Re-Post: Film Review on Torrey Smith - Another Russell Shepard, or the answer?

[Saca312]

3 hours ago, top dawg said:

Smith is a nice insurance policy

That’s what I hope happens. I get veteran depth, but at the same time Rivera has this tendency to favor vets over promising talent. Can’t forget he is our highest paid WR as of now.

If he’s a WR5 and an occasional player coming in, I’m fine with that. But I don’t want him to hog up snaps of promising guys like Samuel, Moore, or even Byrd.

[Pup McBarky]

I don't know if Rivera or Norv or frankly anyone knew exactly what we had in Samuel or Byrd. Hell, they probably still don't. That's the thing. I get being confident in Samuel after his outstanding pre-season performance and his flashes last year before he got hurt. But that simply isn't enough to warrant talk about sitting Smith or God knows, cutting him, because nobody knows exactly what we have yet outside of Funchess, Wright, and Smith, tbh. We know what those guys can do against real NFL competition.

Like any other fan, Samuel's potential excites the hell out of me. But at this point, that's all it is, potential. If he can stay healthy and if he can repeat what he's done in the pre-season in meaningful games, and if he can be consistent, then I'll happily join in on the cut Smith bandwagon. But everyone, especially our coaches, are well aware of what befell our WR core last year and how we went into the playoffs with a WR group that was mostly PS-level. I don't think it's surprising that we went out and got 2 vets who've shown they can produce. And until the others can show consistent production in the regular season, I think it's premature at best to talk about not activating Wright or Smith, and downright laughable to entertain the idea of cutting either of them at this point.

I am confident Moore, Samuel, and Byrd will get opportunities. But I'm also pretty confident, and comfortable with, the idea that we aren't going to rely on them as much as the vets. Trust has to earned. When they've earned it, they'll get rewarded with more opportunities. 

With that said, if we start Funchess and Smith with Wright in the slot (which is exactly what I expect) against Dallas and they don't produce and Moore, Samuel and/or Byrd come in and produce, then we can talk about changing things up for the next game. As always, I certainly want the best players on the field most of the time. I'm sure we all do. And while many here may suspect they know who the best players are right now, I feel confident that Norv has a better grasp on that than any of us. If he decides to start Funchess, Samuel, and Moore, I'd be surprised, but not upset. And I'd love nothing more than to have the younguns come out against Dallas and blow everyone away. 

But please, can we dispense with the "cut Torrey" nonsense at least until we have played a few regular season games?

[SetfreexX]

Funchess / Samuel / Wright / Moore / Smith / Byrd

Vs

KB / Funchess / Shepard / Samuel / Byrd / Clay -- (Eventually swapping Bersin for KB)

--------------------------------------------

It's the pre-season gentlemen we got threads asking will Moore be active, we got this thread comparing Smith to Russell Shepard of all people.....Smith was a 1st round pick, and has been LEGITIMATE at each NFL stop excluding SF if you want to nit pick during that Tomsula era of a mess where the ENTIRE team was bad. 

We are in much better shape at receiver than any recent year, and people are finding ways to complain // worry. Even running vanilla offense this pre-season it's hard to recognize the offense. It's only going to improve as the real offense continues to show itself. 

Having ESTABLISHED receivers to supplement our future core of (Funch / Moore / Samuel) is a breath of fresh air for a team that has lacked receiver talent all the way through the depth chart since 2013 (Smith / LaFell / Ginn Jr / Hixon)

Then you look at Olsen, CMC, and Ian Thomas flashing his ability & potential regularly and one would wonder as a fan, how could you not be excited about what this offense could do as it really is pick your poison. If a team covers intermediate / deep -- guys like Moore, Wright, CMC, and even Samuel create great separation. 

If teams sit on the short to try to limit CMC, Moore, or Wright in the passing game, you have Funchess / Olsen / Moore / Smith / Samuel / Byrd all capable at the 2nd and 3rd levels of the defense. 

The only concern is OL depth, I've seen enough from Moton to anticipate better than avg play anywhere on the OL. If we finished this season with this group:

Moton / Van Roten / Kalil / Turner / Williams -- Kalil, Clausewell, Sirles, Mahon (PS), and a vet signing as depth -- Cut Amini he is HORRIBLE

I'd be 100% ok with that, sitting all that money with Matt Kalil is a blow, but I think he's gone after this season anyway, bite the bullet, and play the better younger, cheaper option and eat the cap hit if there's a way to soften the blow moving forward. 

[Saca312]

12 hours ago, SetfreexX said:

people are finding ways to complain // worry.

All fairness I'm not too worried as long as Smith proves to be more of a veteran depth piece rather than starter.

I feel we got far more explosive weapons we could use instead (Samuel) more consistently. The worry is if Smith is hogging most of Samuel's snaps, not so much whether he's on the team or not.

[tondi]

We've also got to remember Samuel and Byrd haven't proven they can stay healthy so until they do its going to be tough to get rid of any quality depth. 

[JARROD]

It’s ridiculous to make a comparison between Russell Shepard, an Also fan who never was against Torrey who has been a pretty damn good receiver in this league, been a contributing factor in 2 Super Bowl wins and has over 40 receiving touchdowns even after dealing with Blaine Gabbert in SF and being phased out until the last few games where he balled out in Phillip with Nick—-

personally I think Torrey will shut a lot of people up here soon,.. either me because he will suck and oh well,.. or everyone else because he is a good contributor...