Tavon Austin vs Cordarelle Patterson

Good question... that's a tough choice. I personally like both of these guys a lot. I want to say Austin but that might just be the OU game talking. I know the Sooners D took a nose dive towards the end of the season but WOW that guy made them look just plain stupid. 344 yards on the ground and 572 all-purpose? Players don't put up those kind of numbers in real life.

But with all that said, I'd probably have to go with Patterson. He might not be as fast or explosive as Austin but he's got the more prototypical WR build and is obviously no slouch in terms of playmaking ability himself. Both of these guys can line up all over the field but just how well would Austin match up against some of those bigger corners we'll be facing? I think he'd be fine playing off of the line in the slot but he'd probably get man-handled if he had to line up on the outside.

Originally posted by Norwalks_Best:

Originally posted by buck:

Originally posted by Rascal:
Before you even analyse the evaluation factors of Baalke, perhaps the question you need to ask first is what type of receiver he believes the 9ers need. Like I have been saying all along, I believe the 9ers are lacking a legit deep threat wideout. And to be a deep threat guy, you might not exactly need to be 6"3", but you certainly can't be 5'8". Unless you are telling me the 9ers feel they need yet another slot receiver, then I might not argue with you, but as it stands we have plenty of slot guys.

Baalke, himself, has listed those as the key factors in the evaluation of players.

I have no idea what type of wide receiver Baalke thinks the team needs.

I have not heard him say anything about the type of wide receivers the team needs. Have you?

We have not heard what type of player he likes but Austin is coming for a pre-draft visit for a reason. As far as his height it shouldn't be a concern plenty of WRS that have been successful in offenses like the pistol a dynamic playmaker of his ability does not come often.

I understand that he will be visiting. Playing off the Pistol is one thing, but I am thinking we need a deep threat guy. Size does matter when you are that deep ball receiver, you need to go up top against DBs plus you will get hit. Good luck to that when you play a 5'8" 174 lbs receiver against the Seahawks' secondary. I don't know what Baalke and Harbaugh wants neither, personally I hope is just smoke screen, may be as a 2nd choice WR. I don't know, as secretive as Baalke and Harbaugh are, it just feels like too obvious a move.

Originally posted by wailers15:
Just have a random felling they may not pan out in the NFL. How many explosive Wideouts have come out of college only to disappoint. Austin was a stud in college but he's small. How many little guys have come out of college and made an impact within the last 4 yrs? Only 1 that I can think of. Harvin.

I think K. Allen out of Cal could be the sleeper WR. He's probably the most polished route runner and is a big body target

TY Hilton is an example of a WR that was undersized and hyped by posters following the draft on this board....

Originally posted by Rascal:
And to be a deep threat guy, you might not exactly need to be 6"3", but you certainly can't be 5'8".

False.

Steve Smith and Desean Jackson are "deep threat guys" and are 5"8 and 5"10 respectively.

Originally posted by wailers15:
Just have a random felling they may not pan out in the NFL. How many explosive Wideouts have come out of college only to disappoint. Austin was a stud in college but he's small. How many little guys have come out of college and made an impact within the last 4 yrs? Only 1 that I can think of. Harvin.

I think K. Allen out of Cal could be the sleeper WR. He's probably the most polished route runner and is a big body target

You have to compare apples with apples. You have to be asking how many WR prospects have come out of college that were as highly regarded (top 25 pick) that have disappointed. You can't compare 3rd, 4th, 5th round prospects to 1st round prospects. You also have to account for the changes the league are going through (more of a passing league) and the WR position is going through (more and more teams are employing or looking for smaller quicker undersized receivers). And we have to account for a newer style of offensive scheme the 49ers are running currently...a scheme that can greatly benefit from a guy with Austin's skill set, speed and quickness.

I wouldn't be the least bit mad if we traded up for him but I personally wouldn't trade up higher than 20 as I think we shouldn't give up too much and could use some potential quality depth. But if the FO felt the need to get up to higher than 20, even as high as 13-15 and take him, I'd be OK with it. I also believe Austin will be off the board and out of play before we can afford to move to up or before we would start making phone calls to move up (I think he goes somewhere between 6 and 12 either by the team sitting there or somebody else moving up).

Originally posted by KRS-1:

Originally posted by Rascal:
And to be a deep threat guy, you might not exactly need to be 6"3", but you certainly can't be 5'8".

False.

Steve Smith and Desean Jackson are "deep threat guys" and are 5"8 and 5"10 respectively.

Originally posted by wailers15:
Just have a random felling they may not pan out in the NFL. How many explosive Wideouts have come out of college only to disappoint. Austin was a stud in college but he's small. How many little guys have come out of college and made an impact within the last 4 yrs? Only 1 that I can think of. Harvin.

I think K. Allen out of Cal could be the sleeper WR. He's probably the most polished route runner and is a big body target

You have to compare apples with apples. You have to be asking how many WR prospects have come out of college that were as highly regarded (top 25 pick) that have disappointed. You can't compare 3rd, 4th, 5th round prospects to 1st round prospects. You also have to account for the changes the league are going through (more of a passing league) and the WR position is going through (more and more teams are employing or looking for smaller quicker undersized receivers). And we have to account for a newer style of offensive scheme the 49ers are running currently...a scheme that can greatly benefit from a guy with Austin's skill set, speed and quickness.

I wouldn't be the least bit mad if we traded up for him but I personally wouldn't trade up higher than 20 as I think we shouldn't give up too much and could use some potential quality depth. But if the FO felt the need to get up to higher than 20, even as high as 13-15 and take him, I'd be OK with it. I also believe Austin will be off the board and out of play before we can afford to move to up or before we would start making phone calls to move up (I think he goes somewhere between 6 and 12 either by the team sitting there or somebody else moving up).

No disrespect to Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson, but I would rather roll with Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones type guys any day. Can you picture DeSean Jackson going up against Browner or Chancellor or being hit by them? Let's just say it won't be pretty.

Nah, sorry , just a difference in opinion. I want to a bigger and stronger 49ers team. We have enough small guys for the slot already. Just as well we got Anquan Boldin, he is the kind of guys we need. If we had a few of them, we might have even won the Super Bowl.

Originally posted by Rascal:
No disrespect to Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson, but I would rather roll with Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones type guys any day. Can you picture DeSean Jackson going up against Browner or Chancellor or being hit by them? Let's just say it won't be pretty.

Nah, sorry , just a difference in opinion. I want to a bigger and stronger 49ers team. We have enough small guys for the slot already. Just as well we got Anquan Boldin, he is the kind of guys we need. If we had a few of them, we might have even won the Super Bowl.

Jackson has gone up against that Seahawks secondary, last year. (Unfortunately hard to measure production as VY was the QB). But Davone Bess fared well against that secondary, Harvin went up against them and still walks without a limp so has Amendola and Welker.

You can also quit labeling him a slot guy. Just like D-Jax he can play outside, he can also play inside, in the backfield etc. He is not strictly a slot guy so quit labeling him as such.

the real question i have is, what do you do w/ LMJ if you draft austin?

Originally posted by deepniner:
the real question i have is, what do you do w/ LMJ if you draft austin?

Exactly, is basically more of the same, although he is slightly faster than James. I bet the 9ers would get Austin to line up like a tailback in the Pistol too.Then you will have 3 RBs and him doing the same thing.

I voted "someone else" we need defense!!!

Originally posted by Rascal:
No disrespect to Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson, but I would rather roll with Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones type guys any day. Can you picture DeSean Jackson going up against Browner or Chancellor or being hit by them? Let's just say it won't be pretty.

Nah, sorry , just a difference in opinion. I want to a bigger and stronger 49ers team. We have enough small guys for the slot already. Just as well we got Anquan Boldin, he is the kind of guys we need. If we had a few of them, we might have even won the Super Bowl.

Other than physical measurements I doubt Patterson will be a Megatron or Jones type of guy. No doubt he is a playmaker though and has the potential to be a great player, just not quite at their levels. Austin has top speed but moves like a cat with his quickness, something I'm not sure Smith or Jackson have. I would prefer having Austin because he is something this offense needs. A chess piece with endless uses. He could go slot, outside and even take handoffs. He has value at special teams as well. With Patterson you have that special teams ability and a guy to line up outside. But with the addition of Boldin I'd say Austin is more likely to be taken than Patterson, but I doubt we'll see Austin in a Niners jersey.

Originally posted by Kolohe:
I voted "someone else" we need defense!!!

We still have 13 picks. Drafting Austin does not preclude us from making improvements in our defense.

Perhaps, the best choice is Austin and Some Else

Lol at LMJ is the same as Austin... Just because guys are short doesn't mean they all play the same position or have the same role.

Originally posted by Kolohe:
I voted "someone else" we need defense!!!

I don't disagree with that. That is why I have said all along that this whole discussion is just academic. I just can't see the 9ers trading up an arm and a leg that high to get either of them. So, I am hoping to find a slight balance between defense and offense. I don't know take a DE/DT or S with the 1st pick,then get a WR in the 2nd. My problem is if we ditch Austin or Patterson, even Hunter should go in top of 2nd, so you might have to use the 34th pick if you want him. Anything lower, we are probably talking about the 2nd tier of WRs.

While I agree we need to fix our D with pass rushers, safeties and corners, my point of view is this, the old adage of defense wins championships have arguably become debatable after what we saw last season. When you play a really good team with an explosive offense, they are going to score on you no matter what. If say we agree on the premise that the Seahawks have the best secondary in the league now, they still got rolled over in the 1st half by Roddy White and Julio Jones. The same thing happened to us too plus in the Super Bowl. I believe apart from Boldin, we are may be just 1 offensive playmaker short in getting us over that hump. 9ers are not shy in making bold decisions, we went for a WR last season in the 1st, but only we picked the wrong guy unfortunately. While I agree 1st round is too much of a luxury that we probably can't afford on a WR, a 2nd rounder is definitely on the cards.

Originally posted by shaneblonien:

Originally posted by Rascal:
No disrespect to Steve Smith and DeSean Jackson, but I would rather roll with Calvin Johnson and Julio Jones type guys any day. Can you picture DeSean Jackson going up against Browner or Chancellor or being hit by them? Let's just say it won't be pretty.

Nah, sorry , just a difference in opinion. I want to a bigger and stronger 49ers team. We have enough small guys for the slot already. Just as well we got Anquan Boldin, he is the kind of guys we need. If we had a few of them, we might have even won the Super Bowl.

Other than physical measurements I doubt Patterson will be a Megatron or Jones type of guy. No doubt he is a playmaker though and has the potential to be a great player, just not quite at their levels. Austin has top speed but moves like a cat with his quickness, something I'm not sure Smith or Jackson have. I would prefer having Austin because he is something this offense needs. A chess piece with endless uses. He could go slot, outside and even take handoffs. He has value at special teams as well. With Patterson you have that special teams ability and a guy to line up outside. But with the addition of Boldin I'd say Austin is more likely to be taken than Patterson, but I doubt we'll see Austin in a Niners jersey.

I think as long as you is a Tavon Austin fan, this Austin Vs Patterson debate will just carry on forever and in all likelihood is only going to be academic anyway.

I believe a more fruitful discussion would be to forget about Austin Vs Patterson and look further ahead. In other words, do you really believe the 9ers will trade up that high to get a WR ? Let's just assume this is not happening, if you we can't have either Austin or Patterson, what other WR would you pick ?

Like I said, my approach has always been with the prototypical deep ball wideout, I would go for Justin Hunter in the 2nd if we can get him. If we move past the 34th pick, I don't think we can even get Hunter, then I would probably have to look at guys like Marcus Davis.

I would not be surprised if Austin goes a lot later than projected in mock drafts. I went back 5 years of drafts and did not find anyone drafted in round one under 180 pounds. It is also pretty clear from the contracts handed out in the off-season that slot receivers are not valued as much as guys on the outside.