The Jimmy GQ Effect

[Madadamus]

With free agency kicking off just a few short weeks from now, I wanted to talk about two potential WR’s landing with the 49ers and what it could do to their value.

Jimmy Garoppolo is one of the hottest names in sports right now, but one thing he doesn’t have going in his favor is weapons. The top two remaining free agent receivers are Sammy Watkins and Allen Robinson.

Robinson is more likely to be tagged then Watkins, but with Joyner rumored to be the tag candidate for the Rams, that would leave Watkins an unrestricted free agent.

The 49ers have no shortage of cap space even in spite of signing Garoppplo to the mega contract. It’s a copy cat league, and we saw the growth of Carson Wentz when they added weapons around him. I think the same could happen in the Bay Area this off-season.

How high would a Watkins or Robinson go if they were locked in long term with Garoppplo. They are currently mid 3rd start-up picks, could the Jimmy hype vault them into round 1 consideration if the dream scenario actually happened?

[kamihamster]

They were round 1 start up picks after the 2015 season, so yes they can go back there. 2016 sucked for both of them (Bad Bortles, Lisfrac injury) and Hopkins (Oswieler). Look at Hopkins now, he gets a QB that is not Oswieler, and he's back to a WR1. Same thing can happen to Robinson and Watkins.

[Madadamus]

They were round 1 start up picks after the 2015 season, so yes they can go back there. 2016 sucked for both of them (Bad Bortles, Lisfrac injury) and Hopkins (Oswieler). Look at Hopkins now, he gets a QB that is not Oswieler, and he's back to a WR1. Same thing can happen to Robinson and Watkins.

Well I guess what I am asking is do you think they’d make it there on hype alone? No doubt they have the talent to get there and if they produce, it’s easy to see.

But I’m seeing how high they would go in July start-ups just based on all the upside and allure of being Jimmy’s WR1.

[kamihamster]

They were round 1 start up picks after the 2015 season, so yes they can go back there. 2016 sucked for both of them (Bad Bortles, Lisfrac injury) and Hopkins (Oswieler). Look at Hopkins now, he gets a QB that is not Oswieler, and he's back to a WR1. Same thing can happen to Robinson and Watkins.

Well I guess what I am asking is do you think they’d make it there on hype alone? No doubt they have the talent to get there and if they produce, it’s easy to see.

But I’m seeing how high they would go in July start-ups just based on all the upside and allure of being Jimmy’s WR1.

I think so. Most people have no trouble explaining away their bad performances. With all the hype of GQ, a few good reports from camp, and I think they'll recoup their value in a hurry. There still aren't that many young, good WRs out there. Brown, Jones, and Green are aging. Juju has moved up (but still not 1st round). You have OBJ, Hopkins, Evans, and Thomas in the top 12 right now. I have my doubts about Evans being that high, but he's young and had a good 2016. The young RBs are all the craze, but there's still guys that like to build around young WRs because they have the longer shelf life. Put Robinson or Watkins in the right situation, get the hype train going, and they can get back there.

[Shcritters]

I have both ARob and Watkins and am hoping one of them ends up in SF. Of course now that I say that they won’t... but you can always hope.

I think that SF would be a better spot for either of them than their current situation.

[Vcize]

I'd be much more excited about Robinson there than Watkins. We haven't seen Robinson with good QB play yet. We just saw Watkins on a team with a good young QB that had seemingly no other weapons of note. I'm not sure Goodwin is any worse than Woods.