"Super Bowl or Bust" or "Trust the Process"

Since we escaped our late 90s Salary Cap Hell, the 49ers have really tried to manage their cap well. To his credit, Paraag Marathe is probably one of the best in the league at managing the salary cap. All in all, our MO has been to build through the draft, prioritize re-signing our free agents, and don't overspend in free agency-- and this is considered conventional NFL thinking.

This isn't exclusively a Shanahan/Lynch thing, but this is something the Yorks have always wanted. They wanted to be like the "model" franchises of the NFL, where the Patriots, Steelers, Ravens are competing year-in and year-out. Some years, they may not be as strong, but since 2003, the Patriots have only missed the playoffs twice. Under Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have never finished below 8-8 and typically win their division. Under Harbaugh, the Ravens have had similar success where 2015 was their only losing season.

And largely, I agree with this approach. But I'm also very aware that the Patriots had a ten year gap between their 2004 and 2014 championships (shoutout to Eli Manning and NYG), the Steelers haven't won a SB since 2008--Roethlisberger's second year in the league, and after the Ravens won their Super Bowl... they only made the playoffs once in their next five seasons.

With the Rams aggressively going all-in for their SB win, and knowing that it's incredibly difficult to sustain success when you have a good roster... what do you guys think? Should the 49ers be a little more aggressive in trying to go push themselves over the top? We have a strong roster, but we're reaching the point where we're re-signing our stars--Kittle, Warner, Trent Williams have signed big deals recently, and we're looking to re-sign Deebo and Bosa. Presumably, our starting QB will be on a rookie contract for the next few years... but I think this window with this core will only be open for a few more years.

Trey is like Kool Aid Man forget the "window" he's just gonna go right through the wall. The wall will be open for 10-15 years of utter dominance. Rams have a window (and closing) not us.

We already pushed our chips into the middle with lance. He's either slightly better than Jimmy to great and we win a SB or we suck for the next decade recovering from the talent loss and lost picks.

We do not have any ammo to keep taking big shots nor cap space with pending contracts.

There's no recovering anytime soon if lance doesn't pan out.

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
We already pushed our chips into the middle with lance. He's either slightly better than Jimmy to great and we win a SB or we suck for the next decade recovering from the talent loss and lost picks.

We do not have any ammo to keep taking big shots nor cap space with pending contracts.

There's no recovering anytime soon if lance doesn't pan out.

First off he will pan out. We are the 49ers panning is what we do. No organization pans on our level it's in our DNA.

Second read #1

Third look at the lambs Goff didn't pan out they turned out a-okay.

I would trust the process and build for sustained success. SEA and ARI are in shambles and don't seem threatening. LAR has peaked and I think will suffer a downtick in the coming years. Keep building a strong roster while balancing the aggressiveness in spending. If/When the team looks good in week 7ish, that's the time to get aggressive in mortgaging picks for midseason pickups. Too many homegrown studs to extend that will prevent the team from spending big in the offseasons.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
We already pushed our chips into the middle with lance. He's either slightly better than Jimmy to great and we win a SB or we suck for the next decade recovering from the talent loss and lost picks.

We do not have any ammo to keep taking big shots nor cap space with pending contracts.

There's no recovering anytime soon if lance doesn't pan out.

First off he will pan out. We are the 49ers panning is what we do. No organization pans on our level it's in our DNA.

Second read #1

Third look at the lambs Goff didn't pan out they turned out a-okay.

If Trey busts... well firstly, we're going to recoup some of that draft capital from trading Jimmy. We won't get all of it back, of course, but I'm thinking a 2nd and a future 3rd.

And then the nice thing is... Trey's on a rookie QB contract the next few years. If he was a mistake, the 49ers can transition away from him and try and find someone else. We have a strong core re-signed for the next few years. It will hurt to lose two first round draft picks in 2022 and 2023, but we should be able to be competitive with this core.

Originally posted by thl408:
I would trust the process and build for sustained success. SEA and ARI are in shambles and don't seem threatening. LAR has peaked and I think will suffer a downtick in the coming years. Keep building a strong roster while balancing the aggressiveness in spending. If/When the team looks good in week 7ish, that's the time to get aggressive in mortgaging picks for midseason pickups. Too many homegrown studs to extend that will prevent the team from spending big in the offseasons.

That's the one thing I like about John Lynch is that he IS willing to take calculated risks. He traded for Emmanuel Sanders midseason in 2019, and even though it was a one-year rental, a lot of people feel he had a very positive influence on Deebo Samuel.

Of course, the big blemish was trading for Dee Ford. That move looked good in 2019, but his injuries + contract really hurt our flexibility to make moves.

Originally posted by Wubbie:
That's the one thing I like about John Lynch is that he IS willing to take calculated risks. He traded for Emmanuel Sanders midseason in 2019, and even though it was a one-year rental, a lot of people feel he had a very positive influence on Deebo Samuel.

Of course, the big blemish was trading for Dee Ford. That move looked good in 2019, but his injuries + contract really hurt our flexibility to make moves.

Don't forget Kwon, and McKinnon and the chargers de end that busted. Just wasted cash.

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:

Originally posted by Wubbie:
That's the one thing I like about John Lynch is that he IS willing to take calculated risks. He traded for Emmanuel Sanders midseason in 2019, and even though it was a one-year rental, a lot of people feel he had a very positive influence on Deebo Samuel.

Of course, the big blemish was trading for Dee Ford. That move looked good in 2019, but his injuries + contract really hurt our flexibility to make moves.

Don't forget Kwon, and McKinnon and the chargers de end that busted. Just wasted cash.

Kwon was an overspend, but he did make some contributions, and I feel like we moved on from him without tooooo much hurt. Dee Ford reeeeeallly hurt our cap until we made an agreement with him.

McKinnon was a bust. But the time we had him signed on the roster, we had the cap room.

Who was the defensive end again?

Originally posted by Wubbie:

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:

Originally posted by Wubbie:
That's the one thing I like about John Lynch is that he IS willing to take calculated risks. He traded for Emmanuel Sanders midseason in 2019, and even though it was a one-year rental, a lot of people feel he had a very positive influence on Deebo Samuel.

Of course, the big blemish was trading for Dee Ford. That move looked good in 2019, but his injuries + contract really hurt our flexibility to make moves.

Don't forget Kwon, and McKinnon and the chargers de end that busted. Just wasted cash.

Kwon was an overspend, but he did make some contributions, and I feel like we moved on from him without tooooo much hurt. Dee Ford reeeeeallly hurt our cap until we made an agreement with him.

McKinnon was a bust. But the time we had him signed on the roster, we had the cap room.

Who was the defensive end again?

UFA splash signings like that probably won't be happening anymore. But if they did, and they busted like Jet, it would really hurt now. That Chargers DE was Attachou, but he was a bargain bin signing.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by Wubbie:

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:

Originally posted by Wubbie:
That's the one thing I like about John Lynch is that he IS willing to take calculated risks. He traded for Emmanuel Sanders midseason in 2019, and even though it was a one-year rental, a lot of people feel he had a very positive influence on Deebo Samuel.

Of course, the big blemish was trading for Dee Ford. That move looked good in 2019, but his injuries + contract really hurt our flexibility to make moves.

Don't forget Kwon, and McKinnon and the chargers de end that busted. Just wasted cash.

Kwon was an overspend, but he did make some contributions, and I feel like we moved on from him without tooooo much hurt. Dee Ford reeeeeallly hurt our cap until we made an agreement with him.

McKinnon was a bust. But the time we had him signed on the roster, we had the cap room.

Who was the defensive end again?

UFA splash signings like that probably won't be happening anymore. But if they did, and they busted like Jet, it would really hurt now. That Chargers DE was Attachou, but he was a bargain bin signing.

Yeah, we could afford those signings back then because we were still rebuilding. Now, we don't make those moves.
Signing Juice was a big deal that paid off though. Highest paid FB in the league, but that guy is essential to our offense.

Trust the process. I'll take 10+ years of contention vs being a super team every 15 years and being crap to mediocre the rest. Way too many examples of teams squeaking into the playoffs snd winning the SB and juggernauts that get bounced in the divisional round.

I think the rams have proven you can make it by going all in. The salary cap is more manipulatable than ever. There will always be high end talent FAs available.

Originally posted by stefano89:
I think the rams have proven you can make it by going all in. The salary cap is more manipulatable than ever. There will always be high end talent FAs available.

The only team ever that won like that. Our model is.more.proven. Props to the Rams for executing their vision.

Originally posted by stefano89:
I think the rams have proven you can make it by going all in. The salary cap is more manipulatable than ever. There will always be high end talent FAs available.

Only because they won the whole thing but still could've as easily lost a 7th straight to the Niners. Still their approach of literally SB championship or bust isn't a sure thing, let alone a sound philosophy.