What a franchise QB can do

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(01-20-2020, 06:13 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: This would be a better point if Montana didn't win 2 Super Bowls without Rice and Taylor. The 49ers weren't a power house of talent when Montana took over. They were 2-14 the year before Joe took the reigns as starter. Then he led them to 13-3 + ring in his first full season. You wouldn't recognize many of the names on that roster, outside of Ronnie Lott and Dwight Clark (who was a solid player, but no Jerry Rice).

Fair point on the salaries, but we have no idea if Joe would've taken less, ala Brady. Maybe he would have. The Patriots themselves have had no shortage of talent, despite free agency. Some of these names have revolved in and out of that team through the years:

Troy Brown
Lawyer Milloy
Ty Law
Teddy Bruschi
Junior Seau
Darrelle Revis
Randy Moss
Wes Welker
Rob Gronkowski
Julian Edelman
Corey Dillon
Richard Seymour
Vince Wilfork
Mike Vrabel
Willie McGinnest
Donte Stallworth
Adalius Thomas
Ben Watson
Ty Warren
Rodney Harrison
Adalius Thomas
Asante Samuel
Deion Branch
Danny Woodhead
Shane Vereen
Andre Carter
LeGarrette Blount
Jamie Collins
Chandler Jones
Jabaal Sheard
James White
Stephon Gilmore
etc etc

Not to mention 2 of the best kickers in NFL history and a defense that was top 5ish for each of their SB runs. The Patriots have had an embarrassment of talent. They just cycle through players, and a lot of these player's contributions are forgotten.

The 1981 49ers had the 2nd ranked defense in scoring
The 1984 49ers had the 1st ranked defense in scoring

I assume Joe wouldn't take less because I assume everyone won't take less. Brady is a rarity in that because he has a supermodel who has made over $400m as his wife.

Between '79 and '92 (when Montana was around), the 49ers had 6 different Hall of Famers and 14 different 1st Team All-Pros. 3 of the HoFers played on defense. Joe Montana was surrounded by an absurd amount of talent that wouldn't be possible in the modern era of football with free agency and salary caps.

The Packers had to keep cycling through players, the 49ers could keep playing with the same top players. The fact you had to list players like Donte Stallworth, Deion Branch, Danny Woodhead, James White, Shane Vereen, etc, as part of the "embarassment of talent" is pretty telling. A lot of mediocre players there, and a lot of guys with 0 Pro Bowls, 0 All-Pros there too. Out of Woodhead/White/Vereen, they have a combined 1 season of 500+ rushing yards, and 0 seasons of 550+ rushing yards.

As for the better players: They lost Welker to FA money. They lost Collins because of his impending FA money. They lost C Jones because of his impending FA money. etc... imagine how many rings Brady/Belichick would have if they didn't have a salary cap and could keep all their best players because they could block them from FA.