The 49ers have released starting strong safety Michael Lewis.  Lewis played in 3 games for the Niners this year and he had 10 tackles.  The 30-year old Lewis played in 50 games in his four years with the 49ers and he had 292 tackles, 13 passes defensed, 4.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions.  Rookie second round pick Taylor Mays will replace Lewis as the starter at strong safety and he has a nice upside.  Mays has played in 4 games this year for the Niners and he has 13 tackles and a recovery of a blocked punt that went for a TD.

The San Francisco 49ers have fired offensive co-ordinator Jimmy Raye and they have replaced him with QB Coach Mike Johnson.  The 49ers were only averaging 12.7 points per game this year so this move comes as no surprise.  The 49ers are averaging 78.0 yards rushing (3.9 ypc) and 232.3 yards passing per game this year.  49ers QBs only have a 66.2 QB Rating so it will be up to Coach Johnson to get Alex Smith back on course like he was last season.  This was a move that had to made because of the utter lack of faith the team had in Raye leading the offense.

The 49ers have waived 23-year old QB Nate Davis.  Davis played in all 4 pre-season games for the Niners this year and he completed 23 of 44 passes (52.3%) for 301 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs (62.8 QB Rating).  Davis also carried the ball 3 times for 15 yards (5.0 ypc).  The Niners tired of Davis not knowing the plays and he admitted not looking at the playbook much over the off-season.  Sometimes honesty can cost you your job.

UPDATE:  (9/8/2010) – The 49ers have signed Nate Davis to the practice squad.  Maybe now he will learn the playbook.

The 49ers have released 27-year old WR Brandon Jones.  Jones played in 8 games (0 starts) for the Niners last season and he only caught 1 pass for 18 yards.  Jones has now played in 59 games (27 starts) in his NFL career and he has caught 113 passes for 1,398 yards (12.4 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 6 times for 76 yards (12.7 ypc) in his career.  Jones will hook on with some team soon but the 49ers will be a better team in 2010 without him on it.

23-year old running back Glen Coffee has decided to retire from the NFL.  He played in 14 games (2 starts) as a rookie for the Niners last season in which he carried the ball 83 times for 226 yards (2.7 ypc) with 1 TD and he caught 11 passes for 76 yards (6.9 avg).  Coffee also returned 3 kickoffs for 42 yards (14.0 avg) last season.  This comes as a shock to the Niners who were counting on Coffee to improve in his second year in the NFL.  Michael Robinson and rookie 6th round pick Anthony Dixon will battle it out to see who will be the top backup for Frank Gore in 2010.