What grade would you give this draft?

I'm not sure about a letter grade, but I think it is possible to have too many cornerbacks.

Originally posted by 49erphan:
I'm not sure about a letter grade, but I think it is possible to have too many cornerbacks.

CB is a weakness

Originally posted by Matchuu84:

A lot of good picks, but a lot of head scratchers and complete avoidance of lb issues. B

I think tartt may be the reason why, as in he will be a ILB this year.

First two picks we're great. Next two were a little confusing just because of how many cb's we have. The two tackles I'm happy with. As well as the 3 skill players in round 6. Over all I'm very happy with investing in the trenches.

I'll give it a B+ but ultimately if the first two guys are studs and we get some of the other guys to At least contribute then it will have been a great draft.

A-

DeForrest Buckner
Loved Buckner, but would have loved Tunsil more then drafted a DE in the second. There were tons of good DEs in this draft that fit our scheme prefctly. But we got the best of them. Last time we took a DL at pick 7 he was an all time great 49er in Bryant Young. It was great to see him in round 3.

A+

Joshua Garnett
Traded back into the 1st for the best run blocking G. He can play both guard spots and center too. He was a mauler in the run game and he showed the 49ers he can be a great fit in ZB in the local proday. The fact that Seattle and Arizona were rumored to want him too makes it an A+ instead of an A. I just wish the 6th we traded was the later one.

A++

Will Redmon
Will Redmon is going to be a star. His ball skills are amazing. He is a true shutdown corner in the making. His knee will be ready to go for training camp and will compete right away for the starting spot. I can see him supplanting Brock. Johnson and Redmon will be the starting corners. And Redmon kicked into the slot when needed. Brock can come out when Redmon is covering the slot. Or Brock can be traded away. Redmon needs to work on wrapping up and getting the guy down instead of always going for the big hit. Has Deion Sanders tackling ability.


B

Rashard Robinson
Great speed, Great Coverage ability. Did not test as well as expected at the combine and is rail thin. Only reason I knock him down to a B from an A is character and lack of experience. I mocked him to us a few different times because he is exactly the type of Corner Chip likes on his defense. He could be our Chris Culliver of this draft and surprise people and become the starter by year end. If not he will be a good back up until he develops.

A++

Ronald Blair
He is a man possessed when on the field. He has the look to be a power house getting to the QB. His ability against the run is superb. If we played 4-3 He would be a good solid DE at his current size. His only problem is speed. He is slow to be an OLB and too short to be a 3-4 DE. But, he is such a good player that no matter what where he is asked to play he will dominate. He will be a back up this year and be in the rotation. I think this pick spells doom for TJE.

B

John Theus
A swing Tackle that makes sure Pears never plays RT again for us. Before the combine he was rated as a high second round pick and in some cases a first. But he was shown to have a need to hit the weight room when he was tested. In fact he did not even test at all in the bench press. If he hits the weight room he will be a solid backup at bot RT and RG. I think I would rather have had them draft Kyle Murphy.

B+

Fahn Cooper
A Tackle/Guard who has power in the run game but not so good in the pass game. He focuses way too much on his assignment and has a hard time picking up the blitz. He also must have gotten yelled at sometime in the past for false starting because he is always a tick slow from the snap. If he was an inch taller he would be a solid backup swing tackle. He might still be better than Theus right away due to having the strength needed to play against NFL competition. If he is kicked into G that means Devey can start practicing his tuba again.

A

Jeff Driskel
A clone of Kaepernick. Runs the same time, has the same measurables, and a better throwing motion. His problem is he is inaccurate on long throws, lacks touch on short throws, and has a hard time reading through a lot of progressions. Almost the same scouting report as Kaepernick. In a Chip Kelly scheme 3 QBs are needed and Driskel is a perfect fit for it. He will be the number 2 QB next year after Gabbert is gone.

D+

Kelvin Taylor
Small and often injured RB who is maxed out in size. He also has poor vision at times and runs past holes or tries to squeeze through when there is no hole. He also sucks at picking up the blitz. When his vision is on and he is healthy he can run really small making him hard to tackle. There were other RBs out there better. Our worst pick of the draft

A++

Arron Burbridge
He is a ball hawk. He will catch any and everything. Best hands I have seen in a WR since Carter even though they are tiny. He is everything you want in a WR except fast. Runs routes perfectly. Gets out of coverage at the last second to get to the ball and while it looks like he is covered he is not. If he was a Seahawk he would be perfect for Wilson. Many compared him to Kearse or Boldin predraft. Just throw it up near him and he will go get it. I can see him being a big slot possession receiver who gets first downs on 3rd downs at will. Teams will wonder for years how they passed him up.

A
Prince Charles Iworah
4.32 corner in the 7th round. He will compete for special teams right away. But with a name like that it deserves its an automatic A.


All in all they got 3 players who will start day one and got players that will kick the worst players on the team to the curb.

UDFAs Grades

A+
Devon Cajuste
He has signed a 3 year deal with the 49ers. He has the best hands for a TE we have had since Jones. He is fast and tall and runs great routes. Runs block well for a WR, but needs to gain strength to be an in line TE. The only reason why he wasn't a 3rd round pick is he has a concussion history. I think 3 in the past 2 years. He is a goal line target for sure at 6'4" and has the leaping and box out ability to get the ball. I think he will compete with McDonald for the 3rd TE spot. I would wager That McDonald and now TE Bruce Miller are traded to a run first teams and we will go with Celek, Bell, and Cajuste with Anderson on the PS another year. If I had to compare him to a player I would say he is a Witten type TE.

A+
Jay Fanika
He should have been drafted in the 5th and I am surprised he wasn't. He was signed to play OLB and will kick Lemonier out of the rotation and most likely off the team. He needs to lose about 15lbs. I really love his attitude.
B
Lenny Jones
Another OLB who gets to the QB. Perfect size and speed. Just from a smaller school and did not play against elite competition.

C
Kevin Anderson
Another OLB with size and speed but is more of a coverage guy who can sometimes get tot he QB. Also another Stanford graduate who moves just down the road. He will compete for the PS.

B
Bryce Treggs
A smallish WR who runs fast as heck. Maybe a special team guy. I am sure all you Cal fans know him way better than me.

INC
Demetrius Cherry
a 6'6" 300 lb DE. No idea about him at all

INC
Jered Bell
A 6' 210lbs FS/SS who ran a 4.4 at Colorodo's pro day. Can't see much on him and haven't really seen him play. I hope this is someone who is going to be a special teamer and that we trade Bethea. With Reid, Tartt, Ward, and McCray Bethea is redundant and nonathletic.

F
John Lunsford
a Kicker who can kick it far but inaccurate. A camp foot.

Originally posted by thl408:
B

I'm puzzled by the actual pick of Redmond because of the injury, but mostly because he's only had 20 starts. That 3 CBs were taken tells me they don't like what they have in DJ/Acker/Reaser. In the case of Acker/Reaser, I didn't see anything that made me think they are locks to play CB in JoN's scheme. DJ, I like as a man coverage CB. Ward is another CB "lost" because he may move to safety. In evaluating the CBs on the roster, it's obvious Chip//JoN/Baalke weren't satisfied.

Buckner/Garnett fill needs and are considered good prospects so no qualms there. I'm fine with giving up a 4th and a 6th to secure Garnett. Day 1 was an A+ for me.

The rest of the lower round picks being mainly DE and OTs shows getting back to basics and shoring up the trenches. Never a problem with that.

I agree on the quality of the CBs on the current roster. Johnson has the best chance of sticking but Reaser and Acker graded below starter quality. I know they are young but they just never showed the kind of spark that would give confidence for the future.

I see Ward going back to safety against strong passing teams with Tartt as a hybrid LB. That leaves a lot of room for better CB play.

It seemed like Baalke was determined to draft all sleepers after round 3. He passed up on solid starters to grab a sleeper that played.8 games. I can almost guarantee hardly any professional or amateur mocks had more than one of his late picks in them. Time will tell but I hated taking 3 CBs with our late round depth. We will end up cutting 2 of them and will probadly have to redshirt Redmond to keep them. I like the Blair pick but thought there were better WRs available like Lawler. No LBs WTF! Has Harold showed so much already we didn't need an upgrade. Maybe we're planning on trading Reid and moving Ward back and putting Redmond in the nickel since we haven't picked up Reid's option yet.

I gave it a C. We needed more impact player especially at the LB, WR, and I can't be the only one who thinks we can do better than Martin or Kilgore at Center.

I get the stay true to your board but you can't keep taking positions that have decent depth and keep adding more while other spots have gapping holes.

I know a lot of you are giving the lack of drafting skill players a pass since you're all hoping the guys who underperformed last year and the year before was a result of system and not talent. I'm not that confident . Smelter and Bell are going to have to come up big and Hyde is going to need to stay healthy for this season not to be a complete bust. Hopefully Skinny Kap is a better QB than last years version.

i clicked on B, but settled with C. After voting i can see why alot picked B since i hovered it. but i simply just cant give it a B. I can somewhat see how majority of people can but i just cant.. hopefully my C vote is wrong and this was a Grade A draft. But we'll see.

If we would have taken Kenneth Dixon with pick 133 instead of that bozo (Dixon went a pick later at 134) and had taken Scooby at pick 249 instead of Prince (Scooby went a pick later at 250) I would grade it a solid A.

Would have filled 2 bigger needs. A Hyde/Dixon back field would be great. Scooby fills a bigger need at LB than drafting a 3rd Corner and he had a 3rd/4th round grade.

Oh well, this isn't a 1 year turn around.

Keeping with the context that this is year 1 or 2 of the rebuild (depending on your perspective) and their plan and execution, I'd say B+. The "flashy" players will come next year. You can't assess the skill positions until the lines are built and the systems are installed. Period.


IMHO, Baalke/Kelly/Gamble did it right.


Overall Assessment: Overall, no doubt the goal and outcome was to rebuild the lines in year 1 or 2 of this rebuild (depending on your perspective) and use that as a barometer to see what we have at the skill positions for next year. We added more depth and specific-skill position players for our systems from the move-TEs, to the slot WR and CB to the 2-down NT and like-skilled QB's.

The average number of starters from every draft class is 2.3 so a GM reaches for 3. We got 2 right out of the gate with DeForrest Buckner and Joshua Garnett. These are your "impact players."

In addition to them, remember, we're expected to run nickel/dime 60-70% of the time (common in the NFL now) with heavy DL rotations. Therefore, other defenders who could play "starter" roles for us include Ronald Blair, Demetrius Cherry & Alex Balducci (DE rotation with AA & Buckner), Rashard Robinson over Dontae Johnson or he beats out Tramaine Brock on the other side and we go "longer" and Will Redmond (if healthy) or Prince Charles Iworah (ST/returner/gunner) beat out Keith Reaser at the slot CB spot and then on offense, Kelvin Taylor beats out DuJuan Harris as the RB2, Devon Cajuste beats out Bruce Miller as the move-TE and Aaron Burbridge beats out Bruce Ellington at the YWR. Next year, I think more fans will be happy as you can expect more targets for the flashy "skill positions."

On ESPN there were only two "thumbs down" ratings: the 49ers and the Raiders.

Gotta love Paul Gutierrez.

Originally posted by baltien:
On ESPN there were only two "thumbs down" ratings: the 49ers and the Raiders.

Gotta love Paul Gutierrez.

East Coast Bias. The only other lower grade was from a NY writer. What a surprise. LMAO. Bunch of losers...

A, for concept, and D for execution, a solid C+ over all.


I am worried, because this team never does what I think they should, and this time for the most part they did. We gave up more sacks than just about any other team, and we sacked opposing QB's less then just about every other team. Our running game disappeared, our QB's were mauled, and passing suffered. By contrast our opponents threw with impunity, and ran hard with a lead all season. Typically,the media, and we the fans blamed the QB, the receivers, for these failures, and the LBs, and DBs on defense were deemed wanting.

The real boring truth of football is this, as talented as the "skill" players are, with out big angry sweaty guys kicking ass in the trenches, nothing else matters. We addressed the lines, I am stoked to see the competition in camp. I have said this before, Trent is not great at picking offensive players, but could probably find 11 guys tailgating in the parking lot, that could play defense, Chip can seemingly do the same on offense. This duo could be a perfect fit. I think Chip can and will produce points with this roster, and I have always said, a 14 point lead is the best run defense. I think the plan is fresh legs on defense, especially in the back field. If all goes to plan, we will be in nickel or dime, and rushing the passer.

This draft might only have netted us 1-2 starters, and a few roll players, that fine, that all we needed. Now I expect we will add a few veterans at the final cuts, probably a linebacker, and a few more role players. I am surprised we did not take speedy running back, and a project QB, but these guys can be found at the final cuts. As for a change of pace receiving back, perhaps Hayne has shown Chip enough on film.

Gabbert most likely starts, he is accurate, and athletic, and can hold down the fort. Kaepernick, will be an over payed back up, but I would not be surprised if he finds his groove, and rests the starting job from Gabberet. If Chip can bring out the potential in either one of these guys, we are more than set at QB, for now, and this draft was not QB heavy, it was deep in defensive linemen, and we took advantage of the drafts strengths, well done. As with most offseason, last season being a exception, I am confident in and pleased with what I am seeing so far. No panic, adding player where we need them, and focusing on the rebuild.


Go Niners, opening day, can't get here soon enough!

Originally posted by 9moon:
Solid C !!!

Personally, I don't like the line up.

We passed on (CB) Peters last year to draft Double A, then we draft 3 (CBs) this year who will need to fight for their life in order to make a team.

Are we really happy with the ILBs that we have and we didn't bother drafting one?

Really believe that we gave up too much on Garnett, Iike the guy and I thought that he would still be there with the 37th overall pick..

Nope, Seahawks would've taken him, that's why I was fine with the move up.