ILB, Chris Borland, Wisconsin

Willhoite is gone


Between Skov and Borland, these guys are Hacksaw Riki Ellison types

This will be a special pick

Pitbulls have "short arms" too. Harbaugh's gonna set this "animal" lose on them QBs/RBs!!


"That's what he does, he finds the ball and goes through his target!!"

Originally posted by maxsmart:
"49ers have the best O line in NFL" --> what happens? The O line plays mediocre, resting on their laurels.
Answer: Baalke gets rid of the center and drafts two new OL high to keep pushing them

"49ers have the best ILB's in NFL" --> what happens? Willis play drops off as he seems to be resting on his laurels.
Answer: Baalke drafts Borland and gets Skov to keep pushing them

Baalkes really good GM, he knows that 'reputation' doesn't always match with reality. Keep pushing Willis and Bowman etc by drafting talent and hard-working intense guys like Borland

I think its a little more practical than that. Bowman got injured, that means two things, A: He is going to miss some time, and B: There is a CHANCE that he doesn't come back to form.
Also, having quality depth never hurts.

The two lineman were necessary replacements for the loss of Goodwin, and the loss of Iupati after next year.

Originally posted by BrianGO:

Originally posted by maxsmart:

"49ers have the best O line in NFL" --> what happens? The O line plays mediocre, resting on their laurels.
Answer: Baalke gets rid of the center and drafts two new OL high to keep pushing them

"49ers have the best ILB's in NFL" --> what happens? Willis play drops off as he seems to be resting on his laurels.
Answer: Baalke drafts Borland and gets Skov to keep pushing them

Baalkes really good GM, he knows that 'reputation' doesn't always match with reality. Keep pushing Willis and Bowman etc by drafting talent and hard-working intense guys like Borland

I think its a little more practical than that. Bowman got injured, that means two things, A: He is going to miss some time, and B: There is a CHANCE that he doesn't come back to form.
Also, having quality depth never hurts.

The two lineman were necessary replacements for the loss of Goodwin, and the loss of Iupati after next year.

I think that our Oline and our inside LB's are slightly overrated. Everyone raves how we have the best Oline and the best ILB's in the NFL. But we have seem Willis play decline, and our Oline has not played that great. Our ILB's could not stop Marshaun Lynch very well and yet the Seahawks were able to stuff our Oline. Baalke wisely sees through the hype and drafts upgrades to the purportedly strongest areas of our team, both our Oline and our ILB's. This not only upgrades the talent and also kicks them in the butt (increases competition) so that they don't believe all of their hype and rest on their laurels.

I don't think he drafted Borland at #77 to be a 6 week replacement for Bowman + ST's. I think they hope for bigger contributions from the #77 pick, both playing as well as lighting a fire under Willis and Bowman.

It wasn't necessary" to draft TWO OL in the 3rd rd. Most people had them drafting two WR's there, not two OL. They could have stuck with Kilgore, Looney and Snyder, and drafted one Oline later on, but Baalke wisely saw that our Oline is not as good as it's reputation and knew that we needed an upgrade there.

Originally posted by maxsmart:
"49ers have the best O line in NFL" --> what happens? The O line plays mediocre, resting on their laurels.
Answer: Baalke gets rid of the center and drafts two new OL high to keep pushing them

"49ers have the best ILB's in NFL" --> what happens? Willis play drops off as he seems to be resting on his laurels.
Answer: Baalke drafts Borland and gets Skov to keep pushing them

Baalkes really good GM, he knows that 'reputation' doesn't always match with reality. Keep pushing Willis and Bowman etc by drafting talent and hard-working intense guys like Borland

this is b******t. willis was dealing with several injurys this season. i have no doubt that willis is one of the hardest workers on the team.

There's measurements for everything, height, weight, arm length, speed, cone speed, jumping, interviewing and about a dozen others. There are some guys that are football players, they could play in any era and different positions. The Niners have a number of them, Frank, Pat and Bo, Cowboy, Kap, Reid and a number of others. Borland fits the description.

would he have been available in the 3rd, if he had had longer arms? What do you think?

Originally posted by RishikeshA:
There's measurements for everything, height, weight, arm length, speed, cone speed, jumping, interviewing and about a dozen others. There are some guys that are football players, they could play in any era and different positions. The Niners have a number of them, Frank, Pat and Bo, Cowboy, Kap, Reid and a number of others. Borland fits the description.

Frank Gore and perhaps Justin Smith are really the only examples that work, though. The rest have elite athletic talents and measurements. Gore had them before he blew out both his knees.

It has become increasingly rare for the hard working, but less "gifted" athletes to succeed in the NFL. The talent pool keeps getting bigger and the "gifted" athletes have to try just as hard.

I agree that some players just seem to have better instincts than others. There are also guys who just have more "motor", too. Borland seems to have those things. We'll see if it's enough to overcome his athletic shortcomings (pun intended).

Originally posted by RabidNiner:

He had a huge his arms are bigger like Popeye.

Originally posted by pizza1:

this is b******t. willis was dealing with several injurys this season. i have no doubt that willis is one of the hardest workers on the team.

Also Willis was in coverage a lot last season. Should see him in the box attacking guards and RBs more this season.

Remember Wilhoite is a converted safety and Moody seems to have been more a special teams ace.

I think both Borland and Skov will beat them out in camp, Borland is a ST beast (I don't know enough about Skov) and both just seem to have incredible instincts. I think Fleming has already been cut to let him try and find a home on another team, but LB wise I see:

ILB:
Willis
Bowman (Wilhoite until he returns)
Borland
Skov

OLB:
Aldon
Brooks
Lemonier
Lynch
Skuta

The way our roster is going you cannot be safe as a ST ace, you need to be able to bring it on Offense or Defense as well.

How are his coverage skills?

Baalke had a lot of praise for him this morning on KNBR.
http://www.stationcaster.com/player_skinned.php?s=851&c=13821&f=2796543

He needs to shave his head bald. Hes 23, but looking 45 with that receding hairline.