Praise for Baalke

It was nice to hear a little bit about the Niners in SI, that is a rarity.

If he lands Nnamdi Asomugha . . .

I really like Baalke in that I believe he navigates the draft well and gets what he wants out of it as according to his draft board.

My biggest worry is that his draft board is s**t.

Here's what one CNN write wrote concerning this year's draft. Just goes to show you, everyone thinks differently.
For 49ers:
San Francisco
What I liked: Picking up QB Colin Kaepernick in the second round. He has incredible athletic talents and put up great numbers on the ground and in the air at Nevada. New head coach Jim Harbaugh, meanwhile, played quarterback in the NFL and has a proven track record now with Stanford's Andrew Luck of developing pro-style QB talent. More importantly, quarterback was the team's greatest statistical need in 2010. The Smiths, Alex and Troy, are clearly not the long-term answer at quarterback. Kaepernick could be a great value in the second round.

What I didn't like: The 49ers still need a lot of help on the offensive line. They ended the 2010 season No. 30 on our Offensive Hog Index and struggled especially protecting the passer. It's hard to groom quarterbacks in that kind of environment. Yet San Francisco waited until the fifth round to tab an offensive lineman, and then pulled Daniel Kilgore out of FCS school Appalachian State, most likely a backup at best in the NFL.

Grade: B- ... but it's a winning class if Kaepernick pans out.

For Atlanta:
Atlanta
What I liked: Jacquizz Rodgers was one of college football's most exciting players, undersized in the mold of Darren Sproles, but sturdier in his frame. He could prove more integral to the offense than No. 1 pick Julio Jones -- but they didn't trade a slew of picks to get Rodgers.

What I didn't like: Thomas Dimitroff took an incredible risk by trading away an incredible five picks simply to land Jones. History proves that first-round wideouts have a huge rate of failure in the NFL and that the position is incredibly overvalued by teams, fans and analysts. Sure, the Atlanta passing game struggled at times (19th in Passing Yards Per Attempt). But the biggest statistical needs were on defense: The Falcons were 27th against the run last year, surrendering a porous 4.63 YPA. They drafted only two defenders, neither of whom project to be NFL starters.
A lot of bold but high-risk moves mortgaged on the back of seven draft picks. Big needs on defense generally unaddressed. Grade: D-

for all the other teams:
SI draft grades

Originally posted by JohnnyMo49:
If he lands Nnamdi Asomugha . . .

Its crazy Belichick wanted a two and a three with 45th pick if true.
Heck, I would have been mad if trade was made by what Baalke offered to NE.
Maybe Belichick thought Baalke would offer back with two 2nd and a lower pick
but it makes me feel like Raiders? were playing the game against us.

Originally posted by RichmondPete:
Don't you guys know that God has a big board? Baalke definitely reached for Culliver...

If he turns out to be a decent pro, we should be satisfied. 3rd round picks rarely become superstars. Honestly, as a multi-tool player, if he contributes as a returner and/or nickel back, I'm satisfied.

Somewhat old info but Barrows reported -
http://blogs.sacbee.com/49ers/archives/2011/05/ultimate-draft.html

* I'm guessing the 49ers also had a disappointment in the third round.
When the Seahawks, at pick No. 75, took Wisconsin G/C John Moffitt


I wish Baalke could trade back a bit further but you never know
after 8? CBs taken right after Culliver pick.
There were some boards rated Culliver as a 4th rounder at least.

How can u grade a draft when non of these players have even played a min in the nfl? Give it a year or two and we can all evaluate what baalke did.

Originally posted by gold49er2183:

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by SF69ers:

Originally posted by susweel:
Yah let praise him for continuously reaching throughout the entire draft.

Every team reaches during the draft. A team's draft board could be completely different from what we see from the guys at NFLN or ESPN.

Time will tell if these picks are good or not, but its very early to start praising anyone.

Yes. It is also to early to dismiss anyone or call them a reach. It go's both ways.

Agreed with this.

New England can suck it....Draft day comes around and they think they are kings...Wanting all those picks...Please...They basically got lucky and hit the lottery in the 6th round when they picked Brady...All they are know for is trading back to get more picks...Sucks for them that they traded away picks that turned out to be Michael Oher, Clay Mathews and Greg Jennings...

Originally posted by 9erguy:

Originally posted by RichmondPete:
Don't you guys know that God has a big board? Baalke definitely reached for Culliver...

If he turns out to be a decent pro, we should be satisfied. 3rd round picks rarely become superstars. Honestly, as a multi-tool player, if he contributes as a returner and/or nickel back, I'm satisfied.

i was being sarcastic. Baalke/Harbaugh/Fangio picked who they liked so I am on board

i just find it funny that folks pick and choose when peter king is knowledgeable. normally he's seen as anti niners, but when he says something positive he's praised. can't have it both ways.

Still too early to tell on Baalke.

Originally posted by Hitman49:
New England can suck it....Draft day comes around and they think they are kings...Wanting all those picks...Please...They basically got lucky and hit the lottery in the 6th round when they picked Brady...All they are know for is trading back to get more picks...Sucks for them that they traded away picks that turned out to be Michael Oher, Clay Mathews and Greg Jennings...

I love draft day but the one thing that bugs me to no end is the Belichick love-fest. When you put it like that, all of their trade downs don't look as hot. What players did they get in return by foregoing that list of players? I think Mayo + a pick is the one for Oher. I can't recall the others and I'm too lazy to look it up.

I would love to have Oher, Mathews and Jennings! Dang.

For those that are uncomfortable with the Baalke draft, esp concerning the status of our OL, two things:

1) Remember, we have not had a anything other than league's worst HC and GMs here
(yeah, that includes nervous norv), since Mooch... and he was good, not great. JH has proven himself to be one helluva coach at college level , is a former Qb, and has done wonders not just with QBs but also his teams as a whole. In other words, I would make the case that the 9ers have virtually been UN-coached for the last 8 yrs. Worse, guys like lilmikeynoln, and the amazing BM(bigmike) were actually worse than no coach, they were negative influences on coaching, and hence the team.

Further I would suggest that due to inferior/ awful HC/GMs for last 8 yrs, we really have no idea what our current talent REALLY can do. It may be that our team is actually capable of playing twice as good as they have shown, but due to crappy coaches and GMs, we have not seen what these guys really are capable of. My guess is our OL actually looks like an OL this yr instead of its well deserved 30th ranking referred to above. Good coaching can take a bunch of guys who look like dog doodoo, and actually make them look like a real pro football team(I'm excluding exceptions like p-52, and maybe 1 or 2 others here).

We may very well have a much better nucleus than anyone thinks, and it is no secret our weakest link has been at GM and HC. Okay, that has changed, starting with Baalke taking 2 OLs in first rd last yr. So, altho we might have gotten an OL earlier in draft this yr, isn't it possible with great coaching, we just might have plenty of talent already, and JH and Baalke recognize this? With BM as coach, no one would stand up and say, "Hey, BM did a great job with our Offense" . He didn't . Matter of fact, other than bringing p-52 around, he didn't do squat on D either. Sure we could stop the run(except on 3rd down) but we sure as hell couldn't stop the pass. I just believe that excellent coaching and GMing is going to make this team way better than anyone believes.

2) Say what you want about baalke's 2011 first two picks, but based on his first two
picks in 2010, he is already a star...and a gutsy one at that. I believe our OL is going to look 3 times better this yr than last with improved coaching techniques, and vastly different O schemes, be they blocking, play calling, game planning, etc.
Furthermore, re: Kap, if JH wanted him, then besides his impressive stats, he has the
"it" factor that JH knows it takes to make an all pro Qb. Not taking Gabbert at #7 was a good move by a team that needed a qb. There were 4 other teams that took qBs, who needed them also, but we all know they were taken way, way above where they should have been, based on need alone, not quality. I feel baalke not only got quality, he got it where it should have been taken.

Until proven otherwise, Baalke is THE man.