Friday Forty-Niner Links

Posted by Kyle Stack on February 1st, 2008 filed in Opinions

Pro Football Weekly offers some optimism for 49ers fans with the recent hiring of offensive coordinator Mike Martz and quarterbacks coach Ted Tollner. This upcoming season is so critical for the 49ers as 2005 number one overall draft pick Alex Smith faces the proverbial fork in the road. Either he starts heading down the road of potential or the road of underachievement.

One thing that has gone largely unmentioned is that Smith played as many games in his first and third seasons combined as he played in his second season, when Norv Turner was the offensive coordinator. If he can stay healthy through training camp, and obviously the season, and stave off competition for playing time from Shaun Hill, while working with Martz and Tollner, the 49ers could see the potential of the quarterback with whom they have given the keys of the franchise.

NFLDraftCountdown.com updated their first round mock draft today and they choose LSU wide receiver Early Doucet as the pick for the 49ers. Every mock draft is picking a wide receiver for the 49ers, who surely can’t go back to the battle next season with Ashley Lelie, Darrell Jackson, and Arnaz Battle. Sophomore Jason Hill should improve, but the 49ers obviously have to provide Alex Smith with more weapons.

Could the 49ers entice a certain record-breaking wide receiver to return to the Bay Area? Randy Moss will be an unrestricted free agent and Mike Martz does employ a downfield passing system in which Moss would thrive. Moss will probably be looking for a long-term contract, though, so it is unlikely the 49ers would want to commit multiple years and tens of millions to an moody player who is probably better suited on a championship contender.

The first round mock draft update rotation turns to NFLDraftBlitz.com, which predicts a different wide receiver for the 49ers.

Kevin Lynch at the San Francisco Chronicle has some information on 49ers coaches. The end of the article is very interesting as 49ers fans can get a look into the detail-oriented coaching style of Martz.

Andre Tameta at 49erswebzone.com says welcome to the Mike Martz Era.

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the 49ers will get new uniforms next year. Like many other die-hard 49ers fans, I would love to see them return to the simplistic duds of the early-mid 80s. I think sports uniforms often get too complicated, especially when fashion designers hired to design new uniforms want to make a splash and put their own stamp on their creations. Simplicity has worked for Penn State football, the Boston Celtics (up until the last couple years), and the New York Yankees. They have some of the most revered unis in sports, partly because of their minimalist design.