49ers-Lions: Q&A with Niners Nation

Staley has had an interesting run with the 49ers so far. His first season he played right tackle, then moved over to left tackle his second season. He struggled a bit in his switch to left tackle but certainly showed improvement as the season went on.

This past offseason he signed a 9-year contract extension for $43 million. The 49ers had a lot of cap room and basically front-loaded the contract with a huge cap hit in year 1, but then reasonable amounts after that.

This season he started out solidly enough but then sprained his PCL and MCL in early November and has been out since. Staley returned to the lineup last week and will finish out the season as the starter.

All in all, he’s probably the best lineman on the team. The offensive line has really struggled this year, but he’ll be the guy along with C Eric Heitmann) they build around this offseason

Definitely Willis. Although I’d imagine Willis has avoided going to Japan since the citizens of Tokyo would confuse him with Godzilla.

Remember that St. Louis is traveling down to Arizona for their game as well. After a couple solid weeks Smith has been a turnover machine the last two weeks, which could certainly hurt you. Alex Smith has a lot of upside, but I think Warner also has the upside AND more consistently reaches it. I assume you’re in your league title game?

has actually been surprisingly playing teams tough down the stretch. They only lost to the Cards by a TD last time they played and only allowed 21 points…Warner didn’t do bad, but not great either in that game with 203 yards, and 2 TD’s.

Smith on the other hand, has not had enough stellar performances yet if you’re talking about fantasy football. Maybe in the future but I’d say your best bet this week is Warner as much as I hate to say it

go with Warner. He’s more consistent and can put up bigger numbers. Yeah he might turn in a 5 INT game on you but those are pretty rare. Alex has had one 300 yard game this year and he’s INT prone.

Smith COULD have more points this week, but 80% of the time Warner will have a better game. Play the odds, play Warner. Smith is TOO shaky. Take it from Niner Fans that watch him consistently. Also from fans that see Warner play twice a year, and follow him pretty closely since our league rival.

The team is currently working on a deal to move to the South Bay in Santa Clara. The East Bay comment was just Jed York saying there was a better chance of them moving to Oakland than staying in SF because Oakland has infrastructure in place.

I actually wouldn’t mind sharing a stadium with the Raiders, even down in Santa Clara. The team would cut down their own costs and I think it could work fine. It’s a smart business move.

ouwer cruiverv can’t reprel frirepower ov thap mragnitude!

I thought Smith was talented but at the beginning of the year I didn’t think he’d get much of a chance to show it. As far as long term success, I’m not sure at this point. I think he’ll be the starting QB at the beginning of the 2010 season, and if the 49ers can get a couple of offensive linemen this offseason, I could see him having some sustained success. He’s struggled at times, but he’s also had to deal with having very little time behind the line. Potentially more important is the fact that Smith will likely have the same offensive coordinator for the second season in a row. If that happens it would be the first time since he was at Utah that he’s had an OC for more than one season.

Bly has had an up and down year. He’s struggled at times but he’s made some rather big plays for the team this season. His inconsistency has been kind of typical of the 49ers as a whole. He’s only signed for one season so it’ll be interesting to see if the 49ers bring him back, or if he even wants to come back.

Eddie D is no longer involved with the team. After his bribery scandal in Louisiana, he was forced to hand control of the team over to his sister Denise and her husband John York. Right now their son Jed York is the team president and the face of the franchise. He speaks with Eddie frequently and has a certain Eddie flair to him. But technically Eddie is no longer involved.