Could we actually be "building through the draft"

I know this seemed to be our approach to the season, build our team through the draft and sign a few veteran agents to fill out the roster. Personally I laughed at the thought of this prior to the season just because overall we have had a few good draft picks here and there but overall in the last decade it hasn't been a successful tactic for us, hence part of our eight season drought. Obviously that was part of people's (including me) problem with the slow approach to free agency because honestly I have seen enough mediocre drafts to dishearten me. However with Trent Baalke's first draft as the official GM, because I don't really count last season as it seemed that Singletary had atleast half the influence in that draft room, but this year's draft class is looking more and more outstanding by the week. Aldon Smith has showed us enough flashes in TC and preseason thus far to convince us that he has the tools to be the consistent pass rusher we have longed for the last several years. Kaepernick continues to improve and earn praise of his teamates and coaches. Culliver and Hunter (especially Hunter) are coming off back to back solid preseason performances. Daniel Kilgore looked outstanding against the Raiders. Then you have Demarcus Dobbs, albeit he was not drafted, but he is becoming a fresher version of Alex Boone. A great story, a kid that didn't get the pleasure to hear his name called on draft day but has worked his way up the depth chart as in just one week this kid is already worked his way into the second string depth chart. I got to say big props to Baalke and Harbaugh. I know that it is only preseason but the fact that it's so early in all these guys careers and many of them are already showing such great promise at an accelerated rate is just so encouraging to our future and our future drafts.

No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

The exciting thing for me is if we can somehow manage a solid season, and add another solid offseasn on top of this one, then we should be on our way.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

Originally posted by phatbutskinny:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

Ah, more doom and gloom.

Originally posted by GorefullBore:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

Ah, more doom and gloom.

I just call what I see. And it's not real good the last few years. On the plus side Harbaugh is the first coach in a decade who has any clue at all. That has to bode well. And Alex albeit just 1 preseason game looked pretty good. Braylon looked good too. I have concerns with the O Line and defensive secondary.

Originally posted by Willisfn4life:

I know this seemed to be our approach to the season, build our team through the draft and sign a few veteran agents to fill out the roster. Personally I laughed at the thought of this prior to the season just because overall we have had a few good draft picks here and there but overall in the last decade it hasn't been a successful tactic for us, hence part of our eight season drought. Obviously that was part of people's (including me) problem with the slow approach to free agency because honestly I have seen enough mediocre drafts to dishearten me. However with Trent Baalke's first draft as the official GM, because I don't really count last season as it seemed that Singletary had atleast half the influence in that draft room, but this year's draft class is looking more and more outstanding by the week. Aldon Smith has showed us enough flashes in TC and preseason thus far to convince us that he has the tools to be the consistent pass rusher we have longed for the last several years. Kaepernick continues to improve and earn praise of his teamates and coaches. Culliver and Hunter (especially Hunter) are coming off back to back solid preseason performances. Daniel Kilgore looked outstanding against the Raiders. Then you have Demarcus Dobbs, albeit he was not drafted, but he is becoming a fresher version of Alex Boone. A great story, a kid that didn't get the pleasure to hear his name called on draft day but has worked his way up the depth chart as in just one week this kid is already worked his way into the second string depth chart. I got to say big props to Baalke and Harbaugh. I know that it is only preseason but the fact that it's so early in all these guys careers and many of them are already showing such great promise at an accelerated rate is just so encouraging to our future and our future drafts.

Nice post!

i think every team tries to build through the draft every year. it is a matter of if that draft class pans out or not. consistently changing coaches and coordinators and even GMs does not help this matter. everyone has their own style their own players they like. we need some consistency in the FO and coaching to be able to actually build a team

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
No.

I don't see that we are building much of anything. You don't stay at the bottom for nearly a decade for no reason. This team has no clue. I don't know when or if they will figure it out. The Bengals and Lions tend to stay at the bottom for 20, 25, 30 years with the exception of a year here or there. Everybody gets lucky one year. I don't count that.

The great niner teams of the 80's and 90's were built through the draft, but from about 1987 on the 49er drafts were a lot like they are today (sucky) which is why the teams of the 90's were more like mercenary teams and eventually the whole thing fell apart. So maybe what separates the great teams from the bottom feeders is having 2 or 3 lucky drafts.

It looks like they are attempting to. So far I like what Baalke/Harbaugh have done. They are rebuilding and getting the players they want on the team. It's going to take more than the 4 weeks they were given to evaluate the talent.

i totally agree with you.. you are starting to see what they have always been saying.. there is alot of young talent on this team.. that was aquired via the draft and undrafted freeagency.. Im very excited..

All teams build through the draft(except for the redskins), some reach a point where they think they are really close to competing for a playoff berth, then they go after the free agents to fill positions of need. What our team has been missing for several years is a staff that knows how to develop college players into NFL players and then put them in a position to succeed.

Originally posted by Willisfn4life:
I know this seemed to be our approach to the season, build our team through the draft and sign a few veteran agents to fill out the roster. Personally I laughed at the thought of this prior to the season just because overall we have had a few good draft picks here and there but overall in the last decade it hasn't been a successful tactic for us, hence part of our eight season drought. Obviously that was part of people's (including me) problem with the slow approach to free agency because honestly I have seen enough mediocre drafts to dishearten me. However with Trent Baalke's first draft as the official GM, because I don't really count last season as it seemed that Singletary had atleast half the influence in that draft room, but this year's draft class is looking more and more outstanding by the week. Aldon Smith has showed us enough flashes in TC and preseason thus far to convince us that he has the tools to be the consistent pass rusher we have longed for the last several years. Kaepernick continues to improve and earn praise of his teamates and coaches. Culliver and Hunter (especially Hunter) are coming off back to back solid preseason performances. Daniel Kilgore looked outstanding against the Raiders. Then you have Demarcus Dobbs, albeit he was not drafted, but he is becoming a fresher version of Alex Boone. A great story, a kid that didn't get the pleasure to hear his name called on draft day but has worked his way up the depth chart as in just one week this kid is already worked his way into the second string depth chart. I got to say big props to Baalke and Harbaugh. I know that it is only preseason but the fact that it's so early in all these guys careers and many of them are already showing such great promise at an accelerated rate is just so encouraging to our future and our future drafts.

Yes def have to give Baalke credit but you also have to give credit to coaching. When you look at the cosistently good teams (eagles, patriots, steelers, etc) they always seem to find these late round gems while we cant get anything out of our 2nd and 3rd round picks. Alot of it is coaching Mike nolan is already on his 2nd D cord job and dinglebarry is back to being a LB coach. No wonder players didnt develop under these guys.

Our team is already built from the draft...

Alex Smith
Frank gore
Joe Staley
Chilo Rahal
Josh Morgan
Ray McDonald
Issac Sopoaga
Patrick Willis
Micheal Crabtree
Micheal Iupati
Anthony Davis
Dashon Goldson
Navarro Bowman
Aldon Smith
Colin Kaep.
Kilgore
Culliver