Offense requires OL focused draft?

*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Originally posted by Butter:
*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Well early doesn't mean it HAS to be 1st round. We don't need to have Pace/Ogden/Larry Allen and Steve Hutchinson out there. We just need players who can win the battle 90% of the time. So while it needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be at 13 or 16.


Now to your Smith comment. Our QB's could help our o line out. How many times have we seen a blitz coming and the QB just runs the play without pointing out who's coming to his linemen? I see all the good/great QB's in the league point out who's coming and who should block him. Our guys just snap the ball and let the chips fall where they may.


I'm sure someone is going to tell me how wrong I am!

Originally posted by krizay:

Originally posted by Butter:
*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Well early doesn't mean it HAS to be 1st round. We don't need to have Pace/Ogden/Larry Allen and Steve Hutchinson out there. We just need players who can win the battle 90% of the time. So while it needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be at 13 or 16.


Now to your Smith comment. Our QB's could help our o line out. How many times have we seen a blitz coming and the QB just runs the play without pointing out who's coming to his linemen? I see all the good/great QB's in the league point out who's coming and who should block him. Our guys just snap the ball and let the chips fall where they may.


I'm sure someone is going to tell me how wrong I am!

Your comment is correct & I agree.

Originally posted by tohara3:

Originally posted by krizay:

Originally posted by Butter:
*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Well early doesn't mean it HAS to be 1st round. We don't need to have Pace/Ogden/Larry Allen and Steve Hutchinson out there. We just need players who can win the battle 90% of the time. So while it needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be at 13 or 16.


Now to your Smith comment. Our QB's could help our o line out. How many times have we seen a blitz coming and the QB just runs the play without pointing out who's coming to his linemen? I see all the good/great QB's in the league point out who's coming and who should block him. Our guys just snap the ball and let the chips fall where they may.


I'm sure someone is going to tell me how wrong I am!

Your comment is correct & I agree.

Yeah, I agree too.

Originally posted by krizay:

Originally posted by Butter:
*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Well early doesn't mean it HAS to be 1st round. We don't need to have Pace/Ogden/Larry Allen and Steve Hutchinson out there. We just need players who can win the battle 90% of the time. So while it needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be at 13 or 16.


Now to your Smith comment. Our QB's could help our o line out. How many times have we seen a blitz coming and the QB just runs the play without pointing out who's coming to his linemen? I see all the good/great QB's in the league point out who's coming and who should block him. Our guys just snap the ball and let the chips fall where they may.


I'm sure someone is going to tell me how wrong I am!

This might be a perfect example of what I was trying to say. Ideally, Smith will improve at that process, but if he continues to struggle at that, doesn't a stellar Oline help cover for his short comings?

I think one of the 1st round picks has to be used on the O-Line. If both are then so be it and I won't complain.

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
I think one of the 1st round picks has to be used on the O-Line. If both are then so be it and I won't complain.

I really wish that the Niners had been able to play Pashos at RT this year. I know that they need to upgrade their LG spot, but RT seems like it needs to be a major focus in this draft.

Frankly, if we took an OT and Iupati with our two first picks I wouldn't even complain.

Our Oline MUST get better-a lot better-or we aren't going anywhere.

Originally posted by Butter:

Originally posted by krizay:

Originally posted by Butter:
*This is not intended to be a bash Alex Smith thread. However, I think most of us agree that he is not a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady type QB.

Smith showed signs of improvement this year, but all QB's look better when they have good protection. I have read other fans that speculate that McCloughlin will not take a OT or OG with 1st round selections, but those picks will help Smith look good. Also, with all of the runs that were stuffed at the line of scrimmage, an Oline upgrade will obviously help the running game as well. Singletary has made it obvious that the Oline needs a major upgrade, so I think assuming that he's targeting Oline is a safe assumption.

Simple question, will McC's link to Smith encourage him to target Oline early in this draft?

Well early doesn't mean it HAS to be 1st round. We don't need to have Pace/Ogden/Larry Allen and Steve Hutchinson out there. We just need players who can win the battle 90% of the time. So while it needs to be addressed. It doesn't have to be at 13 or 16.


Now to your Smith comment. Our QB's could help our o line out. How many times have we seen a blitz coming and the QB just runs the play without pointing out who's coming to his linemen? I see all the good/great QB's in the league point out who's coming and who should block him. Our guys just snap the ball and let the chips fall where they may.


I'm sure someone is going to tell me how wrong I am!

This might be a perfect example of what I was trying to say. Ideally, Smith will improve at that process, but if he continues to struggle at that, doesn't a stellar Oline help cover for his short comings?

Well I also see centers pointing out what they see and who they think's coming. . They are like the "leader" (for lack of a better word) of the offensive line. Heitmann isn't that guy either and unfortunately that's not a position we are looking to upgrade. So it's all on Smith. But to be fair to Smith, he doesn't get the play with 20 plus second left on the clock like the good teams do. Or atleast it seems like we don't anyway.