Originally posted by English:
Originally posted by MC9BEAT:
With so many young players on the squad developing thsi might be a trade up kinda year not trade down. We have youth at almost every position on the team developing.
This is a really interesting point. We had a huge influx of youth in the last draft. Unless we start cutting our hardcore vets there simply isn't room on the roster for a repeat of last year's BPA draft. As far as you can assess at the moment most if not all of the draft (ie about 20% of the regular season roster!) are fixtures, at least for now. And the rest of the roster is not particularly old, with a few exceptions.
Additionally Baalke doesn't seem to ba able to resist one or two offseason flutters, along the lines of Boldin, Johnson, Bethea etc.
With this in mind I find it hard to believe that we will trade down. If I was him I would target 3 impact players, maybe 2, and not worry about quantity. I think he can pick up O linemen, particularly interior, through FA. So knowing I will be wrong (!) I suggest a series of trade ups culminating in a mid 1st round, an early 2nd and a mid second. These to be invested in BPA impact players, possibly a wide receiver first, DT second and a QB third.
I think we have most other positions covered with young players already although we may need to use a 7th on a kicker. The QB, to be clear, is not intended to replace Kaepernick but to complete and to be ready to step in if needed. I haven't seen Gabbert for some time but we look worryingly thin behind Kaepernick to me.
So what I would tell you is the approach should be getting good players for the right value - and Baalke excels at that approach. Look at players like Bruce Miller, Aaron Lynch, Daniel Kilgore, Carlos Hyde, Chris Borland, and Donte Johnson.
I know people want to trade up for that blue chip WR prospect. And after Amari Cooper, everyone else falls in that tier 2/3 bracket. To me, I see value trading down and getting a good prospect for the right value.
In addition, we don't have the same number of picks as we need coming into last year's draft. So the # isn't going to be close to that size.
Finally, it's more about "iron sharpens iron" rather than getting an influx of talent. I want an upgrade to Craig Dahl. I want an upgrade to Josh Johnson. I want an upgrade to McCray. I want an upgrade to Lemonier.
The beauty of drafting Borland (not a need pick - we had Wilhoite and Moody), D. Johnson (not a need pick - we already drafted Ward and had Culliver coming back healthy), and A. Lynch (not a need pick - we had Skuta and Lemonier) is that when injuries occur or if the starter's performance declines, you have a lower drop off in performance (or in many cases, an upgrade) vs. maintaining the status quo.
