Vance "Beastmode" McDonald Thread

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by DonnieDarko:
Vernon davis was a borderline bust his first couple years and had major stone hands...now look at him. This kid deserves a couple years to develop.

I would argue that his hands can still be suspect sometimes. The natural "sticky hand" is not a learned trait IMO.

he's 1000000x the receiver he was early in his career

Originally posted by olapac:
That is one square-jawed dude!

He even looks like a young Iron Mike Ditka

I started the thread and got a warning for trolling? Who's feelings got hurt

The more I think about it, the more I think that McDonald is going to be a a great fit for for this team. I'm excited about a few of his traits:

• For one, he has good speed for a man his size. 4.69 at 270? That's impressive.
• His stature -- 6'4" and 270 lbs. One of the things atop my wishlist this offseason was a large Red Zone target. Could McDonald help fill that void? He seems like he will be a huge mismatch against linebackers and small defensive backs.
• His blocking potential. At his size, he has the chance to be a good run blocker. The Niners love jumbo sets, and McDonald seems like a nice fit in that regard.

Now, honestly, some of this analysis is sort of generic. There were a handful of tight ends in this draft that had a similar build. Still, I'm excited to pick one of them up. It fills a need, and he has the potential to contribute in a handful of areas.

VD will teach and mentor him on the fine art of TE blocking. When he gets it down pat he'll be feared by CB and lB alike when we run the ball.

I want to see him destroy Sherman.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by Need4Speed:
Yes his 4 touchdowns his senior year shows how he dominates the 5 9 cb's he faces in a mid major conference Oh wait 4 touchdowns aint that much. Hmmm maybe we just wanting him to be better than he has been. I know one thing he is good at, he is good at dropping passes and stalk blocking. Stop reading combine numbers and watching highlights to evaluate if a guy can play. Watch one game and you won't be so koolaid about a guy that was a 4th option on a bad team.

McDonald is all about potential, clearly there's something there as both him AND his backup got drafted while many top schools ended up with their TE as an UDFA. The guy is extremely versatile, he lined up pretty much everywhere for Rice, yes, he needs to improve as a blocker, but that goes for virtually every single TE in the draft. At 6'4" and 270, this guy is an absolute beast in the open-field, for a team that values YAC, McDonald is a guy who brings that in spades, he's well developed as a route runner and considering the 49ers just went from Delanie Walker, who by far led the NFL in drops percentage, I fail to see how McDonald could be worse than that.


Ultimately he's a nice big body, he's a nice red-zone threat and if the 49ers scouts wanted him above guys like Kelce....then they obviously see that he can be a damn good player in the NFL with the right coaching. Typical Baalke player, huge upside, needs to be coached up, intelligent and versatile.


2 years from now, nobody will be complaining this pick IMO, he's going to become a tremendous red-zone weapon for the 49ers and will develop to be a very good blocker as well.

Agreed Phoneix The team seems to intentionally be drafting high risk high reward players. We don't need alot so they say hell this guy is huge and fast and can block on the edge maybe we can take a flyer. My whole point is it seems the ninerfans forget about all the work that it takes to go from potential to D Walker's level. I HOPE he is the next big thing but right now he is just a big body. I'm sure lots of people are just saying there hopes here but it is coming across to me like this guy is already the next pro-bowl. The next gronk just wait till he gets to the field.

But with high risk high reward players we going to get some bad ones. The good ones will out weigh it i'm sure. I see some things I just don't like about Vance's game film. I'm a pundit that's it. He is huge and fast and has all the potential in the world. Lets hope he can be coached up but he has alot of work to do.

he might be the third TE in this draft.

Originally posted by Donnies49ers:
I hope so. I also hope he turns out to be better than Cyprien since we coulda had both.

I was a huge fan of Cyprien's......and I fully understand why the 49ers went with Reid. Reid is far more polished, make big plays against top tier competition, has more potential overall and simply was the better prospect to step in and be a starter this upcoming season. People talked about Cyprien as a prospect to develop and a "future starter".......Reid is an instant starter right off the bat. He was a bigtime defensive player for LSU, he's about as ready for the NFL as it gets.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
VD will teach and mentor him on the fine art of TE blocking. When he gets it down pat he'll be feared by CB and lB alike when we run the ball.

I want to see him destroy Sherman.

Forget that....imagine a 5'10 CB trying to tackle this guy in the open field........now THAT'S fear.

Baalke to me is starting to look like the evil genius of the draft. The more film I watch on this TE the more I start to love this pick as well as our last 3 drafts.

Greg Cossell really likes McDonald

Originally posted by Frisco69ers:
love how Harbaugh compared him to Ditka when he was a TE.

phew, I thought we were getting the coach version.

Originally posted by AmpLee:
This dude is going to be a beast. I think he'll be a huge weapon in our offense as early as this year.

I agree. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that he did 31 reps on the bench press.

gee to have a second tight end who can actually catch the ball. what a novel concept here

When you watch his highlights, he looks like he has real good hands and he's strong. A couple of plays have him driving guys back when they try to tackle him high. He has a real good vertical leap as well so he could be a nice red zone target. Good pick!