Originally posted by nw9erfan:
Originally posted by SF69ers:
Originally posted by MadDog49er:
I sure hope Baalke was not pounding the table for Mays, Rachal and Balmer.
His fingerprints on this draft will pretty much come down to these two players: Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick. If Gabbert ends up the better pro, and a solid franchise QB, as I expect, then Baalke will be known as the guy who passed on him for a redshirt sophomore OLB.
Gonna pass on praising him now. The Niners' fans were elated with new head coach Mike Singletary about two years ago.
P.S. I graded this draft class below average compared to the other teams in the draft, but will be pleased to eat crow if wrong.
I'm pretty sure that Baalke wasn't the main voice on the Mays, Rachal, Balmer picks. Mays seemed very much like a Singletary pick. Sing threw him out on the field to basically learn the position and not having the right technique. As far as Rachal and Balmer, those look like McCloughan/Nolan picks there.
Something was clearly wrong with Gabbert, which is why he dropped to 10. IMO, he was overrated ever since Luck decided to stay in school. Both he and Newton weren't even discussed in the top 10 at that time. Gabbert is just as much a project as guys like Kaepernick, Dalton, Locker, etc. I see no huge differences in skill on the field. It's all up to coaching now.
Good points, 69er... I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that Nolan and Sing no longer have a say in the Niner drafts. That being said, I wonder sometimes if Baalke listens to the coaches a bit too much instead of just making the final decision himself. I can certainly understand the first 2 picks of this draft because the need for a pass rusher and a QB was so great. Some of the later picks that have left guys like OTC and Maddog scratching their heads do invite questions about the Niners' current draft evaluation process. I think that is fair to say.
Of course, it may be the case that the coaching staff indeed convinced Baalke that taking guys like Culliver, Kilgore, and and Holcomb were really the best guys on the board at the time. What can one say at this time? We can only hope that the 9er brass are right.
This is how I see things developing, Ballke and the scouts outside the coaches sets the board, based on what the coaches require from their players, and the players talent. Then as the draft goes he adjusts You may feel that he listens to the coaches too much, but how are you going to get the player that fits the system of D and O that they are going to employ. Like some DBs are good in press coverage some are better in zone, some can be physical or blitz, recover etc., just like some are better at 3-4 others 4-3.
As Baalke gets more familiar with what the OC and DC likes to do, his draft and board will be adjusted based on that as well as BPA.
Like a lot of people liked Quinn, but perhaps they felt Quinn would not make it as a OLB and would flourish only in a 4-3 as a DE. Where as Smith playing DE, DT, OLB. Fangio likes that cause he can move Smith all over causing confusion and match up problems.
