Trade up!

Originally posted by mustangmele:
Niners should trade up for Mike Evans. That guy is going to be the next Jimmy Graham, but as a receiver. He will own any Seattle DB. Guys is tall and physical.

graham is a good comparison

I wouldn't be happy, it sure looks good, but putting all your eggs in basket for a couple of big names who are just a little more than a question mark going into the season. IMO that wouldn't be a good move.

Originally posted by VPofCarnage:

Dez Bryant didn't even run the 40 at the combine. You can't compare non-combine times to combine times. And AJ Green, who had half a tenth on Evans & .02 fater 10-yard split, is one of the most graceful WRs the NFL will ever see. Evans is herky-jerky & awkward moving.

There's more to being fast / quick than a 40 time. Evans' game is all about pushing off and reaching past / over CBs. He won't get away with that at the pro level. Not to say he'll be Johnathan Baldwin, but he's not going to be Dez Bryant or AJ Green. Not even close.

Evans has advantages and disadvantages compared to those guys. He's not much slower than Bryant and Green if 40 times can be trusted (Dez Bryant's 4.52 was at his pro day so it was hand timed and he likely would have run slower at the combine - it's silly to say you can't compare them in this situation where Bryant's time is very likely faster than it should be). Bryant is more physical and explosive than Evans, but Evans is bigger and has much longer arms than Bryant and Green. Evans will immediately have the best combination of height and length of any receiver in the NFL and he's a pretty good athlete on top of that.

I do think Bryant and Green have more natural hands than Evans, but Evans has decent hands and runs pretty good routes for a big receiver coming out of college. He also does a good job of shielding defenders most of the time and his background as a basketball player shows up here. There's a reason he will be a top 10 pick and some other talented receivers that the webzone really like won't be taken until the late 2nd round.

I don't see him being herky jerky or awkward at all - it's actually surprising how often he gets separation and how few of his targets are contested. Cornerbacks had no shot at a lot of balls thrown to Evans which is a credit to Evans' size and separation and Manziel's accuracy. He also shows really good coordination on sidelines throws getting his feet down and displays the strength to make catches through contact. One thing he needs to work on is going out and grabbing the ball rather than letting it come to him because he doesn't always come away with the ball on the rare occasion that a defender was in position to contest a throw.

I don't think he will be better than Green or Bryant, but he has as high a ceiling as any receiver in this class. He would also kill 2 birds with one stone if the 49ers draft him - he is a legitimate deep threat because of his size/speed combo and jump ball ability and he's a nice red zone threat as well.

I think it's important for mocksters to realize it's unlikely either Culliver or Aldon will have significant suspensions. Cully's hit & run was classified as a misdemeanor...he still faces felony charges for the brass knuckles, but it's unfolding to be less serious than first reported (isn't that just about always the case). WRT Aldon, his false bomb threat most likely will be a misdemeanor, if the DA even does that. Again, not as serious as the media was reporting...just not enough facts known early on. All that said, the likelihood Harbaugh will have these two players for most if not all of the season tells me Baalke may not be prone to trade up in the 1st rd, although he certainly could. What I see is him trading up maybe 4-5 spots to get a player he & Harbaugh really like. The other factor is we really don't know how the 1st rd will go...there could be a run on QB's, although I think most will slip some. Ditto WR's & CB's. There's just about always a run on OL. So, the need to trade up that early would seem less likely now that more is known about the status of Cully and Aldon.

My picks for the first 3 rds:

Fuller

Matthews

Breeland

Ellington

Ahmad Dixon

ILB Barrow

Originally posted by eastcoast49ersfan:

Evans has advantages and disadvantages compared to those guys. He's not much slower than Bryant and Green if 40 times can be trusted (Dez Bryant's 4.52 was at his pro day so it was hand timed and he likely would have run slower at the combine - it's silly to say you can't compare them in this situation where Bryant's time is very likely faster than it should be). Bryant is more physical and explosive than Evans, but Evans is bigger and has much longer arms than Bryant and Green. Evans will immediately have the best combination of height and length of any receiver in the NFL and he's a pretty good athlete on top of that.

I do think Bryant and Green have more natural hands than Evans, but Evans has decent hands and runs pretty good routes for a big receiver coming out of college. He also does a good job of shielding defenders most of the time and his background as a basketball player shows up here. There's a reason he will be a top 10 pick and some other talented receivers that the webzone really like won't be taken until the late 2nd round.

I don't see him being herky jerky or awkward at all - it's actually surprising how often he gets separation and how few of his targets are contested. Cornerbacks had no shot at a lot of balls thrown to Evans which is a credit to Evans' size and separation and Manziel's accuracy. He also shows really good coordination on sidelines throws getting his feet down and displays the strength to make catches through contact. One thing he needs to work on is going out and grabbing the ball rather than letting it come to him because he doesn't always come away with the ball on the rare occasion that a defender was in position to contest a throw.

I don't think he will be better than Green or Bryant, but he has as high a ceiling as any receiver in this class. He would also kill 2 birds with one stone if the 49ers draft him - he is a legitimate deep threat because of his size/speed combo and jump ball ability and he's a nice red zone threat as well.

Considering the 2 second round picks for captain checkdown, if Baalke can trade up for mike evans, it will go a long way to restoring his reputation that he can walk on water after the AJ Jenkins pick. PS I agree with your evaluation of Mike Evans.

Evans definitely has better than decent hands. his hands are really good. the ball he caught on a post vs louisiana tech in 2012 was BEAUTIFUL and has stuck in my mind how soft his hands were for a dude his size. dude plucked it out of the air with pillow soft hands.

Originally posted by SFBuckeye:
If Trent Balke wheeled and dealed in the draft and traded all of our picks to move up and snatch mike Evans and Gilbert, would you be happy? I know this is a deep draft year but if we could grab the number 2 WR and the number 1 cb I would pumped. We have the picks to make it happen,

There are few scenarios that would make me less happy than this one. Some of those worse scenarios involve my house and myself being on fire.

Originally posted by sf_nicoya:
Evans definitely has better than decent hands. his hands are really good. the ball he caught on a post vs louisiana tech in 2012 was BEAUTIFUL and has stuck in my mind how soft his hands were for a dude his size. dude plucked it out of the air with pillow soft hands.

And then he probably dropped the next 10 passes. Of course none of those are on his highlight reel.

mike evans had the 2nd lowest drop rate out of all the top wide receivers in the draft at 4.29% for last season only second to jarvis landry.

Evans is over rated IMHO. People are entranced with his size, but JJ Stokes had size too... You know, "the next Jerry Rice"....

Have no problem drafting Evans, as long as we don't give up much to get him.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by MC9BEAT:
Absolutely. I would rather trade back 8-10 slots, pick up an early 2nd round pick for 2015 and then draft Stephen Tuitt for our DL. We could then use our two 2nd round picks to draft a talented WR and CB, have 3 more picks in the 3rd round where we could look for an OL, a saftey, a 2nd CB or 2nd WR and another pick in the 4th round for a 2nd CB or WR or possibly a PR/KR like Dri Archer. By the time the 5th round pick comes there will probably be some talented players that have fallen to us or we could select a pup list guy like Aaron Colvin.

We could end up with a lot of talent in this draft. It is widely accepted that the greatest draft in 49er history is the one where Bill Walsh traded back and stock piled a lot of picks in I think 86. This draft could set us up for years to come like that one did.

Some people think only 1st rd picks can really make an impact on the team and the rest are just depth. Tell that to our QB Kap. Or RB Gore. How about LB's Brooks and Bowman? DL McDonald or CB Brock. They are all big time players and only Kap was a 2nd rounder and the rest 3rd rounders or later. That doesn't include all the other players that contribute that were taken later in the draft like our other 3 RB's , FB, 2 starters on the O-line, Tank Carradine coming in this season on the DL, WR's Boldin and Patton, ect.....

Gore is our best RB of all time and he was a 3rd rd pick. So was Joe Montana the best QB of all time. Enough said.

This is a valid scenario, but a bit impractical. As much as I'd like more volume and more picks like the '86 draft. In '86 we had a lot of holes to fill and Walsh had to do what he had to do to replenish the talent pool. We were 2 years removed from a super bowl win and a lot of our stars were aging by then.

Contrast that with today where only Boldin and Justin Smith are significantly over 30. This is a very young team in a lot of ways and while I'd love to have something like 3 Wrs picked in the 3rd round, how many of them will realistically make the team vs Patton, Crabs, Anquan and Lloyd? I think the better option will be trading up and getting some top flight players at a position of need, and then possibly trading down the latter half of the draft for next years picks.

Actually I was thinking drafting 2 WR's - 1 in the 2nd rd and another in rounds 3 or 4. That could end up being Jordan Mathews or Donte Moncreif plus someone like Coleman or Ellington or Latimer. All top flight prospects and assuming Lloyd still has it they could replace Baldwin and Osgood on the roster.

Draft a CB in rd 2 and another in rd 3 or 4. We certainly could fit them on the roster.
Example: trade back
rd 2 Stephen Tuitt DE
rd 2 Jordan Mathews WR or Donte Moncreif WR
rd 2 Stanley Jean Baptiste CB
rd 3 Cody Latimer WR
rd 3 Marcus Martin C
rd 3 Pierre Desir CB
rd 4 Craig Loston S or Antone Exum S or Dri Archer PR/KR
rd 5 Aaron Colvin CB or Brandon Thomas G both pup list prospects
rd 7 pup list prospects Thomas G, Long G, Sunseri S, Whitley S, Millard FB, Pick best 3 still on the board

Now this is just an example draft but who on this list couldn't make the team? They all could help us win now and help us in to the future with the exception of the red shirt pup list guys who could help us in the future while costing us very little draft capital now. Plus the extra pick for 2015.

I know some want to trade up and get a top flight WR but there are top flight WR's in this draft in rounds 2 and 3. Go back and look at the 49ers draft since Bill Walsh year 1979.

We used 6 , 1st round picks at WR ( 2 to move up for JJ Stokes and 1+ for Jerry Rice)
We got 2 great receivers, Rice and Crabtree. 1 solid player stokes and 2 complete worthless busts. Only 2 while using six 1st rd picks. The talk about Stokes was similar to the talk about Evans today.

We drafted no WR's in the 2nd rd

We used 7, 3rd rd picks and ended up with 2 great WR's , Terrell Owens and John Taylor for way way less draft capital.

We used 3 , 4th rd picks and got Quinton Patton and Brandon Lloyd

This being a very deep WR class the value is in the later rounds. I really don't care what the 49ers do as long as when they draft they pick really good players but the going wisdom is there is more value trading back in a deep draft and trading up in a weak draft and this is a very deep draft, especially at the positions we need most WR and CB. We would end up with Tuitt giving us 2 top flight DE's to rotate in and eventually take over solidifying our DL for years and years to come, 2 top WR prospects and 2 top CB prospects plus a top O-line prospect and safety prospect. Add to that the value of the pup list guys and an extra top pick for 2015 it wouldn't be the worst way to go for this draft.

Mike Evans is a monster, a complete stud. He's the one guy I would love to see us trade up for. If he gets past TB or our out of the top 10, I think Baalke goes all-in for him. He is the perfect weapon against Seattle and a redzone threat.

Originally posted by strickac:

Mike Evans is a monster, a complete stud. He's the one guy I would love to see us trade up for. If he gets past TB or our out of the top 10, I think Baalke goes all-in for him. He is the perfect weapon against Seattle and a redzone threat.

Why is he red zone threat???

Originally posted by MC9BEAT:

Actually I was thinking drafting 2 WR's - 1 in the 2nd rd and another in rounds 3 or 4. That could end up being Jordan Mathews or Donte Moncreif plus someone like Coleman or Ellington or Latimer. All top flight prospects and assuming Lloyd still has it they could replace Baldwin and Osgood on the roster.

Draft a CB in rd 2 and another in rd 3 or 4. We certainly could fit them on the roster.
Example: trade back
rd 2 Stephen Tuitt DE
rd 2 Jordan Mathews WR or Donte Moncreif WR
rd 2 Stanley Jean Baptiste CB
rd 3 Cody Latimer WR
rd 3 Marcus Martin C
rd 3 Pierre Desir CB
rd 4 Craig Loston S or Antone Exum S or Dri Archer PR/KR
rd 5 Aaron Colvin CB or Brandon Thomas G both pup list prospects
rd 7 pup list prospects Thomas G, Long G, Sunseri S, Whitley S, Millard FB, Pick best 3 still on the board

Now this is just an example draft but who on this list couldn't make the team? They all could help us win now and help us in to the future with the exception of the red shirt pup list guys who could help us in the future while costing us very little draft capital now. Plus the extra pick for 2015.

I know some want to trade up and get a top flight WR but there are top flight WR's in this draft in rounds 2 and 3. Go back and look at the 49ers draft since Bill Walsh year 1979.

We used 6 , 1st round picks at WR ( 2 to move up for JJ Stokes and 1+ for Jerry Rice)
We got 2 great receivers, Rice and Crabtree. 1 solid player stokes and 2 complete worthless busts. Only 2 while using six 1st rd picks. The talk about Stokes was similar to the talk about Evans today.

We drafted no WR's in the 2nd rd

We used 7, 3rd rd picks and ended up with 2 great WR's , Terrell Owens and John Taylor for way way less draft capital.

We used 3 , 4th rd picks and got Quinton Patton and Brandon Lloyd

This being a very deep WR class the value is in the later rounds. I really don't care what the 49ers do as long as when they draft they pick really good players but the going wisdom is there is more value trading back in a deep draft and trading up in a weak draft and this is a very deep draft, especially at the positions we need most WR and CB. We would end up with Tuitt giving us 2 top flight DE's to rotate in and eventually take over solidifying our DL for years and years to come, 2 top WR prospects and 2 top CB prospects plus a top O-line prospect and safety prospect. Add to that the value of the pup list guys and an extra top pick for 2015 it wouldn't be the worst way to go for this draft.

It's an example draft, but Moncrief, Latimer, and Desir won't be available that late. I agree that most or all of those players in the first 4 rounds would make the team, but that would come at the expense of kicking some other players off the roster where they could be stolen by other teams. We don't need a ton of players - we can make room for those guys, but it would come at the cost of potentially losing guys like Baldwin and Okoye/Dial off the practice squad. For the record, I really like Tuitt and don't care at all if another team takes one of our backup defensive linemen off the practice squad if we get him, but there is a cost associated with drafting a lot of rookies.

I still think we are more likely to trade up in the second than the first because there are a lot of good WR's who will go between 30 and 56 and I expect 1-2 of the top 5 corners to go in the early second as well, but I would not complain if we got a decent deal for Evans.

Originally posted by CWin4949:

Why is he red zone threat???

Why is Jimmy Graham a red zone threat?