Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Originally posted by Rascal:
That is always the concern. I don't even want to think about : 1) how many WRs is he going to draft ? and 2) and how high up and who ? Like you, I am far from confident we will land some studs cos Baalke and Co. have been just next to hopeless in selecting wideouts. Is interesting you mentioned Rueben Randle cos he was my pick. The kid is doing very well and well on schedule. Thinking back to that AJ Jenkins pick still really pis*es me off. But, what can we do ? We will just have to hope for the best. I would say at least pick 2 WRs and let the numbers make up for their inept evaluation. In other words, just hope and pray they hit on someone that can actually play football out of the lot given their hit rate is so ridiculously low. Just one word of advice, keep your expectations incheck cos otherwise you would just end up being disappointed.
To be fair, how can you say their rate is so low when Baalke has drafted a total of what....4 WR's? 2 were 6th round picks, one was a bust, the other has managed to stick on the roster and Patton is still an N/A due to his injuries but he looked far more promising in the preseason than Jenkins ever did. Regardless of how lacking his performance might be. I don't think its fair to say that Baalke "can't draft WR's" after one miss really. Every single GM has busts, no matter how regarded, Ozzie Newsome has had multiple drafts of practically nothing but busts and is still regarded as a great GM.
To me the bigger issue is that there's not a whole lot of WR talent in this upcoming draft, very few guys at the top, so if you can get someone with star quality, who is already experienced somewhat, you're not going to be able to do better than at the spots where the 49ers will be picking.
If to you Baalke's hit rate is not low, let's just say he is yet to draft any studs for the sake of discussion cos there is no point to debate on his hit rate if 6th round picks don't count and all that. Ozzie Newsome at least has landed the likes of Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones. If we had a Torrey Smith, I doubt we would be talking about all this now.
To your point about the next draft, from what I've heard thus far is quite the contrary, it is supposed to be a strong year for WRs if I am not wrong. Plus, I wouldn't be too concerned about the spots we are picking. If we can trade up to get Eric Reid at 18th, why can't we do the same for WRs ? In fact, I would be pis*ed if we didn't cos it would totally defeat the purpose of stockpiling picks. What would be the point of having 13, 14 picks every year when you don't make wise use of them ?
But, the draft is irrelevant as far as this season is concerned. We desperately need WR help NOW. While we can beat teams like the Titans with 199 yards of passing and no passing TDs, this will not get us anywhere when we play far tougher teams. Josh Gordon is the best option we have out there right now. At the very least we know the kid can ball. In other words, the kid himself has already done all the evaluation work for us whereby we can do without another debate on whether Baalke can pick WRs.