Grade the 49ers Entire Draft & UDFA Signings!

1st) Jimmie Ward S/CB
2nd) Carlos Hyde RB
3rd) Marcus Martin C
3rd) Chris Borland ILB
3rd) Brandon Thomas OT
4th) Bruce Ellington WR
4th) Dontae Johnson CB
5th) Aaron Lynch OLB/DE
5th) Keith Reaser CB
6th) Kenneth Acker CB
7th) Caled Ramsey DE
7th) Trey Milliard FB

UDFA's:

Kory Faulkner QB
Shayne Skov ILB
Morgan Breslin OLB
L.J. McCray S
Asante Cleveland TE
Dillon Farrell C
Fou Fonoti OT

My Analysis 5/17

1st) Jimmie Ward S/CB - C+ = I think it was a reach and that there were better players available. We could of traded up in the 2nd if we valued him that high. I think we had the ammo to trade up and get a stud like Beckham, Cooks, Dennard or Fuller. His level of competition is college was not great. He is small and if moved to safety down the round would push Reid to more of a SS. And Reid's concussion issues concern me when it comes to him playing down in the box like that.

2nd) Carlos Hyde RB - A = Love the pick. Gore is getting old and declining. He was a non-factor late in the year and especially in the playoffs. His contract is up this year as well. Hunter is not the answer long-term. Hes too small and is more of a change-of-pace back.. not to mention his contract expires this year too. I love Lattimore, but lets be honest, there are a lot of uncertainties about his knee and injury prone past. LMJ is talented, but I think he is mentally checked out. Hyde is a big bruiser that will grow into a stud in our Power Offense.

3rd) Marcus Martin C - A = Great value pick. I thought he was the top Center in the draft. I was impressed watching his reps at the combine. Kid is strong and has long arms. I see him being our Center of the future and a solid starter of our Offensive Line for years to come. And to get a guy like that in the 3rd round is a great deal. I was not too excited about Kilgore being our guy at Center but with the addition of Martin I see Kilgore playing backup at Center and Guard this year.

3rd) Chris Borland MLB - C = I'm not as excited as others about this pick. I'll start with the good. The kid looks like a gamer. Tough as nails. Old school hole plugger. This is what bothers me.. I get it, Bowman is going to miss the first 6 weeks of the year, maybe longer. But both Willis and Bowman are our MLB's for at least the next 3 years. Wilhoite filled in great when called upon last year. I can see him doing the same for Bowman to start the year. I understand Baalke wants competition for that spot, but taking a guy in the 3rd round for competition at MLB behind two all-pros doesnt go well with me. Hes small. He has stupid short arms. But guess what? He has special teams value.. but so does Moody who is the other MLB on our sqd. I also thought there were better players out there, at the time.

3rd) Brandon Thomas OG/OT - A- = I love the 'redshirt' system we have working for us in San Fran. Thomas is a mountain of a man that some were saying could sneak into the 1st round before he tore his ACL visiting the Saints a few months ago. Some say he could be the replacement for Iupati next season. Thomas's ACL tear is not a 100% guarantee that he will return the same as he was before, but there was still value.

4th) Bruce Ellington WR - A = Great pick. Tons of value and filled a huge need for us, as a guy who can take the top off of defenses and help in the return game. Leading up to the draft I saw mocks predicting him as a late 1st, early 2nd round guy. I saw him as the 3rd best Speed receiver behind Beckham and Cooks. Great pick by Baalke and company.

4th) Dontae Johnson CB - B = Big bodied.. with short arms and small hands. Aggressive when he needs to be. Average ball skills. Smart. Raw but filled a need.

5th) Aaron Lynch DE/OLB - C = Project. Tons of question marks. Character issues. Some upside if he can pull his head out. Reach.

5th) Keith Reaser CB - C- = Another redshirt coming off ACL injury. Small. Good tackler. Reach. I think he would of gone undrafted.

6th) Kenneth Acker CB - C = Decent size. Could develop into special teams player or Dime/Nickel back in the future. Seemes like Baalke was just shotgunning the CB position at this point hoping one sticks. I think he would of gone undrafted.

7th) Kaleb Ramsey DT - C = Great size. Big time injury concerns. Was never a solid/consistent contributor in college.

7th) Trey Milliard FB - A- = Another ACL tear redshirt, but this guy is a stud. He was one I was hoping we would grab because of his athleticism. With how often we involve the FB in the passing game he could develop into quite the weapon for us.


With that being said I give the draft a solid B. We are a team that are realistically 1-2 players away from winning the Super Bowl. With all the picks we had I would of liked to see us move up in the 1st and maybe again in the late 1st early 2nd. We are definitely going to cut some solid players this year cuz we just cant fit everyone. Players that could come back and bite us in the ass. But Landing Stevie Johnson is a huge PLUS. But he comes with baggage. I just hope he has the right mindset coming in the San Fran. He could be the future at WR for us.

Pretty early to say the least.

B+ - On the surface we got some pretty good players, stashed a few on IR, filled some needs and have lets of developmental potential.

Loved picking up Skov for free.

I'll give the Draft an A-, I thought we will be doing more trading up, but we traded back. More bodies to compete for precious roster spots. Baalke worked the draft for value like he always does, and he traded for Stevie Johnson which was a fantastic move.


1st) Jimmie Ward S/CB - We need a ball hawking safety, good size and speed, versatile, can start at nickel - B+
2nd) Carlos Hyde RB - I still want to see Lattimore but we got good insurance here, would have liked a back with breakaway speed, but I think he fits our offense well, best back in the draft - B+
3rd) Marcus Martin C - Best center in the draft, I think he will challenge Kilgore and looney - A
3rd) Chris Borland ILB - Undersized but plays with great technique, you don't win MVP defensive player for nothing, worst case scenario great on Special teams, best case is that he competes right away at ILB - B
3rd) Brandon Thomas OT - A second round pick if heathly, and you can stash him for a year (Guard and tackle) - A-
4th) Bruce Ellington WR - Maybe the most interesting pick, a guy with huge upside.....he's kind of like LaMichael James but won't bring the attitude - Kiper had him early second round - A
4th) Dontae Johnson CB - a really tall CB - thought they could have gone corner earlier, but they got three - B
5th) Aaron Lynch OLB/DE - has the talents, can he bring it....needs a good environment but has everything you want, I liked they got another pass rusher because you can never have too many - B
5th) Keith Reaser CB - can really fly, B
6th) Kenneth Acker CB - Can really fly too B......You gotta hope one of these guys will pan out
7th) Caled Ramsey DE - has the size, not bad to take a flier on him - C+
7th) Trey Milliard FB - Best FB in the draft and you can redshirt him - A+

UDFA's:

Kory Faulkner QB - good size, can make all the throws per harbaugh - Training camp competition
Shayne Skov ILB - AWESOME that they got Skov, I wonder if he will make the team
Morgan Breslin OLB
L.J. McCray S
Asante Cleveland TE
Dillon Farrell C
Fou Fonoti OT

I wonder why they didn't take a flier on more WR's, I know we picked up Brandon Lloyd and Stevie Johnson, but they could have picked up another WR, I don't think they are done.

Boldin, Crabtree, Johnson, Patton, Ellington, Lloyd, Baldwin.......Lloyd hopefully will push Baldwin, but Baldwin might be done. WR's go down so easily though.

Do we have any another receivers? I think we have some on the practice squad.



Read more at http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl-draft/178489-grade-49ers-entire-draft-amp-udfa-signings/#FPlKocYgR5GIEyLo.99

B, Good to great backups, no significant improvement over last year's starters.

Obviously so tough to grade a draft right away -- but we're fans - this is what we do!

I went B+; I really would have liked to push some of these picks into next year, even with a couple injured guys that will redshirt - I don't see a ton of openings on this roster. What good is drafting a late gem - like Cooper last year - only to lose him to another team because our roster is too loaded? Seems like we will end up essentially wasting a couple draft picks; not because they were bad picks, but just because we don't have the room.

I also went B+. Good depth selections and future starters and nice developmental picks.

Bleacher Report gave the SF draft an A+, and came just short of calling Baalke the supreme draft wizard. To stoke the fire they gave the Seahawks a C I give this one a solid A personally.

If you put in the Stevie Johnson trade, one has to give the team an A-. I will openly admit to being frustrated at the first two picks, then upon reflection I understood the picks.

My only negative, is I truly wanted David Fales in round 5. I watched Fales beat Derek Carr, and personally think he will make a better pro than Carr. Other than that, the draft was great.

There are some players that went undrafted that I hoped the niners would have gotten. If we could get Brandon Coleman WR (red zone giant), Marcus Roberson CB, and Craig Loston S, I would be stoked. I'm very happy we got Skov. I think he makes the team.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
Bleacher Report gave the SF draft an A+, and came just short of calling Baalke the supreme draft wizard. To stoke the fire they gave the Seahawks a C I give this one a solid A personally.

Kiper Gave the Niners an A and said they had the best draft in the NFC also said that the Hyde pick was the best second round pick of the draft and the Ellington 4th round pick was also the best 4th round pick of the draft.

1st) Jimmie Ward S/CB A- : I thought he had star potential as a free safety based on production, but strength and size a concern there so may be better in nickel

2nd) Carlos Hyde RB B+: Star potential on another team, but I prefer Lattimore so I see a backup role. Gore's backup role is still up for grabs. Would be A, but downgraded to B+ because we have Lattimore.

3rd) Marcus Martin C A: Great fit. Young and top Center available.

3rd) Chris Borland ILB B+: Star potential on another team. Second best ILB in draft, super productive and is great insurance especially with Bowman recovering. Would be A, but we have Bowman & Willis.

Rest of the draft: B Nothing jumps out at me..

3rd) Brandon Thomas OT
Thomas has the measurables, but I haven't evaluated production. He is going to convert from tackle to guard I take it.

4th) Bruce Ellington WR
Ellington plays basketball and I hear he's quick. I like two-sports athletes (especially basketball players at TE). Good production in SEC competition

4th) Dontae Johnson CB
Dontae seems to be a high school recruit of Harbaugh. That worked with Reid, but Dontae wasn't all that productive so we'll see.

5th) Aaron Lynch OLB/DE
Good tape and above-average production at Notre Dame, and similar production at USF with lesser competition. Don't have too much expectations.

5th) Keith Reaser CB
Not that productive at small school in terms of passes defensed. Not sure if offenses didn't throw much to his side..Don't have much expectations.

6th) Kenneth Acker CB
Good production in terms of passes defensed.. small school so not much competition... Higher on him than Reaser based on production though.

7th) Caled Ramsey DE
Don't know much.

7th) Trey Milliard FB
Rated one of the top FB so that's great. Looks good. Don't know much else.

UDFA:
Shane Skov: Awesome. 49ers are stacked at ILB, but really thought Skov was a mid round talent and can become a solid NFL starter. Maniac with great instincts but a slow 40. Hopefully Skov supports my theory that the 40 is way overrated and becomes a solid backup. I think great instincts and angles can make up for speed.

Faulkner: Had weak production in a small school. Maybe a Harbaugh pet project just to show off his QB development skills... oh wells..

Trade for Stevie Johnson WR A: Stud veteran receiver.

Overall: Based on the top four picks I'll give an A- and the rest of the draft a B, so overall I'll give it a B+. If you include the Stevie Johnson trade I'll give it an A-. It was a solid draft especially if you look at the longer term and depth. We should have moved LMJ during the draft, but he still might have trade value depending on the depth of this year's RB class. I think we're set at WR especially with Stevie. RB is stacked for competition. OL with Martin is upgraded. DE/OLB we didn't upgrade much. CB we upgraded a slot corner with Ward. Still need to upgrade or get another solid backup to Culliver/Brock. Maybe a FA signing? Anyways I thought it was a good draft overall. I wasn't really too excited about all the draft invites so it was better than expected for me.

Wow, some serious homerism here. At the end of the day we didn't select one player that should start week one. I gave a C- and it could have been an F.

There are (3) that could be starters down the road...Ward, Hyde and Martin. A couple others could be solid contributors. If that all plays out, this would rate as a great draft.

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:

B, Good to great backups, no significant improvement over last year's starters.

lol the draft isnt about upgrading starters immediately, unless youre terrible.

We wouldve needed some early 1st round picks to upgrade starters.

Originally posted by bigwads:
Wow, some serious homerism here. At the end of the day we didn't select one player that should start week one. I gave a C- and it could have been an F.

I agree, Harbs has no idea what he is doing and I'm a better GM than Baalke is.