49ers Draft Grade

Baalke has proven to have a good eye for talent. But talent doesnt equal value. A player with a 3rd-4th round grade drafted in the 4th-5th is good valuen, but if drafted in the 2nd...

After the way the Harbaugh situation was handled, I give York 2 seasons before hes going to have to make some big changes.

I understand people think we didn't address our needs but who assessed those needs? The media.. I would like to think that Baalke knows or needs more than anyone....

They did say they could've addressed certain needs but would be missing on players that they had rated a couple rounds higher... Personally, I rather have.The better player... It's not like were blatantly thin at any one spot....

Does Pinion get a chance to be the punter or kicker this year? Does Andy Lee get traded or cut? What do we do with Dawson?

Originally posted by theninermaniac:
This was a draft from a GM that feels very secure in his job. Lots of projects and no immediate returns on investment.

Baalke has a big ego. It looks like he falls in love with particular players and reaches for them too early.
Six Reaches:
1. Armstead - the whole world knew Baalke fell in love with him / should have traded back further
2. Whiskey Tartt - should have traded down
4. Bell - could have traded back / picked too early
4. Smelter - could have traded back to 5th ??
5- Punter - picked too early
6. Ian OG - picked too early

I voted a Solid B for this years draft. Some picks made no sense, but I liked most of them.

Originally posted by Butter:
Baalke has proven to have a good eye for talent. But talent doesnt equal value. A player with a 3rd-4th round grade drafted in the 4th-5th is good valuen, but if drafted in the 2nd...

Exactly, he reached for picks and didn't get good value.

Originally posted by djsatu:
D+. Didn't address needs, and I feel they reached on quite a few picks. Very inconsistant draft! Time will tell how we did...

Originally posted by Bobdawg78:
Does Pinion get a chance to be the punter or kicker this year? Does Andy Lee get traded or cut? What do we do with Dawson?

Pinion likely becomes the punter, and we cut Lee (the better punter) to save money

Dawson remains the kicker

is baalke scared of drafting a WR after completely whiffing on the last? only 1? and he's coming off a torn ACL.........


C

I agree that this years draft was a little wild to say the least. I think we kept too many picks, and that we should have tried to move back a little more for some of these guys. We should have moved into the early to mid twenties before taking Armstead. Tartt seemed like quite a reach, wish we would have moved to the end of the 2nd, or beginning of 3rd to get him. The next few picks were fine by me, but the P in the 5th is what kind of bugs me a lot. I mean what is the plan with him? Is he going to take Lee's spot this year, or try to beat out Dawson at kicker?

Does Pinion go to the practice squad, or eat up a 53 man roster spot with Lee and Dawson still on the team. Was Pinion on any teams radar in the draft? Should we have waited until late 6th or early to mid 7th? Seems like an extreme reach, and would rather have seen the team trade that 5th for a 4th next year, and then perhaps draft Pinion in the 6th if we're that high on him. It's very unlikely he would have been taken by then, not to mention we then drafted someone who might have not been drafted at all in the 6th for no reason. Very frustrating in the 5th round and after.

I hope I'm wrong on a lot of this, but how many experts need to say that tons of these picks were reaches, before it is known that Baalke should have looked to trade back a little more, if these were the guys he HAD TO HAVE.

Originally posted by Bobdawg78:
I agree that this years draft was a little wild to say the least. I think we kept too many picks, and that we should have tried to move back a little more for some of these guys. We should have moved into the early to mid twenties before taking Armstead. Tartt seemed like quite a reach, wish we would have moved to the end of the 2nd, or beginning of 3rd to get him. The next few picks were fine by me, but the P in the 5th is what kind of bugs me a lot. I mean what is the plan with him? Is he going to take Lee's spot this year, or try to beat out Dawson at kicker?

Does Pinion go to the practice squad, or eat up a 53 man roster spot with Lee and Dawson still on the team. Was Pinion on any teams radar in the draft? Should we have waited until late 6th or early to mid 7th? Seems like an extreme reach, and would rather have seen the team trade that 5th for a 4th next year, and then perhaps draft Pinion in the 6th if we're that high on him. It's very unlikely he would have been taken by then, not to mention we then drafted someone who might have not been drafted at all in the 6th for no reason. Very frustrating in the 5th round and after.

I hope I'm wrong on a lot of this, but how many experts need to say that tons of these picks were reaches, before it is known that Baalke should have looked to trade back a little more, if these were the guys he HAD TO HAVE.

Pinion wont go to the practice squad or another team will get him. Pinion is not a FG kicker.

I'm said C+ and here's why,

1st Round we got what I wanted, I wanted Arik Armstead.

2nd round, I'm not to sure as to why they took the safety so early, I feel like we have other needs right now that shoulda been adressed. But I do like the guy, he's a hitter we def need now.

3rd round, Eli Harold, I like this guy a lot, I a lot of potential for him,not sure if they're planning to move him to inside, or if they're thinking of cutting Brooks,but once again I don think they shoulda taken him

Blake Bell QB turned TE, not a big fan of him jus yet

Mike Davis, don't like this pic, they basically took a guy similar to Hyde, we need to a speedster

Deandre smelter, don like this pick either, he's a lot like Crabtree, same play style, not about it.

I'm giving a D+ grade and for at least the second year in a row am very disappointed in Baalke.

I don't have a player(s) that I wanted on the roster, there were no draft crushes YouTube favourites etc etc etc. I'm disappointed because there are glaring holes in the roster that were not addressed at all let alone adequately, and that many of the choices that were made I believe good have been made in later rounds.

First, EVERYONE drafted has talent. Some have a higher ceiling or lower floor of that talent but everyone of the players selected has the talent to be a professional athlete. As such, the 'talent' argument doesn't carry alot of weight to me. It's not only that its ubiquitous but that it needs to translate to performance.

Those who like this draft class tend to point out future needs; replace Bethea, Reid's concussions, Vernon hitting FA and in decline..... but that argument carries through to many other positions and of more immediate need. Boone has shown his willingness to sit out has requested a trade and will enter his last year. We also lost Iupati so now have 2 major holes to fill on our interior oline. For a power running team this is death. Anquan Boldin turns 34 and is in the last year of his contract. While he's playing at a high level still, there is no identified successor for a position we've been historically bad at selecting. By all accounts this was a WR loaded class with potential #1s still available in round 2. Our starting CBs are unproven or have not been effective with our back ups coming off season ending injury and yet Baalke feels the need for 8 TE's instead of adding competition in the defensive backfield. Bowman is coming off a major knee injury, Wilhoite is on a 1 year tender, Moody is a decent back up and after that we have some PS tryouts. Again, immediate need, lack of depth now and concerns for the future at a position which is critical to the success of the team and was simply not addressed. This was a very poor draft.

I actually like the Armstead pick, he addresses a need, has high upside and given a chance to develop could be a great player. Like all talent, time will tell if he's just another big guy playing football or his heart is really in the game. Boom or bust but given need and players available not a terrible choice. A

Tartt - Bethea is at the mid point of a 4 year deal and was a team MVP. Reid, although he has concussion issues, is playing at a high level and we may have a solid back up/potential future starter in Ward last year (with a 1st round pick no less!) along with serviceable back ups. Tartt is 4th on the depth chart at best and when he does get a chance to become a starter he'll be at least 2 years through his initial 3/4year contract. IMO, player could have been taken at least a round later and didn't represent good value given other players available and the needs of the team. Would have preferred a WR or CB here; someone who can get on the field and make an impact in 2015. Unless Baalke is now saying Ward was a mistake, this pick was a waste. F

Harold - Probably the pick that moved my grade from a D- to a D+ (Armstead kept it from becoming an F). Lemonier hasn't developed well and Aldon is in the final year of his deal with off field issues. We're counting on Lynch continuing to develop as well. A

Top half of the draft was a B+. WR/CB in round 2 would have moved it to an A. 4th round and after..... can I give an F-???

Bell - another relatively high pick on a Baalke project. Good size and some promise and maybe he lights a fire under Davis but this is a pick that could have come at least a round later. With OGs on the Board it seemed like a waste of a pick to me. D-

Davis - I'm ok with the position, not sure about the player (injuries) and lack of production (1 good year 1 injured year). Better talent was available IMO and with Bush signed, Hyde starting and FA help available for depth...... D-

Smelter - Finally a position of NEED! But another guy who is coming off an ACL, who it will take 2 years to fully evaluate (ie no immediate development and won't see the field until 2016 which will influence our 2016 picks.). This could be a good pick but we could all be sitting at the draft in 2017 with the same need as always and 2 years lost on a player that didn't pan out. Too high risk for what the team needs and where he was selected. D-

Round 5 - We have pro bowl Andy Lee and we select a punter. OK, I get competition but when decent punters get signed off the street did we really NEED to waste a 5th round pick? OG/healthy WR/Project CB/ILB/PS QB...... anything other than a TE would have been better than this pick. F

Round 6 - Silberman, finally an OG but if we're basing our future depth and power run game here we'll be sitting with a high pick in 2016. F

Round 7 - No issues with using a 7th rounder on Brown as a just in case it works out pick. But c'mon Trent.... ANOTHER TE? Really??? C and F respectively.

We had lots of picks, there was lots of talent at positions we NEED to fill now. Maybe Tartt becomes a pro bowler in 3 or 4 years, maybe Smelter comes back healthy, maybe Bell fully develops into our TE of the future but with players available with proven (or at least more known) skillsets in those roles Baalke went and put to many maybes on the roster.

I now personally hope it's his last draft for the 49ers.

I went D+. Every year I study as much as I can for these things and Balke seemingly does the opposite. I honestly think we fired the wrong man.

Originally posted by Jason:
I went D+. Every year I study as much as I can for these things and Balke seemingly does the opposite. I honestly think we fired the wrong man.

Probably what makes him such a good GM. As a fan you get about a 10% total view of things....if not less.