Last Years Draft Class, This Years Difference?

Does anyone think the niners will be substantially better due to last years draft class having a year under their belt and/or more playing time?

Everyone knows Tank Carradine can play when healthy. Same with Lattimore. Then there's Lemonier and Patton who showed flashes of playmaking ability.

I think last years rookies will be this years difference.

I really think so, and I'm hoping for major improvement from McDonald.

Though tempting, I think it's premature to assume anything about Tank and Lattimore. I am very excited to see if they were worth the picks, and I'm also curious to see if Okoye has learned anything during this year-long experiment.

Lemonier and Patton definitely showed some nice flashes and could become difference makers. McDonald...frustrates me. Not entirely his fault, but I expected more.

Edit: I expected something.

Also, Dial, Moody, Morris... hopefully, Okoye made some progress. I can't wait for TC and preseason!

I must say that these last three offseasons of the Harbaugh era have had something to look forward to for sure:

2012 - Returning all 11 defensive starters, going after WRs, Alex and Co in year 2 of offense
2013 - Eric Reid, Lemonier, Skuta....you could sense the defense was going to get better and it did
2014 - Tank, Lattimore, a secondary that's finally getting revamped, McDonald, Patton getting bigger role in the O....you can feel we are going in a slightly new direction

Alex Smith always says that you just don't pick up where you left off after a season is over. You are always starting from scratch....so that's the x-factor that keeps one from being over optimistic.

But the 49ers have kept it consistent these last 3 years. Making three straight NFCCs.....we haven't done that since '92-'94 (and that was the only other time it was done).

I have a good feeling about our team this year. I think what we gives me hope here is that we will minimize our weaknesses further, and that should get us closer to a championship.

In '11, our strengths were elite (running game, run defense, pass rush, special teams) but our weaknesses caught us exposed in the end (passing game, secondary).

In '12, our offense was the best it's ever been but defense and specials suffered, costing us again.

In '13, our defense picked up but offense dropped back a bit.

In '14, I'm hoping that there is no one glaring issue on our team. If Colin and the receivers can get in better sync, and lattimore contributes like we hope, our O will be plenty fine. Defensively we need the secondary to not be a liability, and the front 7 to just maintain.

That will get us #6.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:

I must say that these last three offseasons of the Harbaugh era have had something to look forward to for sure:

2012 - Returning all 11 defensive starters, going after WRs, Alex and Co in year 2 of offense
2013 - Eric Reid, Lemonier, Skuta....you could sense the defense was going to get better and it did
2014 - Tank, Lattimore, a secondary that's finally getting revamped, McDonald, Patton getting bigger role in the O....you can feel we are going in a slightly new direction

Alex Smith always says that you just don't pick up where you left off after a season is over. You are always starting from scratch....so that's the x-factor that keeps one from being over optimistic.

But the 49ers have kept it consistent these last 3 years. Making three straight NFCCs.....we haven't done that since '92-'94 (and that was the only other time it was done).

I have a good feeling about our team this year. I think what we gives me hope here is that we will minimize our weaknesses further, and that should get us closer to a championship.

In '11, our strengths were elite (running game, run defense, pass rush, special teams) but our weaknesses caught us exposed in the end (passing game, secondary).

In '12, our offense was the best it's ever been but defense and specials suffered, costing us again.

In '13, our defense picked up but offense dropped back a bit.

In '14, I'm hoping that there is no one glaring issue on our team. If Colin and the receivers can get in better sync, and lattimore contributes like we hope, our O will be plenty fine. Defensively we need the secondary to not be a liability, and the front 7 to just maintain.

That will get us #6.

Statistically speaking we should regress to the mean. Drafting practically last the last three years should say that our talent level should fall off and our won loss record should go average this year - statistically speaking.

However, statistics aren't the way the game is played. I truly think that the difference this year will be a strong draft class this year and a strong draft class of last year. They both have to hit at the same time for us to get our 6th, and why not - we have more picks in the top 100 than anybody else in 2014, as far as I know. Vance has to start producing, Patton has to start producing, Lattimore, Caradine all have to strongly contribute this year, and this 2014 draft has to fix our secondary and make them the best and deepest in the league the way the '81 draft solidified our secondary for a decade. If that happens - the sixth Lombardi is in the bag and I'll have a jolly 'ol time being on the .Nut boards crowing about our 6th.

The 49ers are the best team in the NFL. The big question is can we stay healthy? If we are healthy we will be fine.

I'm guessing 4-6 guys in this draft will make the roster.

This will give Baalke a lot of options with the amount of picks we have.

He does surprise often, the Reid pick looks brilliant, and I'm hoping for a few more.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Statistically speaking we should regress to the mean. Drafting practically last the last three years should say that our talent level should fall off and our won loss record should go average this year - statistically speaking.

However, statistics aren't the way the game is played. I truly think that the difference this year will be a strong draft class this year and a strong draft class of last year. They both have to hit at the same time for us to get our 6th, and why not - we have more picks in the top 100 than anybody else in 2014, as far as I know. Vance has to start producing, Patton has to start producing, Lattimore, Caradine all have to strongly contribute this year, and this 2014 draft has to fix our secondary and make them the best and deepest in the league the way the '81 draft solidified our secondary for a decade. If that happens - the sixth Lombardi is in the bag and I'll have a jolly 'ol time being on the .Nut boards crowing about our 6th.

That is basically my take on it. With all those picks, we may be in for a slow start if the rookies see a lot of early playing time, but the sooner they can get their feet wet, the better. Once they get the feel for it, we could get smoking hot with youth all over the place as the season end nears and all the energy that goes with it.

Originally posted by Giedi:

Statistically speaking we should regress to the mean. Drafting practically last the last three years should say that our talent level should fall off and our won loss record should go average this year - statistically speaking.

However, statistics aren't the way the game is played.

Statistical based predictions remain dubious when interacting multiple factors inside the event (predicted/analyzed) influence the outcome of the event itself. One example is predicting rock fall in mine blasting.

When the interacting factors are willful humans good luck.

Those dudes are damaged goods they never gonna be the same just like my dude navarro.

Originally posted by VinculumJuris:
Though tempting, I think it's premature to assume anything about Tank and Lattimore. I am very excited to see if they were worth the picks, and I'm also curious to see if Okoye has learned anything during this year-long experiment.

Lemonier and Patton definitely showed some nice flashes and could become difference makers. McDonald...frustrates me. Not entirely his fault, but I expected more.

Edit: I expected something.

My sentiment exactly. I want to think Tank and Lattimore will put in quality reps early and often, but I remain guarded. Baalke and staff have mostly hit, though he has been a part of a staff that missed big sometimes, and his draft in 2012 was just awful. Until proven otherwise they are known as damaged goods. The team was right in the way they handled each situation and was the best way to go about it.

So in theory we will have this years full draft plus last years injured players. So Lattimore, Dial, Carradine, and uninjured Okoye will join this years draft picks for TC. That is a lot of players, and a lot of talent to fold into our team. Plus some of last years draft has has a year under their belt so there should be significant advancement - Lemonier, Reid, McDonald should all get better. Then if we can get A. Smith and Culliver through their legal issues, and develop more maturity we should have quite the team.

Originally posted by Ninefan56:
So in theory we will have this years full draft plus last years injured players. So Lattimore, Dial, Carradine, and uninjured Okoye will join this years draft picks for TC. That is a lot of players, and a lot of talent to fold into our team. Plus some of last years draft has has a year under their belt so there should be significant advancement - Lemonier, Reid, McDonald should all get better. Then if we can get A. Smith and Culliver through their legal issues, and develop more maturity we should have quite the team.

Don't forget our starting NT Williams is coming back as well...

I'm very interested in seeing Marquardt compete for the swing tackle.