I went back and looked at the 49er draft history during Bill Walsh's 10 years as coach, (number of players drafted, and round in which drafted in parenthesis):

1979: (10) Montana (3rd rd), Dwight Clark (10)
1980: (11) Earl Cooper (1), Keena Turner (2)
1981: (11) Ronnie Lott (1), Eric Wright (2), Carlton Williamson (3)
1982: (9) Bubba Paris (2)
1983: (8) Roger Craig (2), Jesse Sapulo (11)
1984: (11) zero
1985: (7) Jerry Rice (1)
1986: (13) Tom Rathman (3), Tim McKeyer (3), Charles Haley (4), Steve Wallace (4), Don Griffin (6)
1987: (10) Harris Barton (1)
1988: (10) Bill Romanowski (3)
Total players drafted - 101; total good ones - 18

What do we see here?

Walsh was a poor drafter. Way too many misses. For the most part, out of an average of ten picks a year, he only drafted one or two good ones. But the good ones were outstanding.

Keep in mind that he had rosters of 45 to 50 players. Where did the rest come from? What I remember of the Walsh teams is that most of his roster was made up of solid, smart, motivated players who were not the greatest athletes. But the coaching and game plans were outstanding. The players rarely screwed up with drops, fumbles, and penalties.

Our average talent level may be good enough, but McCloughan has allowed "holes" to remain unfixed - OL, KR, PR. And our players play bone-headed too much.


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