2013 Defensive Line Prospects (DE, DT, and NT)

Originally posted by eonblue:
I didnt say anything about benching Brooks. Hes great. His int against the Saints was my play of the season. Im talking about locking up the OLB spot for the next 7 years. Im talking about providing a GOOD replacement and solid rotation if someone gets hurt. If you havent watched tape on Dion Jordan or Ezekiel Ansah you should. Whoever gets one of these guys ia getting a premier pass rusher. And yes i would like to see the terror and confusion our blitz will cause an o line if aldon was opposite either of these guys. brooks isnt the best third down pass rusher. Let me make clear I really like ahmad but im just thinking about the possibilities.

Sorry for the confusion. You stated opposite of Aldon, so I figured you meant as a starter. So you essentially want someone to play the Aldon Smith role from 2011 on third down? If that's the case, I'm all on board. I mentioned a few months ago I'd like to see a third OLB that could come in a fulfill that role. Basically another pass rusher that offenses MUST account for. They also could give Aldon a breather and step in adequately should either Brook or Smith get hurt as you said. Adding a player of that capability could give us a pass rush like the Giants have had for a few seasons where you can just plug in any number of guys from the LB position to create QB pressure. I'm ok with just about any pick to fill holes and create depth as long as we pick up a starting caliber NT and DE.

Couple notes: This draft is so strong with DT's and hybrid 3/4 DE/OLB's, I think we could see 8 of the top 15 players from draft come from just these positions. There is a lot of fluidity at this point, but guys like Lotulelei, Jarvis Jones, Werner, Richardson, Hankins, Mingo, Ansah, Jordan, Jesse Williams, Floyd all have good shots in cracking the top half of the first round. Very deep draft for the DL and 3/4 OLB position. In fact, I think 5 of the top 10 picks in the draft will be from this list: Jones, Lotulelei, Werner, Richardson and Jordan.

Originally posted by MadDog49er:

Couple notes: This draft is so strong with DT's and hybrid 3/4 DE/OLB's, I think we could see 8 of the top 15 players from draft come from just these positions. There is a lot of fluidity at this point, but guys like Lotulelei, Jarvis Jones, Werner, Richardson, Hankins, Mingo, Ansah, Jordan, Jesse Williams, Floyd all have good shots in cracking the top half of the first round. Very deep draft for the DL and 3/4 OLB position. In fact, I think 5 of the top 10 picks in the draft will be from this list: Jones, Lotulelei, Werner, Richardson and Jordan.

Do you think we should trade up and if so who would you pick?

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Sorry for the confusion. You stated opposite of Aldon, so I figured you meant as a starter. So you essentially want someone to play the Aldon Smith role from 2011 on third down? If that's the case, I'm all on board. I mentioned a few months ago I'd like to see a third OLB that could come in a fulfill that role. Basically another pass rusher that offenses MUST account for. They also could give Aldon a breather and step in adequately should either Brook or Smith get hurt as you said. Adding a player of that capability could give us a pass rush like the Giants have had for a few seasons where you can just plug in any number of guys from the LB position to create QB pressure. I'm ok with just about any pick to fill holes and create depth as long as we pick up a starting caliber NT and DE.

I agree the OLB pressure relies alot on the Dline. Well probably pick someone up in that position in the first and that would probably be the best descion. We need youth and rotation at NT really bad.

i say we go for jesse Williams...the guy is incredibly strong and he is probably one of the best run stuffers in the draft. He also hasn't played football as long as other players so its possible that he has more potential than what we have seen. good value at #32!

I wanna see at least 2 or 3 d-line/olb's from this draft

Originally posted by 228niner:
I wanna see at least 2 or 3 d-line/olb's from this draft

we probably will. in the middle rounds I would like us to take geathers along with a 2nd or1st rounder. probably pick up a raw pass rusher project also but I think cam Johnson is that project already

Originally posted by MadDog49er:
Couple notes: This draft is so strong with DT's and hybrid 3/4 DE/OLB's, I think we could see 8 of the top 15 players from draft come from just these positions. There is a lot of fluidity at this point, but guys like Lotulelei, Jarvis Jones, Werner, Richardson, Hankins, Mingo, Ansah, Jordan, Jesse Williams, Floyd all have good shots in cracking the top half of the first round. Very deep draft for the DL and 3/4 OLB position. In fact, I think 5 of the top 10 picks in the draft will be from this list: Jones, Lotulelei, Werner, Richardson and Jordan.

so what are the chances that we can get an inpact DL with the 32nd pick or do we have to move up?

my top 5 prospects (available when niners are on clock)

3-4 DL
silvester williams (UNC)
shariff floyd (FLORIDA)
margus hunt (SMU)
kawann short (PURDUE)
baker steinkuhler (NEBRASKA)

sleeper: joe kruger (UTAH)

NT / NG

john jenkins (GEORGIA)
jesse williams (ALABAMA)
brandon williams (MSSU)
cory grissom (SFU)
montory hughes (TENNESSEE-MARTIN)

Originally posted by pdizo916:

so what are the chances that we can get an inpact DL with the 32nd pick or do we have to move up?

Very high.

One thing that I was thinking was using a trade of Alex Smith to get a top 5 pick in the draft. Chances are, if you are drafting top 5, you don't have a solid QB. The problem is that no QB is worth a top 5 pick. So here comes the 49ers offering Alex Smith, plus a ton of additional draft choices, if you agree to give up your top 5 pick. You get your QB and the face of the franchise for the forseeable future (and a new QB sells tickets, especially a playoff winner), plus you have all of those other picks to build up the rest of your team.

The 49ers get to unload his salary plus can draft one of the best DT/DE coming out in the draft.

Jesse williams would be a solid pick.

If someone has had an opportunity to see all these guys, it would be interesting to see how they rank in terms of motor/technique vs physical ability for example a guy like Wolfe last year compared to Poe. Their positions may not be the same but hopefully y'all get what I mean... like high motor guys sometime get typecast as solid-not-as-high-a-ceiling player compared to boom or bust guys.

Originally posted by fryet:
One thing that I was thinking was using a trade of Alex Smith to get a top 5 pick in the draft. Chances are, if you are drafting top 5, you don't have a solid QB. The problem is that no QB is worth a top 5 pick. So here comes the 49ers offering Alex Smith, plus a ton of additional draft choices, if you agree to give up your top 5 pick. You get your QB and the face of the franchise for the forseeable future (and a new QB sells tickets, especially a playoff winner), plus you have all of those other picks to build up the rest of your team.

The 49ers get to unload his salary plus can draft one of the best DT/DE coming out in the draft.

I can see this from the perspective of teams like Kansas City, Buffalo, and Jacksonville, and even Tennessee because they mostly have strong running games and some other pieces in place on offense. From the perspective of the 49ers, if they are going that high, the player is going to be expected to start immediately. If we were to make such a move, we're most likely targeting a NT.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by fryet:
One thing that I was thinking was using a trade of Alex Smith to get a top 5 pick in the draft. Chances are, if you are drafting top 5, you don't have a solid QB. The problem is that no QB is worth a top 5 pick. So here comes the 49ers offering Alex Smith, plus a ton of additional draft choices, if you agree to give up your top 5 pick. You get your QB and the face of the franchise for the forseeable future (and a new QB sells tickets, especially a playoff winner), plus you have all of those other picks to build up the rest of your team.

The 49ers get to unload his salary plus can draft one of the best DT/DE coming out in the draft.

I can see this from the perspective of teams like Kansas City, Buffalo, and Jacksonville, and even Tennessee because they mostly have strong running games and some other pieces in place on offense. From the perspective of the 49ers, if they are going that high, the player is going to be expected to start immediately. If we were to make such a move, we're most likely targeting a NT.

If we could do that, I'd be all for it, but I just don't see Alex, our late #1 plus other picks being enough to move into the top 5. But I can see a scenario where we trade Alex, our late 2nd to a team like KC, Buffalo or the Jets and maybe a few other picks to get back into the early 2nd...in that scenario, we grab a top d-lineman in the late 1st then trade back up to grab a top safety in the early 2nd (or NT/WR, DB/DE, whatever combination makes most sense).

Definitely hope I'm wrong, but I think using Alex and a few picks to acquire a high 2nd is more realistic than packaging Alex and a ton of late-in-the-rounds picks.