Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
Originally posted by LifelongNiner:
Originally posted by frankieuc68:
Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Originally posted by frankieuc68:
I agree. This guy sounds perfect for our offense. Great blocker with a nice upside as a pass catcher. Seems like the same draft profile as Kittle. Will he be there with our 5th rounder if we miss out from N Dakota St. TE?
Whiteheart will go before Gindorff, probably a couple rounds before him. Whiteheart is 3rd to 4th. Gindorff is more like 6th to 7th.
Interesting to see how people differ in opinions. NFL Countdown has Whiteheart as the 22nd ranked TE while Gindorff is 16th. Luepke is 9th. I have no clue on this to be honest but my preference would be to use one of our 5ths on a TE and use our 3rds on a CB, S, OT, or Edge.
I agree those positions will get priorities if they grade the same for me too. Hope we still get one of these TE prospects later.
I'm honestly hoping for both. We could stand to rebuild our TE room. No one behind Kittle is anything worth writing home about, nor has anyone really developed which is why I think we got a new TE coach. Woerner has a year left and is totally replaceable. Bring in two rookies who excel at blocking, but have upside as receivers- not unlike George Kittle and get it going again.
We have too many needs elsewhere to devote a 3rd and a 5th to the TE position. CB, S, Edge, OT, OG, DT are all positions that we should focus on for starters or depth. I actually think they are outweigh TE in importance but I do want to use a 5th on one.
And they are all positions where it gets real spotty based on our first pick- 98. Are all of those positions needs- absolutely, particularly safety as we have no one under contract at the FS position. I'm with you in wanting to address all of the above, but TE is in the mix and I'd say it's one of the positions where we could get major production in year one. By major production I mean blocking so that Kittle can be used more as a receiver (double bonus).
Ideally, I hope they use all 11 picks and I also think, depending on how the draft falls, they could bring in someone that could make the team.
With our three thirds, I see safety as the only guarantee to go that early. Everything else depends on how the draft falls. Do they think a rookie OT is better than what they already have at OT? I'm not gonna judge because they saw those guys in practice for a year. Fans are going to have to understand there isn't going to be much evidence as to who the heir apparent is at RT should they let MM walk. The same could be said for OG and CB. And I'll just say no edge rusher that late is going to come in and be the number 2 guy as a rookie.
Free agency and how they create cap space is going to tell us a lot about how they see this team.
