Solomon Thomas--Stanford

Originally posted by tjd808185:
How did that work for Iupati and Davis? It's inevitable that 1 is gone. You're relying on youth so it will struggle early still so you may get a couple of years of a dominant line.

Its not inevitable....in any case if the worst thing that happens is that both guys play so well that the 49ers cannot feasibly resign both of them, then the team overall is likely doing pretty well and they will cross that bridge when they reach it.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

How did that work for Iupati and Davis? It's inevitable that 1 is gone. You're relying on youth so it will struggle early still so you may get a couple of years of a dominant line.

Lol how about it's baalke not shelling out money for a OG? That literally has no barring on drafting a guy and paying him in 5 yrs. why can't we pay buck after 3 yrs then spend money on Thomas two yrs later? You telling me teams only spend money on one DL? BS

It's not even close to say it's inevitable at all...that's such a nonsense statement. You have no idea how our FO values DL and keeping in tacked. I've already showed you how a team like the Giants spends a ton our their DL always has.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by tjd808185:

How did that work for Iupati and Davis? It's inevitable that 1 is gone. You're relying on youth so it will struggle early still so you may get a couple of years of a dominant line.

Its not inevitable....in any case if the worst thing that happens is that both guys play so well that the 49ers cannot feasibly resign both of them, then the team overall is likely doing pretty well and they will cross that bridge when they reach it.

It's such a baloney rebuttal on why not to draft a player.

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by jreff22:

Well we did let Gore walk...

They let an aging Gore walk. Hyde certainly has not played poorly and was measurably better this past season. Their major error was in not finding a dependable #2 RB to split carries with him.

An aging Gore that put up more yards. I wouldn't say Hyde has played well either.

So true lol, gore still putting up 1k seasons

So how about that SolomonThomas guy? He would be a great pick at #2 huh if Garrett is not available.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Like less then a month ago you were arguing with me about taking Allen and how important DL is, taking the best player blah blah..now I'm on board with taking a top DL and your arguing with me about it...I think you just like to debate honestly.

Last I saw Texas drafted clowney when they had Watt. Pathners have short, lotulelei, draft butler in the first and also have Jonhson. The Giants brought in Harrison even though they had Hankins and brought in Veron when they had JPP. You can't have enough DL talent. And when both buck and Thomas can play all over that line it's a plus.

I also stated a trade down is what I'd want most but if that can't happen I'd be more than fine with get a talent like Thomas.

No one said we can still get a Leo pass rusher in this draft, we have more than one pick.

Well I don't ever remember being pro Allen. Suh, Fairley. That is all that needs to be said. Clowney is an edge rusher and necessary for any defense. We still need that and if he was there yeah I got my thumbs up on taking him even with Watt. My overall point here is drafting Thomas still means we're either going to have spend big bucks on a Leo/ Sam or draft 1 high again. That position is a requirement for a great d and you don't have the cap room to play big bucks for 3 DL.

If you look at how Seattle, Jax and Atl are built you'll see Thomas is just not necessary. At the 3 and 5 techs 1 of them will be a Tony McDonald or Tyson Aloulou. There's no need to give up on Armstead at all and even if we did I'd be fine with Earl Mitchell playing 3 or 5.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by jreff22:

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by jreff22:

Well we did let Gore walk...

Last I saw he played for SF for 10 yrs lol.

We didn't have an expensive roster when we were losing.

When we had Justin, Aldon, Willis, Bow, Brooks, Kap, etc money became tight.

What does that have to do with anything? He got paid and paid well to be our RB for 10 freaking yrs...there aren't many RBs that can say they played on the same team that drafted them for 10 yrs.

We wouldn't fork over the cash to keep him because cash was tight.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

You can acquire the edge rusher in the 2nd round, especially in this draft. You walk out with Solomon Thomas and Charles Harris and its really hard to argue that you didn't just improve the front seven of your defense significantly, that will lead to improvement across the entire defense. After Garrett there is no edge rusher worth taking in the Top 10. Thomas is absolutely worth the pick at #2. You put him next to Buckner and you've got two disruptive, tough, hard-nosed players on the DL for years to come.

For about 5 years to come because if they are that good it will be impossible to keep them. The cap isn't made to overload at 1 position. I agree there's no edge rusher available but we could take Jax's strategy (improved from to 24th to 6th last year) and draft a corner then hit Sam/ Leo. They did other things too. The d line was terrible last year but it was young and injury plagued. At some point you got to trust that Armstead can develop into a decent starter. He doesn't have to be all world Buckner already looks to be that.

So their Leo draft pick gets all the credit for
Improving the run d? Did you forget that they signed Malik Jackson ? He was after all one of the highest grades run defenders.

Bringing up the jags helps the argument against you. They signed Malik to a monster contract who plays all over the inside of the line but primarily played at 3 tech. Then they also drafted an edge rusher in the 3rd(which is something most of us want to do in the second). And that all helped take them from 24th to 6th.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

If you look at how Seattle, Jax and Atl are built you'll see Thomas is just not necessary. At the 3 and 5 techs 1 of them will be a Tony McDonald or Tyson Aloulou. There's no need to give up on Armstead at all and even if we did I'd be fine with Earl Mitchell playing 3 or 5.

I think its a mistake to assume that the 49ers will try to match the personnel structure exactly the way those other teams have done.

Teams desperately looking for the "next Richard Sherman" is exactly how a whole bunch of busts happened.

The 49ers arent just going to mimic personnel from another team. They will pursue similar players but that doesnt mean that everyone will be an exact or even close replica of players on the other team. There is absolutely nothing about the scheme which prohibits a team from acquiring dominant interior players.


You build your roster based on the opportunity that is in front of you and by taking the best players available to you. If the 49ers and Seahawks swapped picks for some reason I have little doubt that they would give serious consideration to drafting Thomas or Allen.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I still think some are way overthinking it when it comes to Thomas. This team has a deficit of great football players. Thomas is a great football prospect. I doubt that any team that drafts him will keep him static at one position as opposed to taking advantage of his versatility and outstanding athleticism and moving him all around the DL based on the most favorable matchup. Usually with most prospects there is some tradeoff that has to be made, you get a guy with fantastic athletic ability but one that is extremely raw and is largely a projection or you get someone really bright but with limited physical tools, incredibly gifted but motor is inconsistent.

Thomas to me is the whole package. Athletic ability, motor, intelligence, awareness and leadership all in one. Still somewhat raw due to his limited college experience but fairly advanced technically. You find a spot for a guy like that and if the end result is that you make Armstead a rotational player and have to move him in a year or two, so be it if that means you wind up with a superior player out on the field and I don't think anyone will argue that Thomas isn't a superior prospect to Armstead. With the scheme they will be running you're going to need a deeper DL rotation so its not like this team is that stacked at DL that adding a versatile, potentially dominant interior player isn't going to be of a tremendous benefit.

In the end it comes down to "where do you play him" but considering the natural talent, the athleticism, the effort level and hustle, I think every single defensive coordinator in the NFL is up to take on the challenge of finding a spot for him where he will be able to simply wreck the opposing offense and be a constant nuisance all game long. The ceiling on Thomas is pretty special, the type of player that he can develop into is remarkable when you consider how skilled and talented he already is. If the Browns take Garrett and the 49ers pass on a QB, to me he is the most logical option. An elite, cornerstone type prospect for a roster that lacks elite talent, someone that can develop and grow with the rest of the roster.

Excellent post.

Good athletes are rarely one-dimensional. Though they may not excel in every position, they are almost always very good at multiple positions. So you take the best athlete and move him around. Bennett is a good example but Justin Smith is also a good picture. He wasn't always just hanging on to two OL so Aldon could get a sack/pressure. He went inside often and caused trouble there as well.

At #2 you want the guy you can build around. If that means moving other players around or even trading them for pieces that fit better, you get the key guy. No brainer.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Well I don't ever remember being pro Allen. Suh, Fairley. That is all that needs to be said. Clowney is an edge rusher and necessary for any defense. We still need that and if he was there yeah I got my thumbs up on taking him even with Watt. My overall point here is drafting Thomas still means we're either going to have spend big bucks on a Leo/ Sam or draft 1 high again. That position is a requirement for a great d and you don't have the cap room to play big bucks for 3 DL.

If you look at how Seattle, Jax and Atl are built you'll see Thomas is just not necessary. At the 3 and 5 techs 1 of them will be a Tony McDonald or Tyson Aloulou. There's no need to give up on Armstead at all and even if we did I'd be fine with Earl Mitchell playing 3 or 5.

Wrong, clowney plays DE an Solomon is currently a DE as well....

http://gridironnow.com/gamecocks-clowney-new-houston-role/


"Clowney played defensive end while with the Gamecocks, but while that position has the same name in Houston, the responsibilities are very different. South Carolina played a 4-3 defense, in contrast to the 3-4 favored by the Texans.

"It's all new to me," Clowney said. "I'm just trying to learn and do what they ask me. I'm getting better."

It's a different role that means a lot more matchups with interior linemen and a lot less open space to explode toward the passer. Clowney felt the difference.

"I could tell I played on the inside," he said about being sore after the game. "I was beat. I could tell I was back in the trenches."

The reason for the switch?

By posting Clowney on the end of the defensive line in a 3-4, the Texans can get more pass rushers on the field at linebacker and perhaps make life a bit easier for the superstar end on the opposite side, J.J. Watt.


In his previous experience at defensive end, at South Carolian, Clowney enjoyed excellent results: he won the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award as a sophomore, recording 13 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss."

Why cant we still draft a pass rusher like Harris who might be sitting there at 34? Avril was a 3rd round pick Bruce Irvin was draft bottom of the first. You draft the best player at two if you can't trade down and right now that's Solomon. He makes our pass rush and run D much better.

Originally posted by jreff22:

We wouldn't fork over the cash to keep him because cash was tight.

And what's your point? He was our RB for 10 yrs and was paid well...if he wanted more money that we were unwilling to pay him that's his choice. He hasn't gotten better since going to the colts and actually had some of his worst ypc of his career.

Baalke was frugal but guess what he's not the GM anymore...back to the draft

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

I think its a mistake to assume that the 49ers will try to match the personnel structure exactly the way those other teams have done.

Teams desperately looking for the "next Richard Sherman" is exactly how a whole bunch of busts happened.

The 49ers arent just going to mimic personnel from another team. They will pursue similar players but that doesnt mean that everyone will be an exact or even close replica of players on the other team. There is absolutely nothing about the scheme which prohibits a team from acquiring dominant interior players.


You build your roster based on the opportunity that is in front of you and by taking the best players available to you. If the 49ers and Seahawks swapped picks for some reason I have little doubt that they would give serious consideration to drafting Thomas or Allen.

Once agian another quality post

For what it's worth mcshay's third mock has Solomon going to us...matt Miller has a higher grade on him vs Allen as well.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I think its a mistake to assume that the 49ers will try to match the personnel structure exactly the way those other teams have done.

Teams desperately looking for the "next Richard Sherman" is exactly how a whole bunch of busts happened.

The 49ers arent just going to mimic personnel from another team. They will pursue similar players but that doesnt mean that everyone will be an exact or even close replica of players on the other team. There is absolutely nothing about the scheme which prohibits a team from acquiring dominant interior players.

You build your roster based on the opportunity that is in front of you and by taking the best players available to you. If the 49ers and Seahawks swapped picks for some reason I have little doubt that they would give serious consideration to drafting Thomas or Allen.

It's not exactly a replica of those players Seattle's d line in 2012 compared to now is different but with the cap you do have to balance your resources. If you try to build a dream team at one spot it's going to blow up. What prohibits it is that's just 1 piece of a 10 piece puzzle any way you draw it up.

Another mistake you can make is drafting BPA then playing him in a position that's not ideally suited for him. So if they end up putting Buckner at 5 that really hurts Thomas's value. He's a strong side end in this d. Now we may want to play Buckner at 3 and that could open the door for him but I'd look elsewhere. When you're picking 2 you have more than 1 option in front of you (at least I hope that) and you want to find the player who's going to help you the most long term.