Post Draft - Need Positions

Remaining Needs:

First off, how rare is it to get top talent AT need positions in the draft? After many years of feeling somewhat cursed on draft day, it appears we got our "mirror players" (Baalke). We obviously went old-school and got a player who has the potential to emulate some of the great OT's of our history, our potential Larry Allen, our next Michael Lewis, another Frank Gore, upgraded the PR/KR spots significantly, another ILB to groom with Willis, etc. In fact, the o-line moves alone improve the everyone along the o-line b/c now Heitmann will be pushed at center from Baas or Wallace and Chilo may be pushed by Baas or Snyder and everyone clearly has a role on this o-line.

So, coming into the draft, we needed:
O-line help (check)
Safety help (check)
PR/KR depth and slot and deep threat WR's (check)
ILB help (check)
Blocking TE (check)
RB depth (big check)
ST help (check)

So, what did we not address?
NT
CB
Speedy RB (runs off tackle)
FB

NT: I was one in favor of Mt. Cody and my God, who is going to run on the Ravens now with him lining up next to Ngata (another [player I wanted). But after listening to Baalke, it appears they only had 5 guys targeted for that spot and I didn't get the impression they were looking for a mountain, rather another mirror player such as Franklin. And those guys were gone. And even if they weren't, we needed to get a Michael Lewis replacement as ML is one concussion away from being done forever. We at least have Franklin for a whole year (barring injury). The next step will be to check the FA market

CB: There was much speculation that we wanted Allen but he was taken right before us. Next step? We'll need to sign both Dre Bly and Walt Harris IMO and let Brown compete with them in addition to seeing what's out there in FA

Off-tackle RB: For whatever reason, we don't seem to consider running off tackle (at all). But this is key against 8 and 9-man fronts in keeping them off-balanced. Perhaps we will run some reverses with Ginn and co. but every team seems to have a change of pace back but us and with the addition of Brown, a great blocking TE and a healthy Staley, there is not reason why we shouldn't have success here. Should this be hard to find?

FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

Good summary. Would Balmer be first man down at NT or would we rejig and move Sopoaga? I confess I wanted a NT in the draft, and a fullback. Don't know if the late picks or UDFAs would be able to play fullback.

But hey, we did very well. Can't expect all your problems to be solved in one jump!

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris is.

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris was.

I have taken the liberty of correcting your typo.

In the near future we could add

NT-Need another "starter" to rotate with Franklin
DE-Balmer is a big ? and Smith is getting older
OLB-Manny is a big ? and is coming up on contract time, LaBoy is on a 1 year deal, and Harlson may of been a 1 year wonder
CB-Clements is getting older and we still need good depth (not 6th rounders)
RB-Still need a change of pace back.....(God I wanted Spiller)
OL-Sims is getting older and after that all of our "backups" suck, we could draft all new depth for OT, OG, and C

Pressing needs for next year.....
NT-No later then round 4
CB-As early as possible and maybe take 2
DE-No later then round 4
OLB- As early as possible
OL-Depth can be grabbed from round 4-7
RB-We can wait on till 2012....by that time we should know what we have in Coffee and Dixon.

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris is.

He sucks now though, we need a versitile FB IMO. Everytime we brought Norris in opposing D knew we were running it up the gut. We need a guy that can run the ball on occassion, catch the ball and is versitile enough to get out in front of our RB's when we're running off tackle.

Nice post! I hope we run more off-tackle to throw off defenses.

what about ricky "french" at DE or DT??? whole d-line must be regarded next year, just because of aging. our pass-rush must be improved even if brooks keeps his level up...
we need more speed at offense, especially at RB. running smash-mouth isnt very unexpectable...dont see a big difference between our passing game with shaun hill and smash-mouth, in terms of "8-9 opponents in the box".
we have to keep an eye on our secondary. dont think that clements will last any longer unless he takes a paycut.

and plz, not another ilb-draft until round 5-6.

No doubt Mike Singletary (and Ray, and Rathman) is looking for a fullback with the following qualities:

• Mean SOB;
• Can take the ball up the gut for 3-4 yards on occasion;
• Can catch a swing pass out of the backfield;
• Will fearlessly rush to the point of attack and lay out Ray Lewis 25 times in a game.

Not sure Norris is that guy...will be interested to see who steps up and tries to achieve that level of play.

I think the biggest gap is at CB. Clements, Spencer and Brown....and nothing behind them. If one of those guys goes down, we're really in trouble. Bly, Harris...somebody needs to add some depth.

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris was.

I have taken the liberty of correcting your typo.

Originally posted by English:
Good summary. Would Balmer be first man down at NT or would we rejig and move Sopoaga? I confess I wanted a NT in the draft, and a fullback. Don't know if the late picks or UDFAs would be able to play fullback.

But hey, we did very well. Can't expect all your problems to be solved in one jump!

Thanks. And yes, I can't remember a draft where we addressed so many needs with top value. But yeah, that's why I was throwing this post out there to see if they new of any FA's out there that may come on the market, UDFA's, someone already on the team, etc. I know they were high on Brit Miller last year given how fhysical he is and how versatile he is.

I'd hate to have to see Sopoaga move inside (again) as I'd like to see him continue to develop and start to share snaps with Balmer. Balmer is no where near a NT and his best position, w/o doubt would be LDE in our 3-4. I know they wanted to look at Ricky Jean Francois and Khalif Mitchell there but with RayMac, if Franklin goes down, we may look at a 4-man line again with Sopoaga - Balmer - RayMac - Smith

Originally posted by matt49er:

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris is.

He sucks now though, we need a versitile FB IMO. Everytime we brought Norris in opposing D knew we were running it up the gut. We need a guy that can run the ball on occassion, catch the ball and is versitile enough to get out in front of our RB's when we're running off tackle.

I have a good feeling that Brit Miller could be our future fullback. He caught two touchdowns and numerous passes in preseason last year so he has the hands to catch the ball and has the nastiness of a linebacker, which he played in college, to block and clear holes for gore. His speed isn't too bad either (he's definitely faster than Norris). I think he would be a great option at fullback. Sorta reminds me of a Tom Rathman type.

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris was.

I have taken the liberty of correcting your typo.

Originally posted by vrabbit:

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by 23zack80:

Originally posted by NCommand:
FB: For a power running attack, we need a bruising FB. Do we already have this player on the team? If not, where can we find him?

That's all Moran Norris was.

I have taken the liberty of correcting your typo.

Norris was really disappointing last season.