 80s, and possibly be like the Bucs of their inaugural year. (Best sports quote ever: Coach of the Bucs their first year, after yet another loss where the players made a shitload of mistakes, was asked, "So coach, what do you think about your team's execution?" He answered: "I'm in favor of it.")
-Arlos