The morning after a tough loss is never pretty, but there is certainly plenty around the blogosphere to check out.  Today's a particularly big day as we await word on the extent of Alex Smith's injury, as well as Mike Nolan's wrap-up press conference at 12:15.  I think we all expect Smith to be on the shelf the rest of the season, but we'll wait on the official word.

Speaking of Smith, the 49ers have begun searching for a new 3rd string quarterback.  First name mentioned: Jamie Martin.  Martin is on the radar primarily because of his time in St. Louis with Martz.  There are certainly flashier names out there, but I honestly don't think Byron Lefwich is the type of player you want as a 3rd string QB.  He's talented but you have to wonder if he could accept such a role knowing he has virtually no chance of becoming a starter.

As has been mentioned in the recap thread, Maiocco saw some crazy stats.  The 49ers actually outgained the Cardinals by 6 yards, in spite of running 28 fewer plays.  While there were several field goals, only one touchdown was scored off the 49ers turnovers.  The defense couldn't make some key 3 and outs, but all things considered (primarily time of possession), it was a respectable performance.

Kurt Warner continues to own the 49ers.  The man is 8-1 with 20 TDs and 10 INTs against the 49ers.  I'm surprised the TD/INT ratio isn't better as it always feels like he picks us apart.

Lowell Cohn does not want anybody making excuses for the 49ers.  He calls the 49ers a "good-looking bad offense."  Do people agree with that characterization?  I suppose just based on yesterday's game that's an easy assessment to make.  As Cohn pointed out, they did score .7 points fewer than they averaged last season.  However, I don't think it's possible to perform that poorly, in terms of turnovers, on a consistent basis.

The defense isn't happy about that Ray McDonald roughing the passer penalty.  While I agree that McDonald should have known better, I also think it was a pretty ticky-tack call to make.  But as was pointed out in the game thread, if you even breath on the QB you're gonna get called for something.

A new form of home field advantage?  If our coaches can get in good shape this busted elevator thing could be HUGE!

Isaac Bruce was indeed a bit of a disappearing act.  In the post-game interviews JTO did indicate he looked to him a couple times but the Cardinals were covering him pretty steadily.  If Bryant Johnson can turn into a consistent threat that should open things up for Bruce a little more.

Should the 49ers have been more "angry" about the loss?  I think when you make that many mistakes it's easier to be more embarrassed than anything else.  However, Cam Inman is definitely not optimistic about this season.

For those wondering if the 49ers will ever be on in your part of the country, check this site out every week.

The folks at Princeton are psyched to see their boy Zak Keasey starting.

It doesn't get much easier any time soon with a rough first half of the schedule.  A quick re-look at the schedule and that Philly could be ugly, the Patriots game could be a lot more interesting and who knows what to think about Seattle right now.

Feel free to drop in your own links and I'll hopefully be back with an update on Alex Smith later today.

The significance of the third preseason game goes beyond the extended play of the starters. I'll get into some more game breakdown later this afternoon, but I thought a quick look at the roster would be useful.  Next Monday, August 26, is the deadline for teams to cut their rosters down from 81 players to 75 players.  That is rather quickly followed by the August 30th deadline of cutting down to 53 players.

Back in early June I put together a practice squad projection.  The actual 8-man practice squad I came up with was pretty much guesswork.  However, the process I used to whittle down the spots was rather helpful for purposes of looking at the approaching cutdown dates.  I came up with three groups: 1) Ineligible for the practice squad, so on the bubble of making the 53-man roster or being cut; 2) Eligible for the practice squad but somewhat of a chance of making the 53-man roster, so on the bubble of making the 53-man or practice squad; and 3) eligible for the practice squad, but slim to no chance of making the 53-man roster, so on the bubble between the practice squad and being cut.

I thought I'd update that as a way of working out the first six to be cut, and next week, the remaining 22 to be cut.

1. 53-man/Cut
FB Zak Keasey, FB Moran Norris, WR Ashley Lelie OT Alan Reuber, LB Roderick Green, LB Dennis Haley, DE Atiyyah Ellison, DB Marcus Hudson, DB Markus Curry, TE Cooper Wallace, DT Walter Curry, DE LaJuan Ramsey

2. 53-man/Practice Squad
LB Jay Moore, RB Thomas Clayton, DT Joe Cohen, WR Dominique Zeigler

3. Practice Squad/Cut
QB Kyle Wright, WR Cam Colvin, LB Shaun Richardson, S D.J. Parker, S Lewis Baker, WR Jerard Rabb, G Brian De La Puente, DE Louis Holmes, G John Booker, TE J.J. Finley, P Ricky Schmitt, WR Robert Ortiz, OT Ramiro Pruneda

I included both Keasey and Moran Norris on the 53-man/Cut list because I can't figure out what the 49ers are going to do at the full back position.  Based on my projections, if they only keep one of the two, there would be 1 roster spot left, which would go to one player in the above groups.

In trying to figure out the first six players to be cut, I'm curious how the practice squad plays into it.  Would you be more likely to cut someone with no practice squad eligibility because you want a few more days of practice to see if the PS-eligible is worthy of the practice squad?  Or maybe I'm over-thinking it.

I think Cooper Wallace is a definite first cut as he has no PS eligibility and is at a position where has absolutely no hope of making the roster.  I think Markus and Walter Curry both fit this mold.  Would the team keep P/K Ricky Schmitt for the practice squad, or give him a few extra days to latch on somewhere else?  Robert Ortiz only made the roster after Robert Jordan left to deal with a death in the family.  I'd like to see Jordan return and make the practice squad.  OT Ramiro Pruneda is part of the international practice squad program but he has been a DNP in all three games.  Unless there are rules about him finishing training camp, I'd imagine he gets cut sooner, rather than later.

Just like that I've come up with six guys.  So I suppose you can consider that my prediction for next Monday.  This is about as productive as the practice squad projection, but what the heck, right?

425 yards of total offense by the 49ers tonight against the Chicago Bears.  Last week, 355 yards of offense against the Green Bay Packers.  Take a minute to soak those numbers in.  While it is only the preseason and backups were in for significant chunks, we can still enjoy ourselves on occasion. 

While the 49ers only won by 7 tonight, I really don't think the game was that close.  Even when it was tied 20-20, I actually felt like the 49ers offense could pull this thing out.  I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I had that feeling with the 49ers.  Even when they were 2-0 last year, the team had struggled in victory.  The year before most of us were surprised when they were 7-9 so we didn't expect anything.  The two previous years they were 4-12 and 2-14, nuff said.

The Bears defense finished up pretty abysmally last season and they look well on their way to another horrid season in 2008.  The way I look at it, the 49ers offense is clearly not 34 or 37 points a game good, but they're clearly not as bad as they were last year.  If the defense can get some teeth, a league average offense could be more than enough to make some noise.

So, preseason game #3 is in the books and we had some more questions answered.  Some questions will not be fully answered until the season starts, but we're getting some nice hints of things to come.

QB situation: It's official.  J.T. O'Sullivan is the starting quarterback for this team.  Maybe he loses the job midseason, but on September 7, O'Sullivan will be leading this offense against the Arizona Cardinals.  Whether you still prefer Alex Smith, I think it's safe to say that O'Sullivan has not done anything to lose the job.  Maybe he didn't deserve all the #1 snaps initially, but he showed he can make plays.  He won't throw the prettiest pass and I'm sure he'll make at least one vomit-inducing poor decision every game.  However, he knows this offense and will move the chains.  I've got thoughts on Alex Smith, but I'm going to leave them for another post involving a whole lot of film breakdown.  Suffice to say, his accuracy (or lack there of) is the death of him in the Mike Martz offense.

And briefly as to Shaun Hill.  I realize he has a sizable fan contingent.  As Rishi pointed out in the game thread, he was one of the lone bright spots in a season of crap.  I do agree that he deserved better.  At the same time, the physical attributes simply aren't there.  I realize you don't need to have all the physical tools as many professional athletes have shown.  At the same time, I think JTO has done enough for now to hold onto the job.  I'm sure he'll have me eating my words within the first two quarters of the regular season.

Offensive Line: They only gave up one sack and O'Sullivan et al. seemed to have enough time in the pocket most of the time.  I do need to rewatch the offense again to verify my thoughts.  This is more just insticts (which have been wrong many times).  I'm still anxious to see how they perform once the regular season gets here, but this is one question that I feel is hinting towards a rebirth.  I think Eric Heitmann needed last season to reach a full recovery and should be solid this year.  I'd like to keep De La Puente but I don't think the numbers will allow it.  As for their abilities in the running game?

Running Backs: Thomas Clayton is officially THE MAN against backups!  While partially joking, I'm serious in the fact that I really don't know what he'll be for the 49ers.  If he goes back to the practice squad he can be signed by any other team.  If your running backs are banged up, or you lack depth, wouldn't you take a flyer on the second year Clayton?

And what else needs to be said about Frank Gore?  Frank the Tank looked to be in midseason form.  I believe he shed some weight and he definitely seemed to have a little extra shiftiness tonight.  He was bobbing and weaving and finding holes like the Pro Bowler that he is.  Throw in the succesful screen plays and it's safe to say that Frank Gore is due for one hell of a season.  Martz may be a passing fool, but his use of Gore has me excited.

Wide Receivers: After back-to-back impressive performances, Morgan was thrown to three times tonight and had no receptions.  He got creamed on one over the middle play so I won't go calling him Alligator Arms (like our boy B. Lloyd).  He's a rookie so there will be the occasional regression.  He has no worries about a roster spot but this certainly didn't help his bid to score a starting spot.

Jason Hill on the other hand made some nice plays and combined with Morgan leaves me somewhat excited about the future of the wide receiver position for now.  One disappointment will be if Zeigler doesn't make the team.  I'm going to put together a 53-man roster look tomorrow or the next day and see what it would take to get him on the roster.  He's been really consistent receiver with 4+ catches each game and making plays at opportune moments.  They keep saying he'll be easy to slip through waivers to the practice squad, but I'm not so sure anymore.

Special Teams Coverage: Like clockwork, the 49ers had major headaches on special teams.  The Bears averaged 40 yards per kick return and 20 yards per punt return.  If this keeps up, the 49ers will be in trouble because the defense can't constantly defending only 50 or so yards per series.  I honestly have no answers for these problems.  Any ideas?  I'm going to see what I can dig up.

Pass Rush: After a pass rush run wild against the Packers, the front seven was contained this week.  I think this preseason sums up what we can expect from the pass rush.  There will be some truly amazing performances, but there will also be some wild inconsistencies that make us want to pull our hair out.  Ray McDonald ripping a couple sacks, followed by a couple offsides penalties.  Hopefully it's more of the former, but we'll see.

General Thoughts: Normally I would say to myself, oh don't get too excited about high scoring in the preseason.  However, I do NOT think this is a complete aberration.  The running and passing game will lead to some high scoring games.  While there will be struggles, the offense is clearly better than last season.  In last year's preseason, the 49ers scored 13, 26, 28 and 13 points.  So far this preseason it's 6, 34 and 37.  Preseason is clearly the ultimate in small sample sizes, but nonetheless I'll take what I can get to stay excited.

Participation: Finally, another SB Nation site came up with an interesting website that allows me to plug in the game thread and figure out who commented in the thread and how many comments they posted. Aside from myself, bondslegend had 216 comments, 49ersLou had 98, Cruithear had 43, 408 had 26, CB30 had 6, Muy Macho had 4, and Rishi, gatling, jtoj and metal_militia all had 1 comments.  Thanks to all for participating.  Always good to get everyone's insights on the game.

Two months ago we ran a little exercise of projecting the 53-man roster.  Since that time, enough has changed to allow us the chance to revise our projections.  If you've had a chance to check out Mike Sandos NFC West blog, he went through each team and gave roster analysis at all of the units (since updated with some of the 49ers injury and roster moves).  Feel free to throw out any disagreements you have with some of my projections.  I've bolded and underlined additions and will mention subtractions down below.

Offense
QB (3): Alex Smith, Shaun Hill, J.T. O'Sullivan
RB (3): Frank Gore, DeShaun Foster, Michael Robinson
FB (2): Moran Norris, Zak Keasey
WR (5): Isaac Bruce, Bryant Johnson, Arnaz Battle, Jason Hill, Josh Morgan
TE (3): Vernon Davis, Delanie Walker, Billy Bajema
LT (2): Joe Staley, Barry Sims
LG (2): Adam Snyder, Tony Wragge
C (2): Eric Heitmann, Cody Wallace
RG (2): David Baas, Chilo Rachal
RT (1): Jonas Jennings

Defense
DE (4): Isaac Sopoaga, Justin Smith, Kentwan Balmer, Ray McDonald
DT (2): Aubrayo Franklin, Ronald Fields
OLB (3): Manny Lawson, Tully Banta-Cain, Parys Haralson
ILB (5): Patrick Willis, Jeff Ulbrich, Dontarrious Thomas, Takeo Spikes, Larry Grant
CB (6): Nate Clements, Walt Harris, Shawntae Spencer, Tarell Brown, Donald Strickland, Reggie Smith
FS (2): Mark Roman, Dashon Goldson
SS (2): Michael Lewis, Keith Lewis

Special Teams
K: Joe Nedney
P: Andy Lee
LS: Brian Jennings
KR/PR: Allen Rossum

Changes
I made three changes, and only one of them is my own judgment call.  Damane Duckett was placed on injured reserve and Sims is looking like a sure bet to make the team.  Spikes is clearly in to replace Brandon Moore, so no surprises there. 

The only "big change" I made was to plug in Zak Keasey and take off Ashley Lelie.  It sounds like Lelie might miss another week, which puts him that much further behind.  Couple that with the continued emergence of Josh Morgan and Lelie has to be considered on thin ice.  Keasey has received a lot of playing time with the first team offense and got into quite a bit of action on Friday.  The other option is keeping Keasey and dumping Moran Norris.  I'm curious what people think about the fullback situation, even if it isn't the most glamorous of positions.

The Bubble
As roster spots become more secure, the questions becomes who remains on the bubble?  Jay Moore made some plays (including a sack) last Friday and definitely helped himself.  At the same time, Mike Nolan specifically said that while he'd done some positive things, he wasn't going to get bumped up because he still had areas to improve.  While Tully Banta-Cain looked solid, I could certainly see him battling Moore and Roderick Green for a roster spot.  However, I think TBC is the likely winner in that battle.  I'm curious if Moore would eventually find himself on the practice squad.

I think Ashley Lelie is not necessarily on the bubble, so much as in some kind of purgatory.  If he doesn't get healthy I don't see how he doesn't get cut.  Josh Morgan certainly has room to improve, but if he keeps it up at this pace he's certainly not going to lose his spot to Lelie.  A final addition to the bubble would be Louis Holmes.  It sounds like he's been really impressing folks, although it's an uphill battle for him to make the 53-man roster.

Alright, anybody I'm overlooking or over-rating?  I'm pretty sure most of us are praying for a whole lot of answers this Saturday against Green Bay.  While there are bubble players, the questions are more related to the depth chart of the existing roster.  A guy like Moore or Holmes will definitely need to step up their game Saturday night.

I was trying to think of the best way to describe the opener and all I can think of is a mix of good and bad.  I honestly don't know whether it was more bad than good or vice versa because the bad tends to stick out a little more in the preseason.  The first preseason game is likely going to be your ugliest performance.  Even though the team has been practicing together for the past couple weeks, the offense is still pretty fresh and I'd imagine it has not been fully implemented.

It's difficult to make any hard conclusions at this point, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.  As I've said before, the problem with such an in-depth QB competition is that a single player is not getting the majority of the snaps.  One guy is not getting the consistent chemistry with the first team offense.  However, J.T. O'Sullivan definitely showed some quality chemistry with Josh Morgan on the four receptions.  Of the three QBs, O'Sullivan impressed me the most, even with some his mistakes.  I don't think his interception was as bad as the announcers made it seem.  Even though it was overthrown pretty strongly, it actually looked like DeShaun Foster cut the route short or gave up on it, depending on how you look at it.

The offensive line definitely had issues in the running game, but in the passing game it's a little harder to assess.  They only gave up 1 sack (a second wasn't counted b/c of a 49ers penalty), but there was definitely pressure on the QBs.  O'Sullivan's fumble came when he was forced to scramble and try and make something happen.  Smith was forced to make some plays on the run, but when he had time in the pocket he connected on some very solid passes, particularly to Arnaz Battle.  The same holds true for Shaun Hill.  Whenever he (and the rest of the QBs) got good protection, good things usually happened.  That's not exactly rocket science, but certainly something to keep in mind.  In his comments the next day, Nolan acknowledged Staley and Snyder needed to step up their game on the left side.  Hopefully we'll see some improvement next weekend against Green Bay.

My biggest issue in this game was in some of the offensive play-calling.  On Alex Smith's first drive, fullback Zak Keasey was actually lined up as the deep running back on back to back plays.  The plays resulted in 3rd and 7, an incomplete pass and then the punt returned by Johnnie Lee Higgins for a touchdown.  I realize there is a need to establish the run.  You certainly don't want your QB getting killed every time he drops back and you need the run to establish the play action.  But Zak Keasey?  Thomas Clayton rushed the ball 5 times and was thrown to 8 times (resulting in 5 receptions).  It's still early, but I'd like to see him getting additional touches to really see what he can do and this was the perfect situation for that.

Keasey factored into several of my problems with the play-calling.  Smith had a nice little drive going at the end of the second quarter and on 3rd and 3 at the Raiders 5, the 49ers ran Keasey from the deep spot right up the middle for one yard.  In that situation why not run a little play-action?  They had Josh Morgan split out wide and Jason Hill in the slot, both to the left side.  Why not run Hill on a crossing pattern behind the linebackers.  A quality play-action fake and there's a decent chance he's wide open.

It's entirely possible that if the 49ers do pass the ball in these situations the QB gets sacked, the passes are incomplete or their is a turnover.  However, since this is the preseason and these games don't count, why not mix it up a little more?  Is anybody else also confused by some of the play-calling or do you see some rhyme and/or reason for it?

Yesterday I mentioned how Dominique Zeigler had impressed folks in the early part of camp.  While that certainly doesn't meant he'll make the roster, we're always going to get excited when an underdog makes a statement.  As previously stated, every training camp sees some unknown (or just lesser known) player make some plays and makes a name for himself with the media.  This year is no different and I thought I'd take a look at some of the guys who have impressed so far.

Zak Keasey: Zak Keasey is certainly not unknown and may not even qualify as lesser known.  He's spent time on the practice squad over the last couple years and actually made appearances in 13 games, primarily on special teams but also on offense occasionally.  I mention him first because he has clearly impressed the coaching staff.  When the team has used a fullback, Keasey has seen a majority of the first-team action over previous starter Moran Norris.  Also, Mike Martz had some interesting comments when chatting with the media yesterday:

"I think Zak has a real good feel for getting through traffic and getting on linebackers and DBs as a blocker. He's unusual that way. It's kind of a lost art, if you will. He sees things and reacts to things very, very well -- very quickly. He's got such good body control, he can avoid and get into little tiny holes and get to a linebacker. It's hard to find guys who can do that. He does that very well. Mo (Moran Norris) is more of a real powerful, get-on-that-line-and-blow-them-up kind of deal. So they're different kinds of fullbacks, but they're both effective."

Considering the fact that there are not an unlimited number of roster spots, I'm curious if the team would keep both fullbacks.  Keasey brings special teams value, which is certainly a plus for him.  Throw in the fact that the fullback is not exactly the most utilized position in the Martz offense and it leaves me wondering if Moran Norris might see his time with the 49ers coming to an end.

Josh Morgan: Again, not an unknown guy, but somebody I thought was more destined for the practice squad.  I've read nothing but good things about Morgan going back to June OTAs and they continue into minicamp.  MM said about Morgan:

There is competition at the wideout spots. The competition right now is for spots on the team. As Mike Nolan said, the question is who are the five receivers? And, then, do they have a sixth who should make the squad.

My opinion: Josh Morgan makes the team. But Ashley Lelie better back in a hurry or he's going to have a difficult time making the final roster.

Morgan continues to shine. When asked what kind of impression he's making, Morgan answered, "I'm not sure -- hopefully a good ones."

He's getting a lot of reps and -- to the untrained eye -- does not appear to be doing much wrong. Seems like he has a decent grasp of the offense and he's catching most everything in sight.

I can honestly say at this point that I'd rather add Morgan to the roster and cut ties with Lelie.  Realistically, Lelie would be no more than the #4 receiver on this roster behind Bruce, Johnson and Battle and maybe ahead of Jason Hill.  All things considered I'd rather just roll the dice with Morgan as the #5 and give Hill reps as the #4 receiver.  Maybe Hill and/or Morgan don't pan out, but right now I think we all realize the limited upside of Lelie.  Consider me officially on the Morgan over Lelie bandwagon.

When I began this post I was hoping to discuss the likes of Lewis Baker, Louis Holmes and Brian De La Puente among others.  Barrows and Maiocco have pointed out that they're looked good in practice.  Unfortunately there has not been anything beyond that.  If anybody has seen or heard anything about some of the undrafted free agents, we'd all love to hear more.  Holmes and Baker are both practice squad candidates as I think the numbers game would keep them off the 53-man roster.  I'd imagine they'd have to absolutely blow up to make the roster.  And even then, they might need an injury to somebody ahead of them.

I was trying to come up with a clever title and just decided, screw it, and went with the generic title.  While poking around the Internet this morning, I came across another 49ers blog called 49ers Locker.  They're providing "projected grades" for the 2008 season position by position, and over the weekend they addressed fullback.  They projected a C for the season in large part due to the position's lack of use in the Mike Martz offense.

So the question becomes what will happen with the fullback position and how many guys will be kept?  In the initial 53-man projection we did, Moran Norris was the only fullback we kept.  However, the OTAs have me wondering what will end up happening at that position.  I looked back over Matt Maiocco's OTA reports and he had some interesting comments.  During the practices open to the media, Zak Keasey received most of the first-team snaps.  At the same time, when discussing the role of the fullback in Martz's offense, it's clear that some of the FB responsibilities are filled by the tight ends and H-backs.  After OTAs were completed, MM went through the roster and when addressing fullback said:

Fullback: Moran Norris has been the starter. But how much will Martz utilize the fullback? Probably not much. Might the 49ers go with Zak Keasey ahead of Norris? We already know the 49ers plan to use Frank Gore and Michael Robinson together in the backfield some of the time. Other times, they can use tight ends Vernon Davis, Delanie Walker and Billy Bajema out of the backfield. Does that make Norris expendable?

Looking at the 49ers roster as it currently stands, there are plenty of guys to fill the necessary roles.  Vernon Davis lined up in the backfield quite a bit last season and the coaches have stated they'll use Michael Robinson in the same backfield as Frank Gore at times.  While any of those options reduces the power running idea a little bit, it gives the offense more flexibility.  If you've got a non-fullback in the backfield with Frank Gore or DeShaun Foster you're going to have play the team a little more straight up.

Of all the position battles heading into training camp, this will definitely be one that requires some exhibition games to fully flesh out.  I'd be pretty surprised if the team didn't keep a fullback, but I'd also be a little surprised to see them keep more than one.

In the Delanie Walker signing post, MM threw out the players who will be free agents after 2009.  Obviously a million things will change between now and then and there is little to no way we can predict what will happen at that point.  However, it's much more fun randomly speculating about things over which we have absolutely no control.  Some are restricted free agents, although I'm not 100% sure about the restricted/unrestricted status of some of them.  The entire list is at the bottom, but I thought I'd hit some of the more interesting ones.  The 49ers have done a good job lately in signing the young talent to longer deals.  On this list, aside from Bryant Johnson, I'm not sure if any of them warrant long term deals for now.

Billy Bajema: Bajema is a blocking tight end who is not exactly what you'd call a pass catcher.  Delanie Walker has been impressing Mike Martz, but Bajema brings the blocking element Walker lacks.  I don't see Bajema returning when you can probably find a replacement in the draft.

Damane Duckett: While he seems to be a "coach's project," Duckett is an interesting case.  It's entirely possible the signing of Barry Sims means Duckett doesn't make the roster this year.  Even if he does it will be as a backup and barring injury, I don't know how much of an opportunity he'll get to play behind Joe Staley.  Of course I also don't know who else would be interested in a converted defensive lineman who hasn't gotten all that much playing time.

DeShaun Foster: I could definitely see this as a one and done year for Foster.  If he can put together a solid year behind a really good running back like Gore, he would definitely get some quality offers.  He just needs to show he can stay healthy and be relatively productive.  A solid yards per carry could help him cash in.

Bryant Johnson: According to MM, "There is no question Johnson is hungry to prove he's an elite wideout.  Johnson said he wants to put together a good season and sign a long-term extension with the 49ers."  If Johnson does take a step up and prove himself to be a quality receiver, we'll see how quick he is to sign an extension when teams are throwing piles of money at him.

Eric Heitmann: I'd imagine the 49ers will let him walk.  They have some options for the future, which makes Heitmann potentially expendable.  Tony Wragge is a restricted free agent and unless somebody was willing to give up picks and a big contract for him, I'd imagine the 49ers could retain him pretty easily.  Cody Wallace would seem to be the center of the future, so it's a matter of working him in to the position.  Or maybe Heitmann signs a short deal to groom Wallace?  No matter what he won't be getting a ton of money from the 49ers.

Ronald Fields: If the 49ers stick with the 3-4, Fields has his work cut out for him if he plans on sticking around.  He's a defensive tackle who either needs to improve his game in the middle, or gain some ability and become a defensive end.  He hasn't done a whole lot up to this point and the 49ers have brought in some additional young bodies so we'll see how this year plays out.

Ashley Lelie: After spending most of last season in just about everybody's doghouse, Lelie thinks he's learned enough to be able to make some solid contributions in 2008.  The 49ers and Mike Martz will need every wide receiver to step up and make things happen.  However, unless Lelie blows people away, the 49ers have enough young potential to take their chances with another cheap veteran in free agency who might have a little more upside.

Signed through 2008: TE Billy Bajema, T Damane Duckett, DL Atiyyah Ellison, DL Ronald Fields, RB DeShaun Foster, OLB Roderick Green, C Eric Heitmann, WR Bryant Johnson, FB Zak Keasey, WR Ashley Lelie, QB J.T. O'Sullivan, RS Allen Rossum, CB Donald Strickland, G Tony Wragge.