Jimmie Ward Strong Safety

Originally posted by Touchdown49ers2014:
1) They drafted a safety. So why did the Niners sign Antoine Bethea for 4 years and $26 million?

2) They are going to convert Ward to a corner? If his coverage skills were that great why wasn't he playing corner at Northern Illinois? Seriously.

3) If Ward converts to corner (which wont be easy) who exactly is going to be his mentor playing CB in the NFL since the Niners lost both their starting veteran corners to free agency?

4) Who exactly did he play against in the MAC to make one think he can play CB against NFL wide receiver type talent?

5) Did the 49ers look at the low percentage of MAC defensive players drafted in the past years who actually had an impact in the NFL?

I think these are all good questions. I am not trolling.

1. We lost whitner in free agency and had a hole at Safety.


2 He did play corner at NIU as well as safety, here's the answer to a question regarding during the post draft conference call.

How much nickel did you play for Northern Illinois?
"I started three years at nickel, including safety."

Do you know approximately what percentage of defensive plays were in the nickel? Estimate?
"I want to say a good 40 percent, 50 percent, because in the MAC Conference, there's a lot of spread offenses. They throw the ball around a lot."

3. Eric Wright has 8 years experience at CB, Bethea has 9 at safety.

4. Probably not very many in the MAC itself but he was rated the highest grade at the senior bowl in which he played against other top draft prospects at the wide receiver position and stepped up to the competition level. In addition he played against Florida State in 2013 at a bowl game and did a great job himself (the team as a whole sucked).

5. I honestly don't know but what Jimmie Ward does on the field is up to him, not other players previously drafted from the MAC.

Why we did this is because Antonine Bethea becomes cut able. Say we keep him for two years than decide it's time for Ward to start, were only going to take a 2.5 cap hit I expect though he starts for 3 years before we let the kid replace him, because his cap number goes up to 7 million in his final year so my thinking is that's the year we really don't want to pay him and would only cost 1.25 million in dead money.

Originally posted by Touchdown49ers2014:

1) They drafted a safety. So why did the Niners sign Antoine Bethea for 4 years and $26 million?

2) They are going to convert Ward to a corner? If his coverage skills were that great why wasn't he playing corner at Northern Illinois? Seriously.

3) If Ward converts to corner (which wont be easy) who exactly is going to be his mentor playing CB in the NFL since the Niners lost both their starting veteran corners to free agency?

4) Who exactly did he play against in the MAC to make one think he can play CB against NFL wide receiver type talent?

5) Did the 49ers look at the low percentage of MAC defensive players drafted in the past years who actually had an impact in the NFL?

I think these are all good questions. I am not trolling.

To answer #4, in 2012 played Iowa had 12 tackles and 2 PD, he played FSU in their bowl and had 14 tackles and a PD, this year played Iowa had 13 tackles and an INT, versus Purdue had 9 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD, and 1 PD. So when he steps up to play the big boys, he shows up big. Don't knock it cause he played in the MAC, he's shown he can play versus National Championship winning teams and Big 10 teams and more than hold his own.

Originally posted by dizzzydaniel:

Originally posted by Touchdown49ers2014:
1) They drafted a safety. So why did the Niners sign Antoine Bethea for 4 years and $26 million?

2) They are going to convert Ward to a corner? If his coverage skills were that great why wasn't he playing corner at Northern Illinois? Seriously.

3) If Ward converts to corner (which wont be easy) who exactly is going to be his mentor playing CB in the NFL since the Niners lost both their starting veteran corners to free agency?

4) Who exactly did he play against in the MAC to make one think he can play CB against NFL wide receiver type talent?

5) Did the 49ers look at the low percentage of MAC defensive players drafted in the past years who actually had an impact in the NFL?

I think these are all good questions. I am not trolling.

1. We lost whitner in free agency and had a hole at Safety.


2 He did play corner at NIU as well as safety, here's the answer to a question regarding during the post draft conference call.

How much nickel did you play for Northern Illinois?
"I started three years at nickel, including safety."

Do you know approximately what percentage of defensive plays were in the nickel? Estimate?
"I want to say a good 40 percent, 50 percent, because in the MAC Conference, there's a lot of spread offenses. They throw the ball around a lot."

3. Eric Wright has 8 years experience at CB, Bethea has 9 at safety.

4. Probably not very many in the MAC itself but he was rated the highest grade at the senior bowl in which he played against other top draft prospects at the wide receiver position and stepped up to the competition level. In addition he played against Florida State in 2013 at a bowl game and did a great job himself (the team as a whole sucked).

5. I honestly don't know but what Jimmie Ward does on the field is up to him, not other players previously drafted from the MAC.

Good answers dan

Originally posted by JiksJuicy:

That's some Ronnie Lott vs the rams stuff right there.

I don't get how some say its a reach at 30, I mean its the 30th pick. If the 49ers was to trade with Texans, Browns or Raiders who's drafting early 2nd, will that still be considered a reach?

I don't get how some say its a reach at 30, I mean its the 30th pick. If the 49ers was to trade with Texans, Browns or Raiders who's drafting early 2nd, will that still be considered a reach?

Dude, this guy kinda reminds me of a slightly taller (and quicker) Blaine Bishop.

That guy was fairly good

Originally posted by 49ersOnMINE:
I don't get how some say its a reach at 30, I mean its the 30th pick. If the 49ers was to trade with Texans, Browns or Raiders who's drafting early 2nd, will that still be considered a reach?

CBS ranked him 30
Mayock and Kiper 50s

Full round scenarios

http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl-draft/178419-complete-scenarios-based-cbs-mayock-kiper/

Originally posted by 49ersOnMINE:
I don't get how some say its a reach at 30, I mean its the 30th pick. If the 49ers was to trade with Texans, Browns or Raiders who's drafting early 2nd, will that still be considered a reach?

You bring up an excellent point. It's a fairly odd spot to pick, especially when you have so many teams eyeing "steals" in the early second (49ers draft late second). So, more likely than not, teams won't trade for the 30th ovreall pick if they have an early second because they'll assume their guy will be their either way. However, the 49ers can not assume their "second round steal" will exist in the LATE second round.

In all, the pick makes a lot of sense when you break down how this draft was going. I'm happy, this guy looks like a solid career starter and at the end of the day, that's a VERY good thing.... given recent history.

I like the pick. It covers a multitude of things, such as having a future safety and immediate slot corner (Think Chris Culliver. College safety who had experience playing corner). Some people have compared him to an Earl Thomas lite, which I can see. He's fast, rangy and loves to hit.

At first I was like "WTF" but you start to see the highlights and read up on the guy and realize that it was probably the best pick they could have made given who was left. I don't think the 49ers found any value in any of the trades they explored and stayed put for the BPA for their needs.

The 2nd and 3rd rds to me are what will define the 2014 draft. 5 picks in those two rounds, we should come up with at least 2-3 outstanding players.

Given the massive run on WR and CB in the first round, I like this pick a lot. Our front office showed patience and didnt over pay to move up the 10 spots or more it would take to get one of the bigger names at a position of need and still addressed both slot corner and future starting safety opposite Ried by standing pat in the first. Now they have a ton of fire powe to move around the second/third/ fourth rounds to secure even more talent.

It seemed like teams wanted a lot to trade up, as Baalke said as much but the price would've been too steep.

My initial reaction is that it's a bit of a reach for a position that we didn't necessarily need help with. I'm not overwhelmed with the Bathea signing but he's as solid a veteran to have out there so we don't just have 1st and 2nd year guys in the backfield.

But digging deeper, we hear about how this guy is a football player, who loves the game, does everything extremely well (coverage, tackling, playing the run) and should be an impact player. What's more, we had a need at CB, especially nickel where we tend to get burned by smaller receivers, and that's where Ward will see a bunch of time. So the need was there, and we essentially took a CB/SS/special teamer with our 30th pick. Not glamorous by any means, but I am optimistic about him and Reid down the road.

I think we'll see more splash tonight with WRs, CBs and maybe a LB/DE type.

Originally posted by DrGonzo00:
It seemed like teams wanted a lot to trade up, as Baalke said as much but the price would've been too steep.

My initial reaction is that it's a bit of a reach for a position that we didn't necessarily need help with. I'm not overwhelmed with the Bathea signing but he's as solid a veteran to have out there so we don't just have 1st and 2nd year guys in the backfield.

But digging deeper, we hear about how this guy is a football player, who loves the game, does everything extremely well (coverage, tackling, playing the run) and should be an impact player. What's more, we had a need at CB, especially nickel where we tend to get burned by smaller receivers, and that's where Ward will see a bunch of time. So the need was there, and we essentially took a CB/SS/special teamer with our 30th pick. Not glamorous by any means, but I am optimistic about him and Reid down the road.

I think we'll see more splash tonight with WRs, CBs and maybe a LB/DE type.

Regarding your initial point - More than any draft I've seen in the past, it seems that BPA's and needs and team draft orders were more in line this year than any other I've seen in the past. There wasn't really anything the 49ers could offer to move around that made sense for both sides.

Originally posted by Geeked:
You bring up an excellent point. It's a fairly odd spot to pick, especially when you have so many teams eyeing "steals" in the early second (49ers draft late second). So, more likely than not, teams won't trade for the 30th ovreall pick if they have an early second because they'll assume their guy will be their either way. However, the 49ers can not assume their "second round steal" will exist in the LATE second round.

The voice of reason at last (the same goes for the poster you responded to). I have no clue how Ward will pan out - he may be another Reid or another AJ Jenkins. Who knows? But this persistent nonsense about "steals" and "reaches" always focuses on rounds rather than overall picks. Ward may very well have been "available in the 2nd", as most idiots like Walter Football like to drone on. But would he have been available at 56 overall? That's what these people keep forgetting, or rather they can't keep really track of 250-odd draftees and over 1500 squad positions in all teams, so they use the crib of "rounds". I particularly love how they muddle the picture even more by using two rounds or more for a prospect's possible draft position: "Possible round drafted: 3-5". I always laugh when I see such "predictions", which basically mean "he will be one of about 100 names between the top of the 3rd and the bottom of the 5th". Some prediction!