Santa Clara 49ers trade 4th round pick for Stevie Johnson

[Popeyejones]

1) Harbaugh very rarely names people starters or gives them jobs.

The number of rookie starters that Harbaugh has played from week one in any given year since he has been in SF says otherwise. I know 49ers fans like to say that the lack of playing rookies in his tenure is just because the 49ers have been so Godly talented that it's impossible for anyone short of a future first-ballot Hall of Famer to crack the starting roster, but...Call me skeptical. .

I think your point is a little adjacent to mine. I didn't say he didn't start rookies, I said he very rarely anoints starters or names new players the starter during the offseason or preseason. If anything Bethea is the outlier, not any rookies. As for rookies he has started iirc in three years that's Reid and Bruce Miller. Starters he drafted but who weren't initially starters are Aldon, Kap, Looney, Williams, and Kilgore.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Eh, fair enough. I think the 49ers would be better served if he was a little more willing to start rookies, but I'm not an NFL head coach.

 

[Popeyejones]

Eh, fair enough. I think the 49ers would be better served if he was a little more willing to start rookies, but I'm not an NFL head coach.

agreed, or at least rotate them in more. That said the days of Seattle leaning on rookies are probably over for the next few years too. You'll have the occasional rookie plug right in due to a cap casualty (a la Reid), but at this point the Hawks waaaayyyy, waaaaaaaayyyyy too stacked to need to rely on their rookies from week one.

(I want to make an exception for offensive lineman, but what to the casual observer has looked like a trouble area seems at this point to be more of a philosophy; the same could be said it seems for the niners at NT and CB -- the fans who want them drafted early will likely rarely be satisfied.)

 

[HansGruber]

Roland -

Stevie Johnson might be great at getting open (and he is) but he also had a tendency to drop passes. At the most inopportune times. Like when the Bills were down by 5, with 1 minute left, on 3rd down in the end zone. That's why buffalo traded him.

You can confirm this by going to any bills forum and reading their take on him from before the trade

 

[RichNhansom]

I've wondered why a multiple 1000 yard receiver would seemingly have no market or trade value. Maybe the rumors about him being lazy and a locker room cancer are not as far fetched as you would think.

Harbaugh has a way of alienating players if he doesn't like them and this was not Harbaughs trade it was Balkke's so maybe those rumors about both Him and Jim are closer to reality than one might suspect.

If this was Balkke's trade though and Jimmy does black ball him ALA Sherman or Baldwin, this could be yet another rift in that FO. Power struggles often catch fire from situations just like this.

I know one thing, I am glad it is not Seattle dealing with this.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

Johnson worked Sherman a bit during that game back in 2012, but mostly when Sherman was in zone. Johnson is really good at working open against zone coverage, and Sherman is probably just about average in zone.

 

[Marvin49]

1) Harbaugh very rarely names people starters or gives them jobs.

The number of rookie starters that Harbaugh has played from week one in any given year since he has been in SF says otherwise. I know 49ers fans like to say that the lack of playing rookies in his tenure is just because the 49ers have been so Godly talented that it's impossible for anyone short of a future first-ballot Hall of Famer to crack the starting roster, but...Call me skeptical.

SPIN!!!! SPIN!!!!!

Don'cha know that the failure to name Stevie as the #3 WR three weeks before the first game of the season is clearly a sign that Kaepernick sucks and Harbaugh is so frustrated that he's ready to leave?

Duh. I don't see any other way you could look at it. All other attempts are just spin.

100% serious and honest question for you, Marvin. Why would you not make a concerted effort to get a lot of targets to the only receiver in the NFL to school both Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman? While having a crap QB, to boot. I do not understand the negativity toward him from some of my fellow Seahawks brethren, the guy's a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to getting open. Stevie Johnson has had a nice number of good days against Revis, and he had a good day against Sherman the one time we played Buffalo, but seriously; I want to know what the answer to this question is.

I just think the whole thing is overblown. He'll get his chances. He'll play.

 

[Ziggyy108]

Stevie Johnson has been invisible so far ....