My apologies for the lack of posting over the last couple days.  My birthday was Tuesday and while the good times lasted all day, the physical consequences carried well into yesterday.  However, I'm fully recovered and ready to get back to the dawning of the J.T. O'Sullivan era.

There are obviously a million and one things to discuss related to the quarterback situation.  It sounds like we'll hear later today who will get the starting nod on Saturday so that will get the troops chattering.  In the meantime, I want to open discussion on the 49ers defense.

Last month I threw out a prediction that the 49ers defense would finish the season in the top half of the league.  Since then, the defense was shredded by the Raiders running backs and they added Takeo Spikes.  This post was inspired in part by sfgfan's comments in the Culpepper FanPost:

So there you have it, a pass rush that’s dependent on two players who haven’t proven they’re pass rushers, a guy who is learning a new position, and a guy who the team hasn’t used as a pass-rusher.

The pass rush was clearly a major problem last season.  The team added Justin Smith in the offseason and gets Manny Lawson back healthy, but as sfgfan pointed out, neither is really a traditional pass rusher.  Maiocco pointed out that TBC is having a strong training camp, but I think most of us are in agreement that he is not an every-down type of player.

So the question becomes, how good can your defense be without a good pass rush?  The 49ers finished last season 21st in sacks with 31.  Unfortunately I can't find the stats on quarterback hurries or how many times the QB was knocked down.  Anybody have any idea where those stats might be?

It's a shame that the pass rush has been missing because I think the other pieces are in place for this defense to be really good.  The addition of Takeo Spikes adds necessary depth to the linebacking corp, which was already very solid.  The secondary is in good shape and with the continued emergence of Dashon Goldson the depth is good there as well.

So an argument could exist similar to the whole chicken or the egg argument.  If you've got a great pass rush giving the QB less time to throw it's conceivable the secondary would look better.  Of course, if you've got a very good secondary, can the quality coverage create enough time for the linemen and linebackers to make sacks?

While I do think that coverage sacks are an important part of the game, the secondary would get too worn down without a legitimate pass rush.  It's got to be a little less tiring to run from the line of scrimmage to the QB than to have to run 30 or 40+ yards covering a speedy receiver.

I'm not here offering solutions to the problem of the pass rush, mainly because I don't know what those solutions might be.  There has been talk of Parys Haralson turning into that guy, or maybe Ray McDonald.  You want a great pass rushing unit, but usually there is one guy who is considered the big threat.  It would be a shame to waste all this defensive talent.  It'll be something worth keeping an eye on the remaining three games of the preseason.

For long time readers (or at least anybody who were around last season), you probably noticed a lack of detailed preview posts about today's game.  Once we get to the regular season we'll have injury updates for both teams.  We'll have in depth breakdowns of unit versus unit.  We'll have some individual matchups to preview.  However, as described earlier today, preseason games are not so simple to preview.  In the regular season we can compare the 49ers first team offense and defense to the opponents' without worrying about how good the second stringers are (barring injuries of course).

However, I still wanted to take a look at some of the unit matchups going into tonight's game.  The matchups will be essential in assessing who is stepping up and earning a spot on the 53-man roster.

Our Raiders blog, Silver and Black Pride, had a preview of the matchups a couple days ago.  Needless to say, I found some amusement in their predictions.

49ers run offense vs. Raiders run defense
They gave the edge to the Raiders.  If Gore only plays a series or two I can understand why the Raiders might have the edge.  However, for the 49ers, this is an opportunity for the offensive line to make some plays and open up some running lanes.  I'd expect some DeShaun Foster followed by a heavy dose of Thomas Clayton.  The Raiders were pretty awful against the run last season, so we'll see what kind of improvements they can manage.

49ers pass offense vs. Raiders pass defense
They called this one even in large part due to the players who will not play, or at least play very little.  I'd love to see Asomugha and Hall on the corners but I'm not expecting much of that.  The Raiders had a very solid pass defense last season, although part of that can be attributed to the fact that teams were running out the clock much of the time against their #32 rush defense.  Still, this will be the biggest test of the day.

Raiders run offense vs. 49ers run defense
They gave the edge to the Raiders and dared to blaspheme: "McFadden matched up well against pro bowl linebacker Pat Willis."  I'm sorry, but NOBODY matches up well with Patrick Willis (I'd imagine Bamm Bamm doesn't like being called Pat either).  I do think the Raiders bring a very solid rushing attack behind McFadden, Bush and Fargas.  The 49ers will have more athleticism with the addition of Justin Smith and the return of Manny Lawson.  I actually think this battle will be the most fun to watch.

Raiders pass offense vs. 49ers pass defense
They gave the 49ers the edge here, and that will depend in part on the pass rush.  The 49ers have a very solid secondary, and have some solid depth in said secondary.  However, an equally (if not more) important part of the pass defense is the pass rush.  We pissed and moaned last season about the lack of a pass rush.  Now we get our first crack at that rush.  Like the QB results mentioned last post, it might be a little difficult to judge the performance of the pass rush.  The Raiders offensive line is less than stellar and they have some young running backs being asked to block as well.

Overall
Any prediction would be pretty useless.  When you are dealing with an entire 80-man roster playing, you add too many variables to the equation.  I'll say 49ers pull out the win behind a big game from Thomas Clayton and a very solid defensive effort.  In the end, I just wanna see some passing game fireworks.

Training camp starts tomorrow for the 49ers.  That much everybody knows.  What will be the end result nobody really knows.  Accordingly, I thought we'd take a look at the possible best and worst case scenarios for the 49ers.  The plan is to look at them now and then again at the end of training camp when injuries have occurred or been recovered from. 

I had thought about considering injuries, but the worst case scenario could then result in injuries to half the starters.  So, instead the closest I'll come to injuries is certain starters "wearing down" from overuse.  Normally I'm not a really negative person, but I think it's useful to consider the extremes in this case.  Additionally, when I say extremes I'm not saying 16-0 and 0-16.  I'm not predicting starting QB in the Pro Bowl for Alex Smith or 1,800 receiving yards from Bryant Johnson.  Rather these are "realistic" best and worst case scenarios based on the past and thoughts about the future.

Best Case Scenario
While I know plenty of folks are on the Shaun Hill bandwagon, the best case for the 49ers has to involve Alex Smith taking the next step.  If Shaun Hill steps up and takes the starting job that would be a close second.  However, given the investment in and expectations of Alex Smith, the absolute best case scenario is his continued evolution as the starter.

Smith seemed to be making some progress in 2006, so this would involve him taking a step up from that season, as opposed to 2007.  This would involve about 3,500 passing yards (he had 2,890 in 2006) and getting above 60% in completion percentage.  These are numbers that would put him in the top 10-15 QBs in the league.

Frank Gore would bounce back from a relatively sub-par 2007 to finish with 2,000+ combined yards (1,500+ in 2007, 2,170+ in 2006).  Bryant Johnson steps up with 70+ receptions and the 49ers finally have a 1,000+ yard receiver.   At the same time, Vernon Davis takes the next step to 70+ receptions and over 1,000 yards as well.  Finally, after a step back last season, the offensive line gels and keeps Smith off his butt most of the time.  While I'd hope for Chilo Rachal to step up into the right guard role, he settles in as a solid sub and David Baas holds down the job for one season.

On defense, Patrick Willis sees his tackle total go down, but more because the rest of the defense has improved.  Manny Lawson bounces back and the combination of Tully Banta-Cain, Jay Moore, Parys Haralson and some Justin Smith creates a somewhat viable pass rush.  The secondary's statistics improve because of this pass rush and the 49ers defense finishes in the top 10.

Best Case Record: 11-5, division champion.  While I'm not expecting this by any means, I think if things break the 49ers way and players develop like some of us hope, this is not out of the realm of possibility.  The 49ers face a tough schedule outside of the division but there are some upset possibilities.  11-5 can happen with upsets of the Eagles and Redskins and sweeps of the Cardinals OR the Rams.

Worst Case Scenario
Neither Alex Smith or Shaun Hill steps up and J.T. O'Sullivan proves to be the career backup that we expect.  If Smith and Hill both proved mediocre at best, the 49ers would be in the worst possible situation and I'd expect Mike Nolan would be out the door, possibly before the season is over.  The team would realize they need to draft, trade for or sign a new QB of the future and would have wasted the last four seasons and I'd imagine 49ers would be just a little bit frustrated.

Frank Gore could still be decent in a 49ers worst case scenario but I think he wears down over the course of the season and finishes with 900 or so rushing yards, but an increase in receiving yards because none of the receivers are getting open.  So he still finishes with 1,500 combined yards, but they're not "good yards."  The wide receivers struggle as Bryant Johnson will clearly never be more than a backup and Isaac Bruce hits the wall that 35 year old NFL players tend to hit.  Ashley Lelie is cut before the end of September and Jason Hill struggles in learning the NFL game.  Finally, the offensive line does not gel as Jonas Jennings continues to have personal issues.  David Baas is not fully recovered from his pec muscle tear and Chilo Rachal and Tony Wragge are not the answer yet.

On defense, Patrick Willis has an even higher tackle total than last season because the rest of the defense just plain stinks.  The pass rush continues to be non-existent in part because Manny Lawson is slow to recover from his injuries.  Walt Harris hits the same wall as Isaac Bruce and the 49ers are forced to give more playing time to rookie Reggie Smith and second year man Tarell Brown.  Clearly neither is prepared for this situation.

Worst Case Record: 3-13, Nolan is canned and somebody has strangled Mike Martz.  This would actually involve the 49ers going 0-8 on the road and 1-5 in the division.  Of course, they would still beat the Detroit Lions!

Last week I threw out my semi-rational irrational prediction that Vernon Davis would make the Pro Bowl this season.  Originally that was just going to be a one-off post with nothing to follow.  However, there are plenty of things I think will happen in the coming season that are just as rationally irrational.  So, this series will become a semi-regular piece for the rest of the offseason.  I can't really tell you how many I'll do or how often, but more when the mood strikes me....as it is has today.

During the first two seasons of the Nolan era, the 49ers defense has been less than stellar.  According to straight yardage statistics they were 26th overall in 2006 and 25th in 2007.  Using DVOA, Football Outsiders ranked the 49ers 28th in 2006 and 26th in 2007.  At first glance the improvement does not seem all that big considering the big splash in free agency in 2007.  However, 49ers fans realize how much time they had to spend on the field and how worn down that made the defense.  So it's safe to say, statistical improvement by the defense will be helped in part by an improved offense.  However, I think the defense itself will improve of its own accord for several reasons.

Manny Lawson
Lawson missed most of last season after tearing his ACL and his impact was certainly felt.  The defense was forced to adjust on the fly at outside linebacker and it just never worked out.  Lawson is an impact player and how he bounces back from surgery will play a big part in how this defense improves.  If he is not tentative and doesn't lose a major step, I'm going to be a pleased 49ers fan.  While I don't know if Manny Lawson could be the next Julian Peterson, he can still be a great linebacker for the 49ers.

Justin Smith
Smith seems like a prototypical Nolan player in the way he grinds it out and busts his ass.  Smith practiced quite a bit at outside linebacker and will be one of the more flexible players on defense.  Tully Banta-Cain is better served coming off the bench and a reduction in his playing time will help improve the defense.  Moving Smith around the field will force the offense to work a little harder trying to keep track of him.

Ray McDonald
This will fall more in the irrational side of things.  I have this feeling that Ray McDonald is going to have a very solid second year.  While he may not become an all-around threat, I could see him turning into a legit pass rush threat.  When the team goes to the 4-3 on occasion, or when Smith is at OLB and McDonald is at DE, I just see McDonald bringing some quality speed off the end.  Anybody else agree?  Maybe think I'm insane?

Secondary
Aside from the drafting of Reggie Smith, the secondary is pretty similar to last year.  I consider that a good thing.  Dashon Goldson seems to be stepping up as a potentially key backup at safety.  Although Walt Harris is aging, Shawntae Spencer remains a talented back up and Tarell Brown will provide strong competition at the nickel back.  There is always talk about the chemistry on the offensive line and how important that is for its success.  I think one could argue the same thing about the secondary.  When a corner is on an island, he's often expecting some kind of backup deep from the safeties.  I think the longer a unit is together, the more cohesive they become and the more they trust each other.

A lot of this comes down to the pass rush and I can honestly say I don't know what to expect there.  If he's healthy, the return of Manny Lawson is practically like a whole new player.  Combine that with Justin Smith and I am definitely getting excited about the 49ers 2008 defense.  While I'm not expecting one of those dominant Ravens or Bears defenses, I do expect good things.  A prediction of top 16 does not seem entirely out of the realm of possibility.  I had thought about predicting top 10, but I'm not quite sure if they'll make that leap yet.

I like to poke around the various SB Nation football sites to see what's going on in the rest of the NFL world, and more specifically, to drum up ideas for posts.  Over at Dawgs by Nature, they had a post discussing a semi-regular feature over at cbs.sportsline.com.  Pete Prisco is doing a feature ranking the different offensive and defensive units around the NFL.  While it is just as random as the next guy, I was curious to see what he had to say about the 49ers.  While he had some positive points, the rankings are not quite so positive, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  One drawback to his rankings is that he ranked the teams alphabetically, so it requires a little bit of work to clear things up.  Rather than consider all the teams, I'll just throw up the NFC West rankings.

Offensive Line Rankings

Rating: 30

Best player: LT Joe Staley. Weak link: C Eric Heitmann.

The skinny: They will move Staley from right tackle to the left side. He played the right side as a rookie, but is more of a left tackle. Look for rookie Chilo Rachal to start at guard, although he has worked some at right tackle. The inside people are average at best. Rookie Cody Wallace could challenge Heitmann.

The OL rankings were published on June 2 and he still has Chilo Rachal slated to potentially start at guard.  The end of the OTAs will get that whole G/T business cleared up.

NFC West
Seattle: 11
Arizona: 20
St. Louis: 28

Defensive Line Rankings

Rating: 29

Best player: RE Justin Smith. Weak link: LE Kentwan Balmer or Ron Fields.

The skinny: The 49ers paid a lot for Smith, especially since he had two sacks last season. But they like his toughness. Balmer, the team's first-round pick, should be the starter at the other end spot. Fields will try to fend him off. Nose tackle will be a battle between Aubrayo Franklin and Isaac Sopoaga, who showed well when Franklin was hurt last season. The 49ers need to get more from outside linebacker Manny Lawson, who missed most of last season with an injury. Tully Banta-Cain has quickness on the other side.

Smith has been getting a lot of work at outside linebacker, which would certainly shake this up a little bit.  This breakdown was posted today and Prisco is under the impression that Sopoaga will be the nose tackle.  And of course there's no mention at all of Ray McDonald, who I see as a sleeper off the bench.

NFC West
Seattle: 7
Arizona: 20
St. Louis: 19

Obviously these are the random rankings of somebody with "insider access."  Unfortunately there are enough oversights by Prisco to leave them wide open to questioning.  Considering how poorly the units performed at times last year, it's easy to see that carrying over to preseason rankings this year.  The offensive line has as much to prove as anybody on this team.  The defensive line may take a little time to gell, but I think there is sufficient talent to make them a very interesting unit worth paying attention to going forward.

The 49ers opened up their organized team activities and while we can't deduce a whole lot from the first mid-morning practice, there are several items of note.  Before getting into that, as I'm not actually down there for the events, I'm relying on the likes of Barrows and Maiocco, as well as any other info I can scrape together.  Consider these open threads AND link dumps to acquire any and all information about the activities.

First and foremost, Arnaz Battle is not in the house.  Battle had indicated he would be at the OTAs, but apparently Mike Nolan has not yet heard from him.  Hopefully everything is all right.  When a player misses the June OTAs and it is not excused, it's some kind of hold out.  The only possible hold out reason is a lack of playing time since it's like Isaac Bruce and Bryant Johnson will be the #1 and #2.  However, prior experience would indicate Arnaz Battle is not the type of guy to bitch and complain about playing time.  He seems to just keep his head down and do what he has to do.  I'm assuming more information will be revealed in the coming days if Battle doesn't show up.

Second, Justin Smith spent a good deal of time at both outside linebacker positions.  It sounds like Smith will be moving all over the place, which is something I like to see on the defensive side of the ball.  If your players show versatility it allows you to throw out a variety of defensive fronts and has to help somewhat in keeping the offense off balance.  Along with Smith playing OLB, Manny Lawson and Joe Cohen took part in individual activities, with next week likely being the time they'll be cleared for full participation.  If Ray McDonald continues to improve from last year, I wouldn't mind occasionally seeing the DL and LBs go McDonald, Franklin, Sopoaga, J. Smith, Willis, Ulbrich, Lawson.  And that doesn't even factor in Kentwan Balmer.

Third, Alex Smith played with the first-team offense today and Shaun Hill will go first team tomorrow.  Smith answered some questions from the media:

Q: How is the new offense different than the old one?
A: It's hard to say. I think we do a lot. We do everything. Every style of offense you can imagine, we have a piece of that in there, it seems like. We're trying to incorporate as many different things as possible and give defenses as many different looks as possible. We're pushing that envelop.

Q: What are the things you emphasize in your mind that you have to do well in this offense?
A: Executing is No. 1. For the quarterback, it's the clarity - understanding and being comfortable with it. So when we come out here and take these reps, you're really letting go and cutting loose and playing fast. You don't want to be out here thinking. I'm battling that right now. (I) try to be prepared to come out here and play fast.

Q: Technique-wise, how much has Mike worked with you and does the stuff he's thrown at you still feel foreign?
A: Yeah, we've all worked hard on the fundamentals and worked hard on the things he's emphasizing at the quarterback position - things he wants to see out here. Some are more comfortable than others and some are more foreign than others. That's the stuff you try to come out here and work on your own on our stuff, so when you're doing team reps, you're just playing. You don't want to be out there thinking about fundamentals. You want to be thinking about offense and defense.

Q: It looks like you're rolling out and moving more than those other quarterbacks with the Rams and Lions. Is that the case?
A: Maybe. It's just something where you're trying to play to different strengths, maybe. It's something we've done here in the past. We have rolled out a lot and done a lot of movement. I think (Martz is) maybe incorporating that and watching some of the stuff we've done and been successful with. It adds another dimension. He doesn't want to be cookie-cutter. He's trying to mold it to the strengths here.

I'm not sure of the practice schedule, but if I see any info following an afternoon practice, I'll add it in to this post.

Monday marks the beginning of 12 days of the 49ers organized team activities (OTAs).  As we head into the weekend, now seems as good a time as any to get a handle on what the June OTAs will bring to the forefront of discussion.  While this is not training camp, the rookies and other new 49ers have had a chance to absorb the playbook.  One would imagine this would create some separation in the eyes of the coaching staff.  We had a brief discussion about training camp battles in discussion the Ted linebacker position.  We will only briefly re-hash that, but for the most part this will deal with some of the other areas of clarity we can hope for over the coming weeks.

"Ted" Linebacker: The only change is that Ezra Butler will no longer be competing for this spot.  Speaking of which, Butler cleared waivers and was claimed by no other teams.  We'll see if he pops up later this year or takes some time in a smaller league to develop another chance.

ACL crew back in the house: Melvin Oliver, Joe Cohen and Manny Lawson all missed time last year due to torn ACLs.  While ACL injuries do take time from which to recover, these are all guys who could make some sort of impact in 2008.  Lawson is a guy who can hopefully help re-generate the pass rush that was missing, as well as bring a higher level of talent to the linebacking corp once again.  Oliver has been talked up for some time and with the most recovery time since his injury, will hopefully get a better chance to prove his worth finally.  Cohen will be battling for time at nose tackle and while he's behind Aubrayo Franklin and Ronnie Fields at the moment, count me as one vote for him doing some leap-frogging on the depth chart.

Chilo Rachal: Rachal has officially been moved to right tackle for the three weeks of OTAs.  It seems that part of this is the belief that he can man the tackle position, but also the fact that there is a big-time depth problem at tackle.  If Rachal can prove his versatility, that would be huge considering the potential for injury issues on the line.  It certainly helps that he's not being asked to take over the blind side at left tackle.  I'm curious what everybody here thinks.  Assuming Rachal ends up playing 7-10 years in the league (just for argument's sake), does he spend most of that time at guard or tackle?  Obviously it depends on the team he's with and the need that develops.  Injuries throw a monkey wrench into anybody's plans, and for now I see this as simply an insurance move.

Free Safety: So Mark Roman had a "minor" shoulder surgery and will be held back for the first week of the OTAs.  It's being reported that Dashon Goldson will get the first team snaps in his place.  While the post-draft minicamp doesn't tell us a whole lot, Goldson supposedly looked solid.  Roman is 31 and still can make an impact, but it certainly wouldn't hurt for Goldson to continue improving.  Considering the wide receiver talent in the league, you can never have too much secondary depth.

Quarterback: There will obviously be plenty of opportunities to discuss the QB position for the 49ers.  It is the position that has created the most drama and will continue to do so until somebody steps up and grabs the proverbial bull by the horns.  I mention it in this section simply because McNolan has indicated they want to have an idea of their #1 guy by the end of OTAs, so that guy can get the majority of the #1 team snaps in training camp.  Rather than go into detail on my thoughts here, I'm just going to leave it at that.  Between now and training camp I'll be throwing out a solid sized post to bring in all the quarterback arguments.  There is just too much to be said to bring it up at this point.

And so the 49ers first mini-camp is in the books.  Seeing as that's a sizable chunk of the offseason, now seemed like as good a time as any to check back in with Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee.  Matt covers the 49ers for the Bee, including an fun blog at the Bee's website, and he's been very willing to provide his insight when Niners Nation has questions.  We still have the team's training activities in June, followed by training camp, but now seemed like a good time get a lay of the land.  Thanks again to Matt for taking the time to answer my questions.

NN: One of the reasons I wanted to talk with you is there has been a lot of questions at Niners Nation about Manny Lawson and the timetable for his return.  You mentioned in your post Sunday that Lawson feels ready but the team trainers wanted him to wait another month.  Does that mean he'll be full go at the beginning of the organized team activities in June?

MB: Lawson certainly feels like he’s at, or at least very close to, 100 percent. But it’s up to the training staff and they’re obviously taking a cautious approach. If Lawson does take part in the OTAs, I expect him to be eased in – not full bore from the beginning. In the meantime, Tully Banta-Cain and Parys Haralson have been manning both outside linebacker positions. That’s good. Haralson improves with every repetition he gets…

NN: It sounds like Dashon Goldson made a nice little impact over the weekend.  Obviously it's a small sample size and still way too early to infer anything, but what kind of role do you see Goldson fitting into in 2008?

MB: Well, he’s part of the team’s dime coverage package. But the fact that Mark Roman got the lion’s share of the work with the radio receiver (green dot on the helmet) over the weekend appears to be a signal that he’s set as the starting free safety.

NN: Since draft day there have been discussions about where Kentwan Balmer would be playing.  He was listed as a nose tackle by ESPN, they've said he'll play some end, and now I've read he'd start at end but transition to nose tackle.  Any ideas or is it going to be a process that will develop as Balmer shows the team what he can do?

MB: Balmer practiced exclusively at left defensive end over the minicamp. Nolan said they didn’t want to throw too much at him too early so they kept him at one spot. Nolan also said the techniques at all three d-line positions are essentially the same and that once Balmer picks up LDE he should be able to learn NT fairly quickly. This is just my reading of the situation, but the fact that Nolan talked so much on draft day about Balmer playing NT may have been a message to Aubrayo Franklin. Franklin hadn’t been part of the offseason conditioning program, and that obviously didn’t please Nolan.

NN: Speaking of the draft, some people were surprised at the decision to not take an outside linebacker prior to the 7th round.  That raised some questions about how much 4-3 we might see mixed in with the 3-4 currently in place.  You had discussed on Friday that Justin Smith lined up a little bit at outside linebacker, but that he didn't know how often that would be happening.  Any word from the coaching staff on that?

MB: Well, the 49ers actually didn’t draft an outside linebacker at all. The seventh rounder, Larry Grant, will play inside for the 49ers. To me, that was surprising. A 3-4 defense depends on its outside linebackers to pressure the quarterback and the 49ers didn’t upgrade that position at all – neither in free agency nor the draft. The hope is that better play along the line will allow the OLBs more room to make plays. … As far as Smith playing linebacker, the coaches did not say how much that would happen. I think the minicamp was designed to see if Smith could do it. To my admittedly untrained eye, he looked kind of slow, or, exactly how you would expect  a 282 pounder to play when asked to stand up.

NN: Along the same lines, it seems like the team will be throwing a lot of different looks at opponents.  Justin Smith is certainly-cut starter.  After that the team has Franklin, Sopoaga, McDonald and Balmer as guys that would seem to have a shot at a lot of playing time.  Then factor in guys like Melvin Oliver and Joe Cohen, among others, who could cut into that.  On the one hand the team will have plenty of opportunities to keep guys fresh, but there's also the question of guys not getting into sync and developing in-game chemistry.  Any ideas on how the team might address that in training camp?

MB: The 49ers will be very chameleon-like this year and they will throw all sorts of fronts at the offense. One of them is a four-man front with Ray McDonald as the right defensive end and Justin Smith next to him at defensive tackle. What I’m saying is that there will be lots of combinations of defensive linemen. I think Oliver and Cohen, however, are going to have a hard time making the final roster. Once they return to action, they will be at the very bottom of the depth chart and would have to play brilliantly to climb it. One of the advantages of a 3-4 defense is that a team doesn’t need to keep as many linemen. I figure the top six right now are Smith, McDonald, Franklin, Fields, Balmer and Sopoaga.

NN: One last question unrelated to the team.  I noticed during the draft and since some shoutouts from Maiocco to you and vice versa.  I can certainly imagine a competition element to your relationship and covering the 49ers for different newspapers.  While you might be competing for readers, with all the time I'd guess you spend around each other is it more of a friendly rivalry?

MB: There’s definitely a competitive element to press trailer, but never to a degree where it’s uncomfortable. I hear stories every once in a while about how ultra competitive the beat used to be in the Walsh-Seifert era and how reporters (who shall remain nameless) would seethe and lash out when they got beat on a story. It’s nothing like that now. In fact, Maiocco has been incredibly generous in sharing a lot of the tricks of the trade with me. All the beat-Maiocco-at-all-costs stuff I write is done with tongue firmly in cheek.

Thanks again to Matt.  Considering the amount of time he spends covering the 49ers, he's certainly a good source for information.  Make sure and check out his 49ers blog.