MadDog's Niners Draft Grade and Analysis for 2012 NFL Draft

Is old Joe Looney still with Dallas?

Originally posted by 9ers4eva:
The right move was to fire BOTH of them. Somehow he's trying to spin it like I am defending Baalke. They BOTH needed to go and I am glad we have a team now that can work on a common vision.

Yeah in hindsight that was definitely the move to make. It sucked that we had to go through the years we did to learn the lesson a hard way and be behind on the rebuild but at the same time maybe if the timing is off we don't get a potential franchise QB for a 2nd round pick.

If Jimmy keeps playing like he did last year(not even getting better) we'll be SB contenders soon. Certainly worth a couple of awful years IMO.

It's like yesterday remembering guys defending Baalke even over this horrible draft class. It literally took til the day he got fired for a lot of ppl to see the light. This guy did a horrible job.

Originally posted by genus49:

Yeah in hindsight that was definitely the move to make. It sucked that we had to go through the years we did to learn the lesson a hard way and be behind on the rebuild but at the same time maybe if the timing is off we don't get a potential franchise QB for a 2nd round pick.

If Jimmy keeps playing like he did last year(not even getting better) we'll be SB contenders soon. Certainly worth a couple of awful years IMO.

Which is why I brought up Joe Thomas. No one should still be mad about him. Gotta move on. Donahue sucked too. Not still lamenting Rashan Woods.

Originally posted by genus49:
I agree it's definitely a case of two wrongs don't make a right.

Baalke couldn't draft 2012 on outside a handful of depth guys but as good as we were under Harbaugh those 3 years it certainly isn't on Baalke that we didn't close out with at least one SB ring.

There's no way anyone can convince me we weren't the more talented team in 2012. And defensive depth had nothing to do with us taking a 21-6 halftime deficit or 28-6 right after halftime. Unless somehow the starters were tired before the game started?

Plus if you want to give Baalke hell for the depth then how about the starters?

Guys he drafted or signed on that SB team

Aldon Smith
Navarro Bowman
Carlos Rogers
Donte Whitner
Chris Culliver
re-signed Ray McDonald to be the starter opposite Justin

On offense it was Mike Iupati, Anthony Davis and Colin Kaepernick - who do you blame for that one btw? Either Baalke sucked at drafting or Harbaugh wasn't a QB guru enough?

It was just a bad situation between the two of them. No guarantee Harbaugh does way better without Baalke. And honestly while it sucked to witness the last few years I'm really excited in the direction of this team and I find it much easier to root for Kyle than Jim with his crazy antics and world is against me attitude.

SF's talent compared to Baltimore's wasn't even in question....they should have b***h slapped them that day. We lost on all 3 levels in that SB.

Originally posted by lamontb:
It's like yesterday remembering guys defending Baalke even over this horrible draft class. It literally took til the day he got fired for a lot of ppl to see the light. This guy did a horrible job.

I'm guilty of it myself but at the time he still looked great from the moves in 2010/2011 so I could look past the AJ Jenkins draft and the guys he took after weren't getting a lot of playing time so it was still hard to call it one way or another.

Really the greatest GM magic trick in a long time. Reminds me of those viral dog videos where the owner stands behind the blanket then drops it as they jump to the side and the dog is like WTF just happened?

That was me..

Baalke dropped the blanket and I'm like "wtf our roster sucks, how did i not see this before"

Obviously part of it was Aldon Smith not being able to stay sober/arrest free. That was a great draft pick talent wise but just a guy who killed his own career.
Part of it was Anthony Davis for being a baby back b***h, part of it was Chris Borland for being a b***h.

But I agree...it's time to move on. As long as some of these Baalke left overs do good things whats in the past is in the past. Baalke taught Jed York a valuable lesson and that's why we have Kyle and Lynch and what looks like a very promising road for the future of this team.

It's too early to say they're going to be great for a long time but the ground work is legit and I'm excited to see where they take us.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by genus49:
I agree it's definitely a case of two wrongs don't make a right.

Baalke couldn't draft 2012 on outside a handful of depth guys but as good as we were under Harbaugh those 3 years it certainly isn't on Baalke that we didn't close out with at least one SB ring.

There's no way anyone can convince me we weren't the more talented team in 2012. And defensive depth had nothing to do with us taking a 21-6 halftime deficit or 28-6 right after halftime. Unless somehow the starters were tired before the game started?

Plus if you want to give Baalke hell for the depth then how about the starters?

Guys he drafted or signed on that SB team

Aldon Smith
Navarro Bowman
Carlos Rogers
Donte Whitner
Chris Culliver
re-signed Ray McDonald to be the starter opposite Justin

On offense it was Mike Iupati, Anthony Davis and Colin Kaepernick - who do you blame for that one btw? Either Baalke sucked at drafting or Harbaugh wasn't a QB guru enough?

It was just a bad situation between the two of them. No guarantee Harbaugh does way better without Baalke. And honestly while it sucked to witness the last few years I'm really excited in the direction of this team and I find it much easier to root for Kyle than Jim with his crazy antics and world is against me attitude.

SF's talent compared to Baltimore's wasn't even in question....they should have b***h slapped them that day. We lost on all 3 levels in that SB.

Agree 100%. I learned a hard lesson that day.

I was pulling for the Ravens to go to the SB thinking we'd get the easy matchup. I couldn't believe what I was watching in the first half. We looked so friggin unprepared I was in disbelief.

I do think that if Aldon or Justin aren't injured earlier in the year we win the game but we still should've won it. Ray Lewis was a shell of his former self and was getting abused all game long.

Ugh...still hurts thinking back to that time. It was like a triple F*U for me that week.

My company had their national meeting in Texas that year which I always looked forward to because at the time I used to travel for work so it gave me a chance to see a lot of my coworkers and have a good time well the customer I was working with were being real aholes and delayed their project and forced me to stay behind to miss the meeting....while i had an awful cold and had to work that week miserable from being sick, working while all my coworkers were having fun in warm weather and the 49ers lost a game they should've won :(

Originally posted by genus49:
Agree 100%. I learned a hard lesson that day.

I was pulling for the Ravens to go to the SB thinking we'd get the easy matchup. I couldn't believe what I was watching in the first half. We looked so friggin unprepared I was in disbelief.

I do think that if Aldon or Justin aren't injured earlier in the year we win the game but we still should've won it. Ray Lewis was a shell of his former self and was getting abused all game long.

Ugh...still hurts thinking back to that time. It was like a triple F*U for me that week.

My company had their national meeting in Texas that year which I always looked forward to because at the time I used to travel for work so it gave me a chance to see a lot of my coworkers and have a good time well the customer I was working with were being real aholes and delayed their project and forced me to stay behind to miss the meeting....while i had an awful cold and had to work that week miserable from being sick, working while all my coworkers were having fun in warm weather and the 49ers lost a game they should've won :(

Yeah it was ridiculous, they weren't prepared a thought they would just roll in and win it. honestly they got out coached. The talent we had got us back into the game, but coaching in the end got us the L IMO.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Yeah it was ridiculous, they weren't prepared a thought they would just roll in and win it. honestly they got out coached. The talent we had got us back into the game, but coaching in the end got us the L IMO.

Absolutely. The best Coach Harbaugh on the field was John.

The best HC in this last SB was Doug Pederson. Even the best can get out coached. But to pretend it didn't happen and the difference in the game was defensive line rotation. Cmon.

So we could have moved up a few slots and got David Decastro in round 1. And to make it worse the idiot Baalke traded up in round 1 to get Josh Garnett a few years later.

We traded out of spots which would have landed us TY Hilton and Lamar Miller.

Man Decastro, Hilton and Miller would have been big additions.

That 2012 draft sucked so bad.

"Awesome draft just wait on it"

Originally posted by SteveYoung:
So we could have moved up a few slots and got David Decastro in round 1. And to make it worse the idiot Baalke traded up in round 1 to get Josh Garnett a few years later.

We traded out of spots which would have landed us TY Hilton and Lamar Miller.

Man Decastro, Hilton and Miller would have been big additions.

That 2012 draft sucked so bad.

Yeah brutal haul for us and really it didn't look that great overall that year outside the top guys but some teams definitely took advantage.

Seattle got themselves a couple of studs and some great depth guys. Denver used that draft as a strong base of their SB win as well. We got AJ Jenkins

Baltimore came out swinging when JH likely anticipated another game like the Thursday one. Boldin had a lot of tough catches, there was a few mental lapses and predictably Kap came slow out of the gate as he was green.

"Baalke replaced McCloughan as the top front office executive shortly before the 2010 draft and came away with a load of talent led by Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati and Bowman. Baalke did well the next year as well when he took All-Pro pass rusher Aldon Smith and Kaepernick with his first two picks.

The talent well went dry after that. Despite having 51 picks since 2012, Baalke has not added an impact player in any of those five drafts.

"Top two picks in 2012, A.J. Jenkins and LaMichael James, barely played for the 49ers; 2013 first-round safety Eric Reid is a solid starter and second-round tight end Vance McDonald has contributed; running back Carlos Hyde, cornerback Jimmie Ward and Lynch are the only starters from the 2014 draft; and no one from the past two draft classes has shined yet."

Baalke's strategy of drafting injured players in hopes of finding value has backfired. Only two of the seven players he drafted the past four years coming off significant knee injuries have even played a game in the NFL this season.

One of those players is 49ers linebacker Tank Carradine, who did not play a snap last week despite being healthy and dressed.

The Niners have also been hurt by a string of early retirements, including Davis, Patrick Willis and Chris Borland.

Perhaps the biggest issue with Baalke's drafting is hesitancy to take skill position players. Since missing badly with first and second-round picks on Jenkins and James, Baalke has had 15 picks in the first three rounds and used just one — Hyde — on a quarterback, receiver or running back.

That was glaring this year when the Niners didn't take a quarterback until selecting Jeff Driskel in the sixth round. Driskel was cut before the season, Gabbert and Kaepernick have predictably struggled.

Meanwhile, fourth-round pick Dak Prescott — taken one round after San Francisco selected injured cornerback Will Redmond and two picks after the Niners took cornerback Rashard Robinson — has Dallas off to a 5-1 start."

"That all adds up to a defense on pace to be the fourth in NFL history to allow at least 500 points in a season and an offense that ranks last in the league in yards per play (4.5)."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/apnews.com/amp/1f224fc351d5479c99fcffc37d440aaf


1) Baalke never replaced Alex Smith

2) I'll give Baalke Kap and Aldon as good picks, maybe one or let's say 4 in case I'm missing any off the top. That's 4 players out of 51 drafts picks... Mind boggling.

So my question, what head coach could work with 4 out of 51? There was a power struggle. Do you think trying to trade Harbaugh during a Super Bowl year had to do with Harbaugh and Baalke disputing about power or players??

What coach could thrive under 4 out 51? No wonder players wanted out...

3) Everyone loves to talk about scheme yet but conveniently never take about how much you need the players.

So Harbaugh was suppose to be happy that Trent was living off of Scott's draft and had an addiction with injured players.

4) Do you realize how compulsive it is to fir a coach in or around 3-4 years? That's not normal in the nfl especially one who has a track record or turning around programs. Nfl or college.

5) So am I to believe someone can waste drafts, live off of another man's draft. Harbaugh is very known for getting the best out of his players and I am to believe talent was not the main issue?

Just because he made our team into contenders which Mike Nolan nor Mike Singletary could do with the very same Qb.. That everyone wanted out.. That's spoiled talk, That's ungreatful talk.

6) So picking Tank Carradine when we knew we needed to replace Justin Smith (torn bicep) doesn't affect a Super Bowl window sitting on the bench??? When pass rushers are so important in today's football.

I get it, we were 5 yards away... but when you look at the facts...

There was one only man working in that duo.. and the other was receiving free checks, you wanted a different scheme in the Super Bowl? You need to draft players to change scheme not injured players or 4 out of 51.. All players don't fit the same system remember?

The logic around here is let's alienate the guy that is actually working... Brilliant and coddle the guy living off of someone elses job. Ashamed is what they should feel..

The next "Steve Kerr" was the weak sales pitch? You want scheme talk with our GM 2-4 out of 51. Lmao 😂

Harbaugh only needs to give thanks to is Scott..

Question What coach anyone who thinks scheming was the main problem would thrive off of o out of 51 or 4 out of 51?????

What coach can create a new scheme with 4 out of 51? And that's favorable for Trent those numbers?? Since Harbaugh should have "schemed" better?

Hint: You need alot more than 4 players to switch up schemes in this league. Tell me what coach could have thrived with those drafting number?

Just because he got the best out of them, doesn't mean the draft room can be torn down or no one had to work in the scouting department and go on permanent vacation.... To stare at that sticker award..

You could very well make the case that it was 0 out of 51 draft picks. That's not only sad but pathetic.. I'm sorry but talent was the reason "scheming" was not switched up. The facts prove it but I'll give him 4 for the sake of discussion.. Still it's mind boggling the excuses for this and the false narrative of the "Scheming" issues.

What coach could have switched up "schemes" or thrived under with 0 out of 51 or 4 out of 51 players in 5 drafts. I would like to know that question?
I would love to see the list of these head coaches that could replicate what that man did for us under those circumstances... I'll be waiting for that list of head coaches. Lol

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by Wu-5Rings:
The way it went down is what mostly pisses me off. The s**t show was embarrassing. It's more how it went down. We were going to trade away Harbaugh to the browns during a super bowl. the owner going on tv throwing shots, the backstabbing, the think they can do Harbaugh job. The changing the bio. The conspiring for his job.

It's the manner we handled it was embarrassing. It was 1st grade all over.

It's a duo and if one fails to help, then you have to call it out. If the players didn't perform. Harbaugh was f**ked..

Tough position to be put in. So because he couldn't make Aj jenkins a player, he sucked? He work with what you got and we didn't replenish. Imho

We gave power to the players.. If a starter under performs.. Harbaugh is f**ked because there is no replacement thus working with what you got. You back Harbaugh up with no bench then complain about scheming???

Yeah it was a s**t show all around...both from the HC and the FO IMO.

You're being a bit bias with Harbs because of where he coaches now Also every single pick made by Baalke wasn't all Baalke. Harbs loved him some LMJ, he was on record with loving Vance McDonald. Vic was a Aaron Lynch fan (hence him being a Bear now) etc.

Baalke drafted poorly and from everything reported didn't work well with the coaching staff, Jim's passing offense was stone-age, Roman was a horrible OC and needed to be pushed down to running specialist or some s**t, I didn't see a ton of development from our players, which end of the day falls on the coaching staff (Kap didn't develop as a passer) etc....I'd take Jim over Baalke any day, but I don't think his coaching style was sustainable in the NFL much better college coach.

Like I said plenty of blame to go around...I'm happy were this team is heading, who's calling the plays, and drafting the players.

Agree with both of you, and I'll just add that the miscommunication/non-communication between HC, GM, and Owner was fatal to this team. If nobody trusts anybody and nobody is communicating, bad stuff happens. I think one of the big factors of the bad drafts is because of a lack of trust and communication at all levels of the organization.

Mike Ditka has a similar personality to Harbaugh, and Mike did fine with Chicago. Mike didn't get along with Buddy, but they made it work somehow, and I think the Bear's owner had a good relationship with Mike, and that was Mike's saving grace in Chicago. All Harbaugh needed was one guy in his corner, and I think he'd still be coaching the 49ers today. We just wouldn't be implementing the WCO, which is what most 49er fans want implemented though. Mike also drafted fine when he was at Chicago, and I think Harbaugh would have a bit of a learning curve on the drafting side (afterall Ditka was with Tom for almost a decade before his Chicago HC gig) but if ownership was patient with Harbaugh, I think he'd have adjusted and learned to draft better as time goes on. Of course, that's sheer speculation on my part, and also college recruiting is also about finding the right talent for your team as well as getting as many 5 stars as you can get. I think those skill sets would have been a good foundation for drafting with regards to Harbaugh's potential at spotting draft talent in the NFL.