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Free agent offensive lineman Barry Sims, who had played his entire career with the Oakland Raiders, has decided not to leave the Bay Area.
Sims agreed to a contract with the San Francisco 49ers, his agent Ken Vierra, has confirmed.
“What maybe tips it a little bit is the money is a little bit better and you don’t have to move to play here,” Vierra said. “All I can tell you is he had a good feel in San Francisco.”
Sims, who has experience as both a left tackle and a right tackle, is expected to compete with Jonas Jennings for playing time at right tackle. Joe Staley has been penciled in as the starter at left tackle.
Sims, who started all 16 games for the Raiders last year, was also considering the Rams and Ravens before finally deciding to sign with the 49ers. He came close to reaching an agreement with the Panthers in March, and also visited with the Patriots.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:15 pm
“He had a good feel in San Francisco”
I guess he visited the Castro district.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Wow. This is huge. This will be the difference between the 49ers finishing 6 - 10 and finishing 6 - 10 (but with closer games).
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
He had a real good feel in San Francisco alright. He felt Jonas Jennings’ tender ankles, knees and feminine like organs, and knew he’d be starting at RT before the offseason was done.
Good Bye Jennings, and thanks for nothing.
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Sims went undrafted out of college. The Raiders signed him as a rookie free agent. He earned the starting LT job & held on to it although the Raiders used 3 high draft picks on potential LTs over the years. (Robt Gallery was handed the job by Shell before the 2006 training camp - an error that was corrected last year) This in spite of struggling against speed rushers.
Raider fans will wish him luck finishing his career playing for the “wine sippers” across the Bay.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
So basically, the Raiders took the 49ers Right Tackle to play Left Tackle and the 49ers took the Raiders Left Tackle to play Right Tackle?
Trust the Bay Area teams to come up with cute twists on lose-lose scenarios.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:37 pm
That’s the same thing that T.O. said about Jeff Garcia!
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I just flipped through some of the ‘9ers offensive statistics from last year. Gonna take a LOT more than an aging offensive tackle to turn that unit around. I wonder if Nolan is already watching the ‘wanted’ pages around the league.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I was looking for news about another Sims, the one with two m’s…..Simms, as in Chris and his whining to the media in Tampa.
Barry Sims has been a rags to riches story in the NFL. 49ers needed him.
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