So Favre is leaving for Broadway which will probably leave Pennington jobless.  Well Chad, let me first the first to welcome you to the Rice-A-Roni City.  Seriously why wouldn't the Niners want Pennington?  He's a playoff a quarterback who's throws about as hard as Tom Candiotte.  Hello Super Bowl!

I mean we missed out on Jason Taylor, Brett Favre, Takeo Spikes, Zach Thomas, and Steve Smith.  How can McNolan let Pennington get away?  He can not.

FAIL.

So over on Matt Maiocco's blog, he has an interesting thought about the future of Jeff Garcia. It looks as though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are seriously interested in acquiring the services of Brett Favre, meaning Jeff Garcia will most likely be looking for another job.

According to Matt, it seems there could be a slight chance that the Niners would be interested in bringing back one time QB Jeff Garcia. Considering Garcia was a free agent twice before and McNolan showed no interest, does it really seem plausible he is even on the radar? What kind of ramifications would bringing Garcia in have on the current QB's? Could he learn Martz's offense quick enough to be a starter? Does he even want to come to San Francisco when a team like the Minnesota Vikings needs a QB and has a better shot at the playoffs? I am interested to know what everyone thinks about the possibility of a Jeff Garcia return.

I for one don't really see it panning out. I think it is more likely he would be picked up by Minnesota and would probably prefer to be there. WIth him as their starting QB they are in my opinion a playoff lock. I always liked Garcia as our QB and was sad to see him go, but at 38 years old, I don't think we would be seeing the same Jeff Garcia.

Anyway, thoughts?? I figured I would throw a poll up too because I like them.

EDITOR'S NOTE 6:25PM: So how about it folks?  Should the 49ers make a play for Steve Smith?  There are no rumors mentioning the 49ers, but it's still something interesting to consider.  Smith is 29 and certainly as explosive a receiver as most anybody out there.  He's had two ugly fights and now faces a team-imposed two game suspension.  At the same time he would immediately upgrade the offense.  No matter what you think about Alex Smith, Shaun Hill or J.T. O'Sullivan, any of them could get the ball to a guy like Smith.  So would you do it and if so, what would you give up?

_______________________________________

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Are-the-Panthers-considering-trading-Steve-Smith?urn=nfl,98454

If the Panthers really are considering dealing Smith (doubtful) I would hope the Niners would be extremely involved in the discussions.  Smith comes with considerable baggage and is likely approaching the downside of his career, but I cant think of many guys who would be a better fit for Martz's system or who could single handedly make the offense as dynamic as Smith would.  Thoughts?  Would it be worth a 1st round pick and Jason Hill perhaps?

the 49ers need to make a play for brett favre, our qb position is so bad that everyone embraced an unproven career back up qb in shaun hill just because he promised a change.. the truth is shaun hill is not the answer.. alex smith's meltdown last year offically anointed him a complete bust.. its so bad, that people whisper about jt o'sullivan like he may have some hidden mvp talent waiting to emerge.. now i may be wrong and somehow this qb black hole in sf may dissapate and stop sucking the life out of the 49ers but why sit still and watch a train wreck waiting to happen?? if the 49ers pick up brett favre they get a hall of famer in his twilight, he throws interceptions half the time, but at least they get completions and yards.. and an air attack that can stretch the field and open up the running attack for the frank gore.. last year the defense was strong, but with no points or first downs from the offense was forced to try and win games by themselves.. it also features one of the best Lbs in the nfl in patrick willis.. so even if for only one year, if for only to give all the talent on the 49ers a chance to compete.. sign brett favre.. i wont be mad at that..

J.T. Sullivan!

Why? Simply said, he has the most experience in the Martz offense and he has been performing fluently since he got his reps.

No mumbo-jumbo here.

It's a prediction and a solid one.

And, no offense to Alex Smith, who should be named as no. 2 quarterback as backup, and Shaun Hill will be no. 3.

If I get it right, if the 49ers do name these quarterbacks in the order that I predict, maybe buy me a cold, chilled can of Coke?

With Chinese food.

It is unquestionable that the 1999 Rams were better than their counterparts in 1998 - they have the rings and the Lombardi trophy to prove it.

Mike Martz then followed up that success as an offensive coordinator in Detroit, making the Lions offense better for the two years that he was with them.

Mike Martz will be an asset to the Niners, but is he the best offensive coordinator of the recent NFL or just a beneficiary of coincidence?

Read more at http://blog.ingamenow.com/2008/08/01/is-mike-martz-the-savior-for-the-niners/

Hey guys, just putting this out there but is anyone interested in having a Ninersnation.com Madden league for Xbox 360.  The game has a built in league feature so it wouldnt be all that hard.  I ran a 16 team league last year, and with no built in league feature it was a pain, but I would be fine running a small league here.  The game lets you choose how many teams up to 32 so there arent certain intervals we would have reach ( 8, 12, 16 etc.....)

Depending on the interest we would come up with a way to make the teams as fair as possible (no one over 90 overall for example) and I believe EA provides a forum for your league online.  Fooch would allow us to have a weekly fan post about the league so we could have some civil smack talk (mostly against the bears.......)

Anyway if your interested please post here, again this is for Xbox 360 on xbox live

Thanks

if you have any other questions, you can email me at jkaslow1 at gmail dot com

EDITOR'S NOTE 8pm - I don't expect the 49ers will make a move for Glenn, but I'm curious if people think they should.  Or do the injuries just make him a waste of time?

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072608dnspocowglennHP.10de23f.html

I think for the first time in a while, I like our WR corps, but, just for fun, let's talk about taking Terry Glenn. He's obviously a top WR (maybe not a legit #1 receiving option though). Taking him would bolster our WR unit. He would be a good target for Smith/Hill to throw to. I feel it could make our team better.

Thoughts?

My favorite non 49er is officially a man without a home.  The Saints announced the release of tight end Eric Johnson.  After trading for Jeremy Shockey, it's not exactly a shocking move.  Throw in a nagging ankle injury and it was probably a foregone conclusion.

For those who are frequent visitors you might know of my occasional discussions of the greatness that was Eric Johnson.  When the 49ers first drafted Johnson I was intrigued by the possibilities.  He played wide receiver at Yale, but was converted to tight end after being selected in the 7th round.  Part of my fandom was that everyone loves the underdog story of a 7th round pick (see Grant, Larry).

Johnson was quite solid, if unspectacular his first two seasons.  Johnson missed part of 2002 and all of 2003 with injuries that would continue to crop up, even to this day.  Of course, in 2004, for one brief season, Eric Johnson saw his talent explode on the scene: 82 receptions and 825 yards on a comically bad 49ers team.  I was particularly happy because I had drafted Johnson in the last round of my fantasy football league.  Probably the best fantasy selection I'll ever make.

I realize Johnson will not end up back with the 49ers anytime soon.  We've got Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker as offensive tight ends, and Billy Bajema for blocking.  Consider me one hoping that Johnson signs on somewhere else and can get healthy enough to make an impact once again.

There's a pretty interesting article about Mike Nolan in the Mercury News today.  Basically, it's saying what we all know - something good needs to happen in 2008 or Nolan is done.

http://www.mercurynews.com/sportsheadlines/ci_9980709

What's interesting is it has Nolan taking the blame on himself for poor coaching decisions -

Nolan was more candid than expected about what exactly created the train wreck of 2007. He mentioned the unusual situation of 10 players or coaches (including Nolan) being emotionally hit by the deaths of parents during the season. It had a collective downer effect, Nolan said. But without prompting, he quickly shifted gears.

"Some things we can control, some we can't," Nolan said. "The things we could have controlled, in my opinion, would have made a difference. Had we had better depth, for example at quarterback . . . and had we made a better decision at offensive coordinator, all those things . . . they tie together. Because in some other areas, we did extremely well."

Then at the end of the article, Nolan is asked about problems last season with Alex Smith -

What about any lingering friction between Smith and Nolan, who are still here? Both say the issue - which burst into the open when the quarterback said he thought the coach was undermining him with the team - is now a non-issue. Nothing to see here. Move along. But is that so?

"If you look back . . . I didn't like what happened," Nolan said. "But again . . . there are things I can say and things I can't. As much as I was communicating with him, somehow, we weren't communicating enough."

And this year? Nolan and Smith will tell you they are back on the same page. But the coach, speaking about what he expects to see from whichever 49ers quarterback wins the starting job, did not mince words.

"Every player faces stress in their job," Nolan said. "People are built differently. Some respond differently than others expect them to respond, especially in certain positions. If you're the head coach, you're expected to act in a way that's more responsible than, say, the equipment manager. Well, if you're the quarterback, then you're responsible to react in a way that's more responsible than, say, the kicker. I'm just saying, there's a rule about that."

What do you guys think?  I think we should be able to avoid bringing the problems of last year into this one.  At least Nolan and Smith have got to know what's at stake.