We Will Catch Punts!!! The offical 2012 San Francisco 49ers off-season thread

[LastEmperor2k2]

what's so hard to believe about that? moss/crabs/mario/ginn/KW are clearly ahead of him on the depth chart and it wouldn't make sense to have 6 WRs active

unless there's a major injury, this will basically be a redshirt year for AJ

I can honestly see this happening, because Ginn/Williams are special team contributers too.

 

[B90X]

I can honestly see this happening, because Ginn/Williams are special team contributers too.

Barrows had an article that stated that they're thinking about reducing the number of D Lineman they carry during games this year, so they conceivably carry 6 WR's.

49ers Blog and Q&A: Dobbs, other bubble players, learning to be versatile

Last year, the 49ers kept seven defensive linemen - a big number for a 3-4 defense - but had little use on defense for most of the backups. One starting defensive end, Justin Smith, played 91 percent of the defensive snaps in the regular season. The other, Ray McDonald, played 84 percent of the snaps.

Because top backup Ricky Jean Francois can play both defensive end and nose tackle and because the 49ers figure to keep more wide receivers and running backs than last year,the defensive line numbers could be less than they were a year ago. (Then again, both Jean Francois and starter Isaac Sopoaga are in their contract years, so the 49ers may want to save for the future).

 

[B90X]

Nice article on Kyle Williams. I think he has a good year this year. Good to see his mind is in the right place and he isn't going to let what happened in the NFCCG define his career.

ON THE NFL: 49ers want to go further this season - latimes.com

SANTA CLARA -- San Francisco's Kyle Williams lost the football. But as painful as that memory is, he doesn't want to lose the feeling.

A fumble by Williams in overtime of the NFC championship game — his second such turnover of the game — spelled doom for the 49ers on their home field, on the doorstep of the Super Bowl.

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It came on the third punt of the extra period against the New York Giants, after Williams had been forced into returning because of an injury toTed Ginn Jr.

The Giants recovered the ball at the San Francisco 24 and kicked a field goal for a 20-17 victory. That slammed shut the season storybook on the 49ers, who had gone from 6-10 in 2010 to 13-3 under first-year Coach Jim Harbaugh.

"I don't try to block it out like it never happened, I'm not one of those guys," Williams said last week, sitting out steps outside the locker room at 49ers headquarters. "I know what happened. I'm going to learn from what happened.

"It's almost motivated me more, driven me more to work harder and get to where I'm giving my best opportunity to succeed and move past that in the eyes of everybody else."

Like an echo, that turnover had implications that reverberated long after the game. Williams received death threats on Twitter. Two Giants players offhandedly mentioned after the game that they knew of the 23-year-old receiver's history of concussions and their goal was to get a solid hit on him to take advantage of that.

An audiotape surfaced in April of former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams giving an obscenity-laced speech to his defense the night before a divisional playoff game at San Francisco, a week before the Giants faced the 49ers.

"We need to find out in the first two series of the game, that little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion," said the coordinator, who since has been suspended indefinitely by the league for his role in the alleged pay-to-injure Saints bounty scheme. "We need to … put a lick on him right now. He needs to decide. He needs to … decide."

It's understandable that Gregg Williams had taken notice of the unrelated Kyle, as the 5-foot-10, 186-pound receiver had flashed big-play potential in his two seasons in the NFL. Even though he was a sixth-round pick out of Arizona State in 2010, this is a player who's likely to carve out a career of note.

Just as the criticism rained on Kyle Williams, so did the support from his teammates, his family — including his father, Ken, general manager of the Chicago White Sox — as well as some notable former NFL players whom he'd never met.

"Roger Craig called me," Williams said. "Ronnie Lott, Earnest Byner, all these guys called me. Deion Sanders reached out to me on Twitter. Kurt Warner. All these guys that I've never met face to face told me, basically, 'You're a great player, you made a mistake and you're going to be fine. Don't let this break you.'

"When you hear it from these guys, you hear it from the guys in your locker room, you hear it from your family, all the stuff you get on the other side doesn't matter. It's almost like it didn't happen. The death threats on Twitter, it's almost like it's make-believe. I'm going to listen to the people who know."

Perhaps no one on his team knows the sting of public criticism as well as quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005 whose career barely stayed on the rails until last season, when he pulled a reversal and passed for 17 touchdowns while throwing only five interceptions — a franchise record for fewest picks by a starter.

Speaking about falling just short of the Super Bowl, and not specifically about Williams' fumble, Smith said this week that the 49ers are harnessing that disappointment as incentive.

"I think that feeling is still there," the quarterback said. "As much as we all talk about pressing delete on last year, I mean obviously a lot of excitement going to the playoffs and the 13-3 and things like that and getting a playoff win. But I don't think that anyone is pressing delete on the taste in our mouth.

"Working that hard to get that close to your goal and not get there is definitely, I think, even more bitter than some of the losing seasons that we've been a part, that I've been a part of. So, no question, that is still there. Whether or not it's a good thing, we'll see."

The 49ers have not repeated as NFC West champions since winning four consecutive division crowns from 1992 to '95. They are determined to prove they are more than a one-season wonder, and they have added some playmakers to their receiving corps in Randy Moss, Mario Manningham — who made a pivotal catch for the Giants in the Super Bowl — and first-round pickA.J. Jenkins.

In addition, the 49ers had the NFC's top-ranked defense last season, and a running game ranked eighth in the league.

"We have great expectations," Harbaugh said. "We've got big hopes. We've got big dreams."

Williams has his own dreams.

"There's a certain type of fire that burns in you after you've felt that type of pain," Williams said. "I don't know that I've ever understood that before, because it's never been that severe. I was fortunate growing up. My dad is who he is, and I was very fortunate to have the advantages I did as a kid. But now I understand it. Now I get it. There's a certain type of intensity that I've never felt before."

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

Nice article on Kyle Williams. I think he has a good year this year. Good to see his mind is in the right place and he isn't going to let what happened in the NFCCG define his career.

ON THE NFL: 49ers want to go further this season - latimes.com

I personally hope KW has a huge moment in a big game that redeems him this year.

I was really disgusted by how far some of the fans went, not just the day after either but weeks down the road. Death threats and shyt, it's pathetic. He showed some promise in 2011, just don't let him return punts anymore.

 

[FaTaL]

Kyle is really a decent slot guy I hope has a good year

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

Kyle is really a decent slot guy I hope has a good year

If he takes up the slot position what's CrabTHREE gonna do then? CrabFOUR?

No joke though, I think Manningham is gonna take that #2 spot across from Macho Man Randy Moss

 

[Dat916nigga]

i said from jump that kyle's gonna be just fine as a WR

what i wanna see is how he handles punts in the preseason

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

i said from jump that kyle's gonna be just fine as a WR

what i wanna see is how he handles punts in the preseason

I don't think he handles punts this season

 

[Dat916nigga]

I don't think he handles punts this season

as of right now, kyle is still the backup punt returner and unless cox or LMJ can unseat him it'll stay that way

 

[Rekkapryde]

I don't think he handles punts this season

I'm with you. The first muff even if he recovers might get in his head.

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

I'm with you. The first muff even if he recovers might get in his head.

There is no need to if Ginn is still on the team, did Jenkins do that at all in college? I remember reading somewhere that Parrish Cox has returned kicks/punts before too.

 

[B90X]

Looks like Dixon is trying to increase his chances of staying on the team with an expanded role.

49ers Anthony Dixon granted request for dual-threat role on offense - CBSSports.com

When the 49ers acquired short-yardage RB Brandon Jacobs and special teams standout Rock Cartwright in the offseason, Anthony Dixon's value to the team significantly declined.

It could have been easy for Dixon to push for a trade or his release, but the third-year pro isn't wired like that.

Instead, he approached coach Jim Harbaugh with the idea for an expanded role in which he could potentially play both RB and FB.

"I told him right now I could be a dual threat to help the team," Dixon said. "I'm just trying to separate myself and I feel like if I can do both, that'll put me in a different category. Coaches are saying it's a great move and I think it's a great move."

Run blocking isn't a new concept for Dixon, who played in an option-based offense at Mississippi State.

"I had to block for my other running back there," he said. "I just love playing football, period."

Dixon looked natural at fullback in the team's first practice in pads Sunday, but said he isn't resigned to the fact that his ball-carrying days are over.

"I'm still a workhorse and that's final, but whatever they ask me to do that's what I'm going to do," he said. "I am a team player."

In Dixon's rookie year, he carried 70 times for 237 yards and a pair of TDs, but he saw his carries drop to 29 last season after the team drafted Kendall Hunter in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.

With Frank Gore, second-round pick LaMichael James, Hunter and Jacobs all ahead of him on the depth chart, it's likely Dixon could find a better opportunity for carries elsewhere.

He didn't want to speculate.

"If it comes to something else, then I'll open my eyes to that. Right now, I'm happy."

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

Looks like Dixon is trying to increase his chances of staying on the team with an expanded role.

49ers Anthony Dixon granted request for dual-threat role on offense - CBSSports.com

It's a good effort, but I see his ass still getting cut

It's gonna be Gore, Hunter, James, Jacobs, Miller.

Backup FB will be a d-lineman, maybe Tukuafa or someone like him

 

[Dat916nigga]

that's all good but there's no way dixon's making the cut

 

[LastEmperor2k2]

Anyone see any weird cuts coming from the 49ers, a lot of times teams will have a guy the fans though they were high on get cut, anyone think we got a guy like that?

I think if anyone, it's gonna be Ted Ginn.