49ers Blog and Q&A

Signed through 2013
CB Nnamdi Asomugha
WR Anquan Boldin
CB Tramaine Brock (should he sign his RFA tender)
CB Tarell Brown
CB Perrish Cox (RFA)
K Phil Dawson
RB Anthony Dixon
DL Demarcus Dobbs (RFA)
C Jonathan Goodwin
WR Chad Hall
OLB Parys Haralson
WR Joe Hastings
WR Mario Manningham
S Darcel McBath
QB Colt McCoy
WR Marlon Moore
DL Justin Smith
QB Scott Tolzien (RFA)
DL Will Tukuafu
S Donte Whitner
LB Michael Wilhoite
WR Kyle Williams

At the scouting combine in February, general manager Trent Baalke hinted that the 49ers were exploring contract extensions with some of their young players. It turns out that one of them was right tackle Anthony Davis, who agreed to a five-year deal that keeps him under contract in San Francisco though 2019.

The contract, first reported by Pro Football Talk, is worth $37.295 million with $17 million guaranteed. Davis' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, helped broker a long-term deal with another young 49ers star, linebacker NaVorro Bowman, last season.

Davis, 23, was one of two 49ers' first-round picks in 2010 (The 49ers traded up to take him No. 11 overall), and he has made big strides at right tackle since his rookie campaign. Davis is one of two offensive lineman -- Alex Boone is the other -- who played every snap in 2012. Davis is scheduled to earn $1.3 million in base salary for the upcoming season.

He also is one of several young players whose initial contract was set to end after the 2014 season. That group includes fellow 2010 first-round pick Mike Iupati as well as receiver Michael Crabtree and 2011 draft stars Colin Kaepernick, and Aldon Smith. The 49ers can't begin working on new deals for Kaepernick and Smith until after the upcoming season.

Still, those deals are looming, especially Kaepernick's, and they are why the 49ers have not signed any big, long-term deals for free agents this year. Most have been modest one- or two-year contracts.

The 49ers are believed to have just under $4 million in salary-cap space; enough for signing their draft class.

-- Matt Barrows

What should the 49ers do with their 13 picks? Daniel Jeremiah had a well-thought-out plan and some specific targets.

After all, that's his job. The former Eagles, Browns and Ravens scouts now is a regular on NFLN's "Path to the Draft." The show's "inside the war room" segments -- on which Jeremiah is a regular -- are particularly worthwhile because they not only break down prospects but also every team's needs and how the players fit.

Jeremiah told me he 10 minutes to talk 49ers. We ended up talking for 12. Here's what he had to say:

Q: What are the chances the 49ers use their 13 picks to move up in the draft?

DJ: Well, I think they have all sorts flexibility to do a couple of things. One is to trade up and target someone they really, really like. If there was a safety they were in love with, they could move up a little bit and get him. Also if there was a defensive lineman they like ... If they had a huge grade on someone like, say, Star Lotulelei and he slid down a little bit, maybe they move up to get someone like him.

I think more likely than that -- where they're positioned they can address their needs with the way the draft shakes out. And I think they can even spin off some of these extra picks for picks next year because there's no way -- 13 or 14 picks, whatever they have left -- there's no way all those kids are going to make their roster. So I think they can make some moves and accumulate picks in next year's draft.

Q: Well, knowing what they need, who do you think they could go with at picks 31 and 34 if they stayed put?

No, the situation isn't exactly the same and the personalties involved are entirely different. But the 49ers acquisition of Nnamdi Asomugha this weeks feels a lot like their signing of Randy Moss a year ago.

Both players are former stars in their 30s who had all sorts of questions swirling about them and who felt like they had something to prove. "I've had a chip on my shoulder every year that I've played," Asomugha said Wednesday. "It's obviously bigger this year because of the adversity I went through in Philadelphia, but it's always been a part of my game."

More to the point, the 49ers have become the team players like Moss and Asomugha want to join, and that gives the 49ers leverage. Moss last year signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal. Asomugha's is even more low risk. He'll make $1.35 million in base salary if he makes the team. If he doesn't, the 49ers won't owe him anything.

We can argue about Moss' impact last season. He caught 28 passes for 434 yards and three touchdowns. What's beyond debate is that the 49ers ended up needing him. Injuries to Mario Manningham and Kyle Williams, as well as A.J. Jenkins' slow development, thrust Moss into the starting lineup late in the season and throughout the playoffs.

The NFL knows a juicy preseason game when it sees one.

The 49ers' second warm-up game in August will be in Kansas City against former quarterback Alex Smith, the league announced today. After eight seasons in San Francisco, the 49ers traded Smith to Kansas City for a second-round draft pick (no. 34 overall) this year and a conditional pick in 2014.

Smith is now the Chiefs' starter. First-string players typically don't play for very long in exhibition games. However, the Chiefs have a new quarterback, a new head coach and a new offense, and Smith's time under center against the 49ers likely will be significant.

The 49ers made Smith the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2005. He was in the midst of his best season in 2012 when a concussion set forth a series of event that ended with Colin Kaepernick as the starter and Smith on the bench. Receiver Michael Crabtree spoke last week about a divide in the 49ers locker room immediately after that decision was made. Oddly, the 49ers-Chiefs preseason game will not be televised nationally. Instead, the following week's game, on Aug. 25, will be nationally televised at 5 p.m. on NBC.

For the second straight season, the 49ers will not play the Raiders after violence in the stands and parking lot in 2011 put a hiatus on the rivalry. The dates of the games will be announced at a later date.

Preseason schedule:

vs. Denver
at Kansas City
vs. Minnesota (Aug. 25)
at San Diego

The regular-season schedule will be released later this month. The 49ers already know they will play the Jaguars in London on Oct. 27, and the game preceding that one likely will be in the eastern time zone (at Redskins?) as well.

Home: vs. Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, Colts, Texans, Packers, Falcons, Panthers

Away: at Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks, Redskins, Jaguars, Titans, Buccaneers, Saints

-- Matt Barrows

Colt McCoy says he has experience running the read option out of the shotgun, and he has the numbers to back him up. In four years at the University of Texas, McCoy rushed for 1,589 yards and scored 20 rushing touchdowns, and he finished second to Sam Bradford in Heisman Trophy voting in 2008.

Still, it's hard to imagine that McCoy (6-1, 220) would get the same play calls as Colin Kaepernick if he ever entered a game in Kaepernick's place. McCoy, who ran a very respectable 4.73-second 40-yard dash at the combine in 2010, hasn't had nearly the same success rushing in the NFL, albeit in offenses that didn't emphasize a rushing quarterback. He's run 93 times, averaging 3.9 yards and scoring one rushing touchdown. He's also fumbled 12 times, losing two of them.

Instead, the play calls likely would be similar to what Alex Smith received over the last two seasons. Smith also was a very good rusher in college - 1,072 yards, 15 rushing touchdowns in just two seasons - who wasn't nearly as prolific in the NFL. He has 761 rushing yards, four touchdowns and a 3.6-yard average over his career.

Said McCoy when asked about running with the 49ers: "The read option and the pistol - they've obviously done a great job with that with Colin (Kaepernick) and his skills, being able to run and pass, a dual threat. We did a lot of that when I was in in college. I feel capable of doing that. But, again, I need to spend some time in the playbook and get familiar with it first of all before we ever get out on the field."

- Matt Barrows

Appearing on NFL Total Access today, 49ers safety Donte Whitner estimated that the 49ers used man-to-man coverage 70 percent of the time last season. That's what makes Nnamdi Asomugha a "pretty good pickup" for San Francisco, Whitner said.

"In Philly, they played a lot of zone coverage," Whitner said. "When Nnamdi was in Oakland, they played a lot of press, man-to-man; let him get up there, use his long body, length and size to cover those wide receivers. If you look at our scheme, that's what we do. We play a lot of man - probably 70 percent man. He'll get up in a lot of wide receivers' faces and have an opportunity to use our pass rush, and let those guys work for him. I believe he'll come out and have a great year with us."

The question now is how Asomugha will be worked into the 49ers defense, which struggled during the playoffs but was one of the league's best in the regular season. The secondary finished tied for third in passing yards allowed per game and mostly snuffed out long pass plays by opponents. The 49ers gave up 19 passing touchdowns during the regular season. Only six teams allowed fewer.

"We have a young corner in Chris Culliver, veteran guys in Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers, and a great defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio," Whitner said. " If (Asomugha) comes in and really learns our defense, Vic will do everything that is possible to put all of those guys on the field to make plays at the same time."

The 49ers have struck a deal with veteran cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, a league source confirmed this afternoon. Asomugha, who played at Cal, who had his best NFL seasons while with the Raiders and who makes his offseason home in the Bay Area, will sign a no-risk, one-year deal with the 49ers.

He will have the most recognizable name of any of the 49ers' cornerbacks in 2013. However, his spot on the roster, and certainly the starting lineup, is not guaranteed. The contract is worth $1.35 million in base salary with no guaranteed money, meaning the 49ers could cut him with no future entanglements if they so desired. The deal is worth as much as $3 million if Asomugha meets specific incentives. The 49ers had a little more than $3 million in salary-cap space before Asomugha's signing. The team still has enough space to sign its draft class.

That modest salary is fine with Asomugha, who struck a five-year, $60 million deal with the Eagles two years ago and still is owed $4 million by Philadelphia this year. Money is not an issue for him.

Instead, Asomugha, 31, is eager to prove that he is not washed up and that his two painful seasons in Philadelphia were an aberration. According to those who know him, he wanted to join the 49ers to return to the Bay Area and because he felt the 49ers had an excellent shot at returning to the Super Bowl.

If Nnamdi Asomugha joined the 49ers, the cornerback is confident Jim Harbaugh and his staff would utilize his strengths and put him in a position to succeed.

This, according to Asomugha's good friend, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, who was on the same Raiders team as Asomugha and then assistant coach Harbaugh a decade ago. Even though Harbaugh coached offense at the time, Gbaja-Biamila said he was accessible to all players and that he struck up a good relationship with him and Asomugha.

"I know one thing is true - he can connect to players," said Gbaja-Biamila, who now works for the NFL Network. "Not every player may like his style, but I think you respect the fact that he's a former player and he gets it. He's not one of those guys who will have one of those coaching egos, saying, 'This is my way.' Players fit like puzzles, and I think he would know how to use Nnamdi like a puzzle piece, just to be the perfect fit. ... I think Nnamdi was just out of place in Philly."

Now a free agent, Asomugha currently has two offers - from San Francisco and New Orleans. He has been mulling them for more than two weeks. His decision appears to be this: Return to the Bay Area on a 49ers team that has an excellent shot at a Super Bowl but that doesn't have an opening already carved out for him, Or) Play for ex-Raiders coach Rob Ryan in New Orleans.