What this draft says about CURRENT roster

I don't get your analysis...

1. CB. Let's see, Baalke drafted Jimmie Ward to become slot CB. Drafted Dontae Johnson to play press CB. Drafted two more good-sized, speedy CB's.

2. WR. I don't get the problem w/Crabtree, Boldin, Johnson, Patton, Lloyd & Ellington. Ok, Crabtree's probably in his last season in SF. Harbaugh will still have the other 5, assuming they're all on the team in 2015.

3. OL. Baalke did the right thing signing Martin, drafting Brandon Thomas & Marcus Martin & extending Kilgore. Thanks to the idiot Titans who paid a mediocre OG Levitre @ $47M, Iupati's agent will price his client well beyond that. WRT Looney, he really hasn't had much of a chance to show what he's got.

4. DL. Must be deep? Have you looked at the roster lately? It is deep...Carradine, Dial & Ian Williams are back, Baalke added Ramsey in the draft.

5. RB. Do you not consider Hyde a top-flight RB? He and Lattimore are the new guard...with Gore and Hunter in the final year of their contracts. Jewell Hampton's still around, too.

6. LB. Unless I missed something, Baalke drafted one ea ILB and OLB (Borland & Lynch). That makes a net increase of 1 ea.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by crake49:
What this draft says is pretty obvious:

Drafting Carlos Hyde says the team is planning for Gore's retirement.

Drafting Jimmy Ward says the team wanted a ball hawk in the slot right away and is planning for the new trend in safety packages.

Drafting Marcus Martin says they want a bigger, better pass protector who can't get bull-rushed by nose tackles in the middle.

Drafting Brandon Thomas says they don't know if they'll be able to re-sign Mike Iupati.

Drafting Bruce Ellington means they're still looking for that outside receiver with elite speed to stretch defenses.

Just to piggy-back:

Drafting Jimmie Ward & L.J. McCray S means they were tired of watching Rogers get beat in the slot and needed a 12th starter there (while not messing with the other positions). And there will be emphasis on ST.
Drafting Dontae Johnson means we want to play some press coverage more.
Drafting Aaron Lynch & Morgan Breslin means we want to have a pipeline of pass rushers (even if Aldon misses time).
Drafting an injured Keith Reaser is another example of acquiring developing talent without affecting your 53-man roster.
Drafting Trey Milliard & Asante Cleveland is another example of trying to find a placement for Walker in the H-back role (i.e. Carrier this year).
Drafting Chris Borland & Shayne Skov means we don't want to rush Bowman back and we know Willis remains nicked up as well.

Thoughtful stuff. I appreciate.

• We are happy with our QB and backup QB.
• Pretty happy with McDonald
• We are doubling down on being a run-first team (not even close to a WCO)

Originally posted by tohara3:
Nice analysis

Originally posted by redrathman:
Terrible analysis.

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by tohara3:
Nice analysis

Originally posted by redrathman:
Terrible analysis.

Can someone explain to me how Ellington isn't a speed receiver... Seemed pretty fast on tape??

At first the selection of Hyde seemed puzzling but when you say it out loud, it made more sense given where they picked Hyde...Gore in his 30's and last year of his contract; Hunter in the last year of his contract and was not used as much coming off his Achillies injury; Lattimore has acknowledged he still does not have his acceleration back and no one knows if his knee(s) will hold up; and James could be gone by the start of the season and has not shown he can be anything more than a change of pace back.

I was also reminded in watching the highlights of Hyde on ESPN and NFL Network that Ohio State was running Urban Meyer's spread offense with a mobile QB, Braxton Miller. The highlights included Hyde taking carries out of a read-option look. We've heard that Gore prefers an I formation with a lead blocker, as opposed to running the read option. James has experience from college running the read option a lot but hasn't been active or used as a RB often and hasn't posed much of a threat up the middle on read option plays, which allows teams to focus more on (and go straight for) Kap. I'd bet as the season goes along, Hyde will be featured more and more in read option packages to force defenses to make the choice of going straight for the QB or chasing the 230 lb RB.

Originally posted by HarboutTHAT:
Can someone explain to me how Ellington isn't a speed receiver... Seemed pretty fast on tape??

He's has a verified pro-day 40 of 4.3. He is absolutely a speed receiver IMO.