Originally posted by dj43:Originally posted by MadDog49er:That is the way I see it as well. Getting their guy for RT at 13 is the key to the entire draft. IF they get that guy, they can go BPA for the best quality available, and that might well allow them to pick up an extra 3rd round pick.Originally posted by TexasNiner:
Man, I hope you are right. Even we get three of those first four picks (especially Bulaga, E. Thomas and C. Thomas), I'd be thrilled beyond belief.
And even if it goes a slightly different way, if your draft order is even CLOSE to correct, we should have some excellent options, with hopefully many of the potential pitfalls being either long gone, or way off the charts as bad "value" picks so we can avoid falling into some of those traps.
But more and more, it's looking like some combo of a good OT and either E. Thomas or J. Haden will be there for us, and that would be an excellent first round.
Because this is a solid draft, we are going to draft two players who will help the team this year (Jimmy Clausen would not be one of them). Hopefully, one of the better OT's will fall into our laps at number 13, and we can close the door on this ongoing disaster. Won't that be nice?
Look for the Niners to be a 50-50 shot at moving down from their 17th if they get an OT at 13. A lot of teams want to move up into that area.
BPA is still a good strategy for the 49ers. They have decent, not great, talent at a number of spots where BPA could be an upgrade, either as a starter or depth. Hence, guys like Baas, Clements, Sopoaga, McDonald, could lose their spot if the right guy fell to the 49ers.
I don't see them moving back with both 13 and 17 but I would not be at all surprised to see this draft just blow up in terms of form. There are SO many players of similar value spread throughout the upper 30% that whether you pick 25 of 35 will not make a great deal of difference in terms of value.
As you, I also look forward to the draft each year. However, this one has an extra attraction for me, not just because of the new format, although I like that, but also because of the depth at so many positions. It could get pretty wild between now and midnight Friday.
The format is a blast. So much for the old days, when I would drive from Philly on Friday at midnight, the night before, to stand in line in New York City.