Do You Trust the 49ers brass to draft a WR

Originally posted by matt49er:

Originally posted by KRS-1:
With Trent Baalke at the helm we have drafted the following WR's :

2010 Kyle Williams - 6th round
2011 Ronald Johnson - 6th round
2012 AJ Jenkins - 1st round
2013 Quinton Patton - 4th round

That track record that precedes him does not lead me to have little to little to no faith in him but to each their own. He has one big failure to date but has only invested one high pick into the position.

very well put KRS, I think ppl fail to really look at what he's done, he's only drafted one WR high in the draft and it was a miss, Patton looks like he could end up being great value in the 4th round but as the OP stated, next year is when we'll really be able to find out or at least get a good read on him.

Overall, Baalke has done an awesome job in the draft, I think even the 2012 draft could end up being better than a complete flop like it looks now. LMJ is a better PR/KR than ppl give him credit for and his 4.9 YPC to me at least says that he has ability at the RB position, he just hasn't been given enough of a chance but that could change with Gore getting up there in age. IMO if Kilgore/Looney end up being starters at either C or LG (if Iupati leaves after next season) then the draft will be okay at least.

I think 49er fans (ones on this board especially) tend to focus too much on the negative. Look at the Aldon Smith pick, ppl were shocked by that and he's become one of the most dominate defensive players in football. Kaep, Hunter, Culliver, Bowman, Reid, Miller and many others have proven to be very good picks. The trade for Boldin, signing FAs like Dawson, Whitner, Dorsey, Skuta etc have been great moves also. In short, give the man some credit and show some faith.

Exactly. Have faith. Everybody has draft busts. Bill Walsh drafted a RB in the 1st round named Earl Cooper who he later tried to convert to TE and then just released him and he had other busts too. It is the overall that you have to judge not 1 individual pick and overall the 49ers have done an amazing job of building a team. It is also not just Baalke. Harbaugh has a lot of say and there are these things called scouts that have a voice as well.

It is not that the 49ers are lousy at drafting WR's. The real problem is they have not really targeted the position. You have 5-6 roster spots for WR and even if AJ Jenkins had panned out we would only have 3 we drafted and only have used 3 top picks(RD 1-4) at WR in the last what 6-7 years? Three picks over that time frame to fill 5-6 roster spots is nothing. In the last few years we have used 3 top picks for RB when there are only 4 spots available and we already had a HOF starter.

They simply have to target the position. Until the lucky trade for Boldin that was brother to brother we signed cast-off receivers and occasionally used a pick. We never really tried to build a talented receiving core. The time has come. It is long overdue.

I trust Baalke to draft a quality wide receiver. I would like him to draft at least two in the first three rounds.

I do not think that what any other 49er general manager has done has much relevance.

At this point I need an Eric Reid trade up to prove to me that they can do their homework on a player, do what it takes to get him and whether its on them or the player, I'd want to see immediate returns in terms of player development or production.

I was going to say a Chris Culliver like value pick but that was Quinton Patton last season so it has to be the first otherwise I'll kind of look at any receiver selected by us in the first 2 rounds like Crabtree, that he simply fell to us and we had to take him.

absolutely not... Conventional wisdom says hell no!

My bigger concern is with our utilization and coaching of these wide receivers. So far we haven't been able to develop anyone really. Only guys who have played well are either already seasoned vets and Crabtree pretty much developed on his own and probably learned a lot more from Moss and Boldin than our coaches.

How Morton still has a job with us is a real mind fuk.

Originally posted by genus49:
My bigger concern is with our utilization and coaching of these wide receivers. So far we haven't been able to develop anyone really. Only guys who have played well are either already seasoned vets and Crabtree pretty much developed on his own and probably learned a lot more from Moss and Boldin than our coaches.

How Morton still has a job with us is a real mind fuk.

Yea so far we can thank Crabtree's insane work ethic for his development plus veteran presence in the locker room. Then Moss and Boldin for extra help.....The presence of those 3 is pretty much the only explanation for Patton's progress.

Every other WR was at their ceiling (K. Williams), or not putting in the work (Jenkins).

Originally posted by sfout:

Yea so far we can thank Crabtree's insane work ethic for his development plus veteran presence in the locker room. Then Moss and Boldin for extra help.....The presence of those 3 is pretty much the only explanation for Patton's progress.

Every other WR was at their ceiling (K. Williams), or not putting in the work (Jenkins).

The presence of Crabtree, Boldin, and Moss is the only explanation for Patton's progress?

Moss was not on the team with Patton. How did he help Patton develop?

I think the WR position is a hard position to draft anyway. there are a ton of WRs picked each year because it is usually a hit or miss area. we have not had a ton of luck lately but it could change. now that we have a stable QB I think we can see more productivity from WRs in the future

Originally posted by buck:

Originally posted by sfout:
Yea so far we can thank Crabtree's insane work ethic for his development plus veteran presence in the locker room. Then Moss and Boldin for extra help.....The presence of those 3 is pretty much the only explanation for Patton's progress.

Every other WR was at their ceiling (K. Williams), or not putting in the work (Jenkins).

The presence of Crabtree, Boldin, and Moss is the only explanation for Patton's progress?

Moss was not on the team with Patton. How did he help Patton develop?

I'm talking cumulative. Like Moss > Crabtree > Patton. I knew that wouldn't be conveyed well.

If not Baalke, then who should we trust? You? Webzoners?

Originally posted by kronik:
If not Baalke, then who should we trust? You? Webzoners?

In Jed York we trust?

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Looking at the draft trade chart it seems Watkins is do-able if someone is willing...or am I looking at an old chart? 30th, 60th and a late 3rd pick for #5? I might be tempted as it would still leave the team with a second, two thirds and all their other picks.

If his speed checks out this is the way I am leaning. People seem to forget that our current roster is DEEP. We need to find spots for guys that were on IR and the practice squad. This is the last year before the heavy contracts come,...this is the year to try to get over the hump more than any other.

We will most certainly not draft 10 kids with so few spots. We either need an over the hump player such as Watkins, or a trade to a later draft (which would be counter productive to my point of this being our best run given the vets and upcoming contracts). The supposed payoff for picks like Dial, Tank, and Lattimore is that they basically count as 3 extra picks this year that need to make the 53. Hopefully a project like the Brit develops and that makes 4 spots covered.

Watkins can come in and instantly contribute to a title run. We have to ask ourselves "who else can?" We could sure use a shut-down corner as well, but getting one for immediate help would perhaps only happen in FA. I see us addressing spots like CB, S, and OL in the draft as well.

We basically are in the position of needing to develop the guys we have

Drafting late is hard enough, but wr is even harder, unless they jump up really high. That is why I don't want us using the first on a wr unless by some dumb $hit of luck we could grab a Sammy Watkins or Marquise Lee which I doubt.

I think we have a good coaching staff that can put players in a position to suceed, with that said though, the one weak point has been our wr coach. Simply, I think he sucks.

Originally posted by JustinNiner:
yea two biggest problems with our WRs is the coaching and offensive scheme. Morton is completely useless. Crabs didn't even start being a stud til Moss came in and took him under his wing. Plus Roman has no idea how to put players in position to get the ball. West coast offense ("hybr my a$$...where are all the slant routes and screens?

The thing I don't get is that all season long we saw opposing offense's attack this secondary with comeback's and slants which were successful due to the secondary playing off, however when facing teams that played similarly in the secondary, they didn't seem to try to replicate that same sort of offensive strategy.

Originally posted by random49er:
If his speed checks out this is the way I am leaning. People seem to forget that our current roster is DEEP. We need to find spots for guys that were on IR and the practice squad. This is the last year before the heavy contracts come,...this is the year to try to get over the hump more than any other.

We will most certainly not draft 10 kids with so few spots. We either need an over the hump player such as Watkins, or a trade to a later draft (which would be counter productive to my point of this being our best run given the vets and upcoming contracts). The supposed payoff for picks like Dial, Tank, and Lattimore is that they basically count as 3 extra picks this year that need to make the 53. Hopefully a project like the Brit develops and that makes 4 spots covered.

Watkins can come in and instantly contribute to a title run. We have to ask ourselves "who else can?" We could sure use a shut-down corner as well, but getting one for immediate help would perhaps only happen in FA. I see us addressing spots like CB, S, and OL in the draft as well.

We basically are in the position of needing to develop the guys we have

Of course this ignores the needs at cornerback, safety and several other positions. The "let's trade up" crowd just doesn't get it. This team will have plenty of guys to replace this offseason, and will need all the young talent that they can get to keep salaries under control, not just this year, but every single year. Rather than be like Atlanta, trade up, blow a bunch of draft picks on a single guy and then get screwed over when the lack of depth and injuries catch up, build like New England who has managed to keep pace and remaining a winning team and Superbowl contender for over a decade.


So which is it? Do you want to be the Falcons or the Patriots?