Blogs

MT: Levi’s Stadium is Born

The San Francisco 49ers have a name to their future home, Levi’s® Stadium.

Thanks to a unanimous, 7-0 vote buy the Santa Clara City Council, the $220 million stadium naming rights deal between the iconic Bay Area brands is now official.

“It’s a testament to why we always thought this project would work,” 49ers CEO Jed York told the San Jose Mercury News. “To anybody who ever doubted this project would happen, these numbers speak for themselves.”

York spoke at the city council meeting along with Levi’s® CEO Chip Bergh, who wisely wore 49ers-colored Levi’s® jeans.

Following the approval, both CEOs shook hands with big grins. Soon after, they posed for photos with members of the City Council and members of the 49ers front office.

LevisStadium.com is now the place to learn all about the team’s future home. Book your tour of Levi’s® Stadium today.

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MT: 2013 NFL Draft Preview

Finally.

The wait is over. The draft board is finalized. The prospects are eager. The fan base is ready. The draft bash is all set.

The 2013 NFL Draft begins tonight and it couldn’t have come any sooner. We broke down prospects and spoke with analysts about the endless possibilities, but that was all build up to the inevitable conclusion. The three-day draft gets underway tonight at 5 p.m. PT and the future of the San Francisco 49ers will come into greater focus when the team makes its first selection.

Will it be at No. 31, or will San Francisco move up to select a player they’ve been coveting all along? The outcome will be known shortly.

In Trent Baalke’s three drafts leading the team’s draft-day decisions, the 49ers general manager has traded nine times. In 2010, Baalke’s first year as Vice President of Player Personnel, Baalke moved up to select tackle Anthony Davis, a player who recently signed a five-year contract extension through 2019. Baalke also traded back in 2010 to select, two-time All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman, another player who has been extended until the 2018 season.

It’s worth noting that Baalke has never traded out of the first-round in three years. In 2011, he moved up in the second-round to select quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

With 13 selections heading into draft day, the possibilities for Baalke and his personnel staff are endless.

It’s safe to say the world will be watching. NFL Draft prognostications are endless, but they’ll stop very soon. We’ve compiled the top mock drafts for your consideration in today’s Morning Tailgate.

Share your draft opinions on social with #Draft49 and if you’re having a draft party or attending our event in San Jose tonight, use #49ersDraftBash to showcase your experience.

Thanks everyone for checking out our blog and enjoy the draft. 49ers.com/Draft will have you covered all weekend long.

Now, on to the links…

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Morning Tailgate: Seven-Round Roundup

If you’ve projected a seven-round mock draft this week (Peter Schrager of FoxSports.com and Josh Norris of NFL.com) hats off to you.

It takes guts to fill out a 32-pick mock draft and even more fortitude to make 254 draft predictions. But that’s exactly what those two NFL scribes have done.

The 49ers have 13 selections in the upcoming draft, five of their own – five from trades with Kansas City, Carolina, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Miami – three were awarded as compensatory selections.

San Francisco has multiple picks in the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh rounds. The 49ers draft pick, noted by round and overall selection are listed below.

49ers draft picks (round, #): 1, 31 / 2, 34 / 2, 61 / 3, 74 / 3, 93 / 4, 128 / 4, 131 / 5, 157 / 6, 173 / 6, 180 / 7, 237 / 7, 246 / 7, 252.

For perspective on first-round and late-round targets, we’ve summarized Schrager and Norris’ seven-round mocks in today’s Morning Tailgate

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Morning Tailgate: 49ers Draft Scenarios

The guessing game continues. What will the 49ers do with the No. 31 overall selection in the 2013 NFL Draft – trade up, trade back or stay at 31?

According to a report from Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, the 49ers could be looking to move up in the draft.

General Manager Trent Baalke said “Anything’s possible,” last week in his pre-draft meeting with the Bay Area media.

So, in essence, Cole’s report isn’t out of the question.

For now, the speculation game will continue until the clock hits 5:00 p.m. PT on Thursday night and the official decisions can begin.

More 49ers draft scenarios are discussed in today’s Morning Tailgate.

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MT: Seifert, Young Join SB Committee

The Bay Area’s quest to host Super Bowl L or LI received a boost this week with the two key former 49ers joining the region’s Super Bowl bid committee.

According to the SF Gate, Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young and two-time Super Bowl winning coach George Seifert, have joined the committee that features many other well-known Bay Area personalities (Condoleeza Rice, Charles Schwab, Thomas Keller and others).

NFL owners will decide the host cities for both Super Bowls at the annual owner meetings on May 21. If the Bay Area wins, the game will be played at the new Santa Clara Stadium which is set to open in 2014.

The Bay Area is up against the Miami region to host Super Bowl L in 2016. It would be the 50^th anniversary of the biggest game in professional sports. The runner-up from that vote will compete with Houston to host Super Bowl LI in 2017. Bay Area mayors, Jamie Matthews of Santa Clara and Ed Lee of San Francisco, recently held a press conference on March 7 to discuss the Super Bowl bid.

Learn more about the future home of the San Francisco 49ers at NewSantaClaraStadium.com and book your personal tour of the facility today.

You can also learn more about the San Francisco Super Bowl bid on their official site and Twitter account.

More 49ers headlines can be found in today’s Morning Tailgate.

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MT: Lattimore Compared to Frank Gore

Both Frank Gore and Marcus Lattimore suffered multiple knee injuries in college. Both, however, are considered highly talented running backs, ones who have been known as explosive play-makers during their respective careers.

Gore stands as the San Francisco 49ers all-time leader in rushing yards, carries and rushing touchdowns. At 29, Gore is also coming off a Pro Bowl season, the fourth of his career.

Lattimore,  the NCAA’s national freshman of the year in 2009, has yet to make a lasting career in the NFL. He’s still aiming to be drafted in 2013 after suffering his second major knee injury at the University of South Carolina.

However, the comparisons between the two are still easy to dissect.

Gore was a third-round draft pick by the 49ers in 2005 and proved to be a brilliant selection for San Francisco.

Lattimore, on the other hand, stands poised to follow in Gore’s footsteps. The two also developed a relationship last year. Thanks to 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver, a college teammate of Lattimore, the two were put in touch after the running back prospect tore all three major knee ligaments in his right knee against the University of Tennessee.

Lattimore later compared himself to Gore at the 2013 Scouting Combine.

“I feel like we both run hard,” Lattimore said. “He runs like nobody’s there. He runs with total destruction. I feel like if I could compare my game to anybody, it would be Frank Gore. He’s got low pads, he’s got great vision, he can see the whole field. Great balance.”

The comparisons between the two running backs continued this week in a recent episode of John Gruden’s Camp on ESPN.

The former NFL head coach asked Lattimore about both major knee injuries he suffered in college and how he’s been able to bounce back from the hardships.

“Anything that comes to me in life,” Lattimore began, “I feel like I’ve been through it all. Nothing can ever take the smile off my face because I’ll never take anything for granted again.”

Lattimore continued to detail the lessons he’s learned through rehab and why he’s pursuing a career in the NFL.

“I love football,” the South Carolina star told Gruden. “My kids they’re going to watch this one day and they’re going to see my dad never gave up.

“My story relates to everybody…Adversity introduces a man to himself.”

Gruden later commented that his father ribbed him for not drafting Gore back in 2005. When the 49ers running back broke a big run against a Gruden-coached Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, the elder Gruden immediately sent his son a text message with a reminder of his praise for Gore.

It remains to be seen where Lattimore gets drafted in 2013, but his story is one to watch come April 25, especially with how it compares to San Francisco’s own starting running back.

More NFL Draft and 49ers headlines can be found in today’s Morning Tailgate.

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Morning Tailgate: Davis Extension

Anthony Davis earned a second contract from the San Francisco 49ers. With the starting right tackle agreeing to a five-year extension that’ll keep him with the 49ers through the 2019 season, the team has continued its recent trend of rewarding hard-working draft picks with long-term financial commitments.

Davis joins NaVorro Bowman, Patrick Willis, Vernon Davis, Andy Lee and Joe Staley as 49ers draft picks to sign extensions to stay in San Francisco.

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Morning Tailgate: Greg Roman Profile

There’s a lot to like about San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman. I repeat, a lot.

He’s energetic, he’s thoughtful and perhaps most important of all, he knows how to put his players in position to win.

Twenty-seven victories in two seasons later, those impressive traits were recently documented by esteemed Yahoo! Sports writer Michael Silver, who wrote a solid profile on the 49ers play-caller. Silver and Roman spoke for so long over lunch recently, the 49ers coordinator’s car was impounded. Not to worry, Roman picked his car up and got back to doing what he loves.

Silver went into detail on how Roman is moving on from Super Bowl XLVII and how the game’s final sequence overshadowed a stellar season in 2012.

“The upshot is especially cruel,” Silver wrote. “Roman, the man who probably dialed up more brilliant calls than anyone in the business last season, the audacious innovator who overhauled the Niners’ offense on the fly in midseason and literally and figuratively unveiled formations that turned the football world upside down, is the guy getting blasted by half the folks who’ve ever held a Madden joystick.”

But don’t only take Silver’s words. Consider the comments from two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley.

“I’ve never been around a coordinator who understands everything,” Staley told Silver. “Not just X’s and O’s and how you draw it up, but the bigger picture, too. Watching games [on tape], I find myself saying, ‘This is a perfect call here.’ It seems seamless to him. There are a lot of guys who are really smart with plays and who run creative schemes, but it’s the way you call those plays that makes all the difference. He’s great at both. He’s very innovative.”

Roman continues to find ways to make the 49ers better in 2013 and is surely eager to work with recently acquired quarterback Colt McCoy, in addition to installing more wrinkles to the hybrid offense the 49ers ran last season.

Roman can analyze the Super Bowl outcome all he wants, but in the back of his mind he knows there’s more to come from his offensive unit.

“The reality is, if you’ve got a guy who can throw the ball like [Colin Kaepernick] can and run it like he can, it eventually becomes a numbers game,” Roman told Silver. “What do you want to stop? Then we turn to something we call play-action, and it’s a huge advantage.

“So yeah, (defenses are) gonna be spending a lot of time on this. They should. This is real. And we’re just getting started.”

More 49ers headlines can be found in the Morning Tailgate.

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Niner Talk: Super Bowl XLVII

NEW ORLEANS – We’ve come full circle on the Niner Talk podcast on 49ers.com. Week 1 of the regular season featured Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley and now that the San Francisco 49ers have reached the franchise’s sixth Super Bowl, we’ve welcomed Staley back to the show.

Staley discussed a number of topics on this week’s show. The left tackle detailed the amazing meal he had Monday night with teammates as well his thoughts on this year’s American Idol, an admitted guilty pleasure for the offensive lineman. There was football talk, too. Staley said he’s looking forward to a rematch against the Baltimore Ravens who totaled nine sacks the last time they faced each other.

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Morning Tailgate: Jan. 31

Justin Smith’s hard-working ways come into greater focus thanks to a remarkable story from ESPN.com’ Elizabeth Merrill. San Francisco’s four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle doesn’t seek out attention, but this story certainly explains the roots of Smith’s work ethic.

Smith owns the Railwood Golf Club in Holts Summit, Mo., a course that costs $25 to play 18 holes with a cart.

“Just Smith wanted it this way,” Merrill wrote. “He didn’t want to gouge the working man who couldn’t take a Monday off to hit golf balls. Smith would prefer, though, that you didn’t know he’s the owner of this golf course nestled in the rolling hills of Central Missouri.

“His name is not on the voicemail, or the website, and that seems typical. Smith is 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, and one of the most important players on the San Francisco 49ers’ vaunted defense, but he prefers to remain in the background. When his teammates are getting sacks, it means Smith is doing his job. Smith has a goal. When he’s finished with football, he’d like to be able to go to the grocery store without anyone recognizing him.”

Check out more of the top Super Bowl XLVII headlines after the jump.

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