Originally posted by nw9erfan:
What I've noticed is that many zoners actually had really good reasons for criticizing the Niners' draft. Some of them included...
- not getting top value for any of the picks with the exception of Hunter
- taking unnecessary risks with certain picks when more "sure things" were available (examples include.....Aldon Smith / JJ Watt; Kaep / Dalton; Culliver / C Brown; Kilgore / pick another lineman....this was a universally panned pick).
- moving up to take Kilgore
- choosing B Miller as a FB
- choosing C Jones at all
- choosing CB Holcomb over a QB prospect like Tolzien for example (we all know how that played out eventually..)
Seeing as the team is still only 6 games into the current season, even those rookies who are making good contributions are not guaranteed of bright futures.
This is why the draft is such an inexact science. It is so hard to judge one as successful or not until at least 2 years after the fact. Some guys that look like sure things bust all of the time (look at Aaron Curry for example)...
At this point, it looks like Harbaugh / Baalke used the lockout to really do their homework on their picks....and got the kind of guys that would really fit in to the type of team they wanted to construct....including building a strong special teams group. Nice job. So far, so good...
I understand, But I was well behind the first 4 picks. Aldon was my 12th rated prospect, so not really a reach, I had Kaep around where we took him. Culliver IMO was a 4th rd guy, but I loved the pick, and Hunter was a steal.
Kilgore is a guy I have faith in, i think if he gets a shot he will shine.
Holcomb's injury hurts, he looked like a good pick, I myself wanted Ian Williams in the 7th, but hey we got him in UDFA so all is well.
Bruce Miller i didnt understand at FB, boy was I wrong.
So, overall as of now, Baalke/Harbaugh get an A for this draft.