The 49ers used some of their cap space this morning to sign outside linebacker Parys Haralson and kicker Joe Nedney to contract extensions, the club announced.
Haralson, who led the 49ers with eight sacks last season, signed a four-year, $15 million deal that includes $6.5 million in guaranteed money, a source confirmed. He is signed through the 2013 season. Nedney agreed to a two-year extension through 2011.
Haralson last month fired his previous agent, Bus Cook, who represents Jay Cutler. He hired agents Sean Kiernan and Mitch Frankel from Impact Sports. The negotiations moved quickly from there. Haralson said he agreed to the contract yesterday.
"It was a priority because I'm basically excited about the direction the team is going, and excited about what coach (Mike) Singletary is doing with the team," Haralson said. "It's about being somewhere you're comfortable."
There has plenty of talk about the 49ers adding an outside pass-rusher to the mix in the draft. This extension does not change that. After all, Haralson is a very good pass rusher. It's the other side of the formation that is the question mark.
But Haralson said he believe Manny Lawson can be that guy to provide a better pass rush from the strong side. Lawson was used last season as a one-down player, and rarely was instructed to rush the passer.
"I know Manny can pass-rush. I saw Manny pass-rush in college. Manny was one of the premier pass-rushers in college," Haralson said. "Manny is coming off last season and coming off an injury, and it's hard to come back off of that. I have all the confidence in the world in Manny Lawson. I know what he can do. And the people around here know what he can do. Manny has that long frame and he's as fast as a deer. He's a great pass rusher, to me. I know he can pass rush."
Haralson and whomever rushes the passer from the other side should benefit this season from new pass-rush coach Al Harris, who played 11 NFL seasons, including several years as Singletary's teammate with the Bears.
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That's GREAT news!
We got keep our own young talent. way to go Scot in keeping with the gameplan.
Good signings. Haralson will be a good value if he just stays consistant. Hopefully he improves his numbers over last year. He is the only real OLB pass rush threat on the team. He doesn't need gaudy stats because I hope that the sacks are spread out amongst the team.
Now that he has been well compensated he needs to step up and deliver the goods hitting stripping and sacking the QB.
Hopefully David Baas is next
I give credit to Scot McCloughan for getting this guy in the 5th round. I know Scot takes a beating on this blog sometimes, but this is by far one of his better picks and Paryse’s value is well above that 5th round selection. The last eight games of the season Paryse seemed unstoppable. I see +12 sacks out of him this year.
This is good news. I would like to see Baas re-signed as well, hopefully he doesn't want too much. If Scot doesn't feel that guards should receive huge contracts (which is fine) I would rather we didn't spend 2nd round picks on them as well.
Nice Job McCloughan, Gotta give you credit when credit is due! Crabtree at #10, otherwise trade down.
So now if the 49ers take a pass-rusher in the first round the the team will have a ton of money locked up in in OLB's with the 1st round pick, Haralson, and former first round pick manny lawson.
At least it's not a lot of money. But I am not a huge fan of Haralson's/
Matt, do you have access to stats such as QB pressures? It would be interesting to see how Haralson et al stack up to the rest of the league in that regard.
My guess is that while he had 8 sacks, he didn't have many near sacks, because the 49ers QB pressure was dismal most of the season.
Very happy to see Parys Haralson is going to be a Niner for a while. He was the 6th ranked OLB in the sack category last season. He plays with hunger.
Real quick. In MM's Mayock entry Mayock had Knowshon Moreno very high. We have been talking about having a two headed monster at RB.
Thoughts on Moreno at the 10 spot?
Good move locking up a rising talent especially since Sing took over. I agree that Manny could have a breakout year as well because it takes 2 years to get back 100% from and ACL and he is not being screwed up by the Idiot Nolan and his mental midget defensive strategy. How many careers can this guy ruin? Bronco Fan should be rigging up the belt over the shower rod about now with NoWin set to destroy their already crappy D and The Boy Wonder chasing the Franchise out of town. I hate the Raiders but they must be celebrating the possibility of no longer sucking the hardest in their division.
I'm anxious to see what Manny & Parys do in a full season of just the basic 3-4. I'm hoping for double digit sacks from Haralson.
Matt, Based on your previous post that trading down may be difficult this year where do you see the Niners going with the 10 pick? OT is a safe pick if one of the top 3-4 are there but could be a reach. It looks like Sing/McC may be happy with the LB corp they have, maybe they see something in Manny that Nolan didn't and won't go OLB. Assuming Ragi and Crabtree are gone, Maclin could be an option but drafting receivers has been a crap shoot especially for us. I'm beginning to think Moreno or Wells could give Sing that power running game he desires. Any change in your thoughts now?
Matt,
Now that we have Haralson and Nedney in the fold, what other key players have contracts that expire at the end of the 2009 season. I know David Baas is one. Who else is there?
That's a smart signing for the Niners and for Harylson.
I don't think they will go running back too early. I agree with Jamie Dukes on NFLN, that running backs are readily available throughout the draft. The giants had that three headed monster last year because their o-line is so awesome. I don't expect Derrick Ward to be outstanding in '09. A good line allows you to have success in the running game no matter who you hand it to. I'm thinking Shonn Greene from Iowa or Gartrell Johnson from Colorado would be perfect for the 49ers. They can get these guys later, especially Gartrell Johnson.
There's another guy who hasn't been in the OLB conversation much...Lawrence Sidbury. Sporting News has him as our 3rd rd pick...after picking Maybin in the 2nd. It didn't make much sense to me, taking prospective OLB's back-to-back. But, taken alone, Sidbury does make some sense. He's got the size 6-2 1/2, 266, runs a 4.57 40. While I agree Manny has pass rushing abilities, Sidbury might not be a bad pick at all. We could go CB, OT, RB, etc. ahead of him. He's definitely someone to consider.
nice....i was getting worried....very nice...Bass - i don't know about that guy yet...
very tempting ....A 1st round and 3rd round pick for A.Boldin. ----- very very tempting....
Hard to argue with this signing. Interesting comments about Lawson. The guy has all the attributes teams look for in a 3-4 passrusher, mainly long arms, quick burst and agility. Definitely makes you wonder whether Nolan gave up on him as a pass rusher too quickly. They only really let him try in his rookie year. He wasn't a very good pass rusher then but most D-Linemen struggle mightily in their first year, and he had the added challenge of switching to 3-4 OLB. After that they haven't really given him a chance and of course he was hurt. This will be a very interesting year to see whether McCloughan has really not drafted well or whether Nolan has been holding back the young players even though they could have been contributing more. Of course, it could be both...
They won't trade Boldin within the division, period. Just hope Crabtree falls.
The next two extensions I'd like to see are Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis. Davis will break out this year - lock him up now.
My present choices, in order, for # 10 are: Crabtree, Oher, A Brown, trade back if possible acquiring the trader's #1 and another 2nd, then or Rey Maulaluga and hopefully Jarron Gilbert in Round 2.
you are giving the cards too much credit - they are the cardinals who do dumb things.....like let their starting QB travel to a division rival to discuss a contract....i wont be suprised if they did trade him to a divison rival...
I agree the Bidwells are notthe brightest owners, but i would have to think Whisenhunt would have some say over who they made the trade to and he is a smart guy. Love to have him hear, but i dont see any chance.
Its tempting Oneniner, but not with our #10 pick. If we had a mid/late 20's pick in Round One we should be all over it. He loves our WR coach Sullivan. Either way, let's get Boldin off the Cards. They are idiots to get rid of him. I like how well Nate can play Larry Fitz straight up and without Boldin the Cards are a worse team, PERIOD.
BallGame,
If the OT's & Raji are gone with the "ready for the NFL right now Orakpo" then the 49ers would have to look at RB Moreno real hard based on the Top 10 BPA. They would also have to consider WR Crabtree, Maclin & QB Sanchez if they're still there. I know some people don't want to hear that about Sanchez but he is Top 10 material.
Just wondering if anyone was keeping track of how much room we still have under the cap. We did alot of extensions and mid-level free agent signings already.
I really like Sidbury. He tore it up on all his workouts & caught a lot of scouts' eyes. Thing that's been said about him is he hasn't played 100% as explosive on the field as his size/measurables indicate when watching him on film. So he's a bit of a project. I know it's getting to be cliche but true that Coach Singletary I always feel should be able to get the most out of these young up & coming guys. A master motivator he could get Sidbury to find himself as a player & really start to turn it on during practices & ultimately on gamedays. Sidbury's got all the measurables & a high potential upside ceiling. I think he'll go 3rd, maybe 4th RD.
I mystified as to why they never used Lawson as a pass rusher last year. At least try it out.
either way....we win.....
Congrats to Haralson! Great work & well deserved my man especially for a 5th rounder to develop & go to work day in, day out to get himself to be a solid contributing player & make it in this league. Keep it up!
Good, now give Baas and Andy Lee new deals!
Finally, a move I am really happy with... I was wondering when they would lock this guy up and I'm glad they did it before the season, with increased playing time I feel he will have a pretty big year.... I think/hope Manny can have a big year and show the skills he started to in 07 before he was injured... If they go outside linebacker at #10 I really hope they take Orakpo (if he is there, if he's not don't even think OLB) and not Maybin, I think Maybins a little light in the cakes and don't think he will be much of a force at the pro level... Besides I don't like taking guys from Penn State... I know Paul Puzluzky and Kerry Collins are from Penn State but year to year Penn State draft picks flop big time... By the way is Lavar Arrington still in the league?
no one can argue that mcloughan does a great job of locking up young talent... the inability to acquire more young talent is the problem.
Great move. I was wondering when they were gonna get him extended :)
GOOD MOVES!!!! The D has to be the tough link in the chain while the offense builds and comes together! Nedney has been the only real offense for years and should be rewarded while he still is a producer!
KUDOS!!!
Good job by Scotty ! I have a feeling that the longer he has the GM job the more credit he will get from fans that are still upset by the Nolan years ,when Scott was working for Nolan . He is his own man now and he can be judged on what we see him do. Where as before we really never knew if every pick in the draft or every free agent was Nolan getting his type of players or if it was Scotty getting his way (sometimes I am sure it was both).
I really like what I am seeing and hearing about Scott and Jed and sing and the way they want things to be done !
Matt,
When you're counting the total thumbs up or thumbs down for either contract extension, please note than mine is a resounding thumbs up on both players. Nedney has been outstanding since coming in as a FA, and Haralson could be a rising star similar to a certain Steelers linebacker who came from out of nowhere to be a defensive player of the year.
Congrats to Scot for resigning both players at a reasonable market value and hopefully Haralson received assurances that should he surpass expectations that we'd be willing to restructure his contract based upon performance. Thank you Parys and Joe for sticking around. This is one fan that definitely appreciates you both.
Comment: When you're counting the total thumbs up or thumbs down for either contract extension, please note than mine is a resounding thumbs up on both players.
My response: I can't imagine any 49ers fan giving a "thumbs down" to a Parys Haralson contract extension when he has just one season remaining on his contract. It was absolutely necessary that the 49ers get this done. --Matt M.
This is how to build a winning team.
If you can spot the mid round guys and develop them, the money is well spent.
Now, if there was a way to cap the 1st Round guys we'd be on to something.
Our pick at 10 should be very valuable for teams looking to avoid the heavy investment dollars too.
Matt could you give me a list of the other guys whose contracts expire after this season? thanks