The future of Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis is in season two now, and he continues to struggle with speed rushers at the RT position. The 49ers appear to have full confidence in Joe Staley at the LT position, and continue to develop Alex Boone as the new Barry Sims swing tackle.

There could be a possibility that Boone sees playing time this year if Davis continues to struggle. Additionally, if Chilo Rachal continues to struggle at RG, the 49ers will let him go this off-season. The 49eres could place Kilgore there, but not without competition from a vet in my opinion.

So my question is based on the strengths and weaknesses we've seen in 1.25 seasons, does Davis have the physical ability to succeed at OG instead?

Originally posted by GEEK:
Anthony Davis is in season two now, and he continues to struggle with speed rushers at the RT position. The 49ers appear to have full confidence in Joe Staley at the LT position, and continue to develop Alex Boone as the new Barry Sims swing tackle.

There could be a possibility that Boone sees playing time this year if Davis continues to struggle. Additionally, if Chilo Rachal continues to struggle at RG, the 49ers will let him go this off-season. The 49eres could place Kilgore there, but not without competition from a vet in my opinion.

So my question is based on the strengths and weaknesses we've seen in 1.25 seasons, does Davis have the physical ability to succeed at OG instead?

This should happen. Davis is not improving at RT, so slide him into the RG spot where he is in less space. Alex Boone should be our RT, and he surely can do no worse than AD has been doing.

I thought he was improving?

Rachal is the problem, not Davis. The guy is in his 2nd year, what do u expect?

This is one of the bigger questions I've noticed zoners asking recently. Not knowing a lot about the attributes and technique of OLman personally, I would love to have someone in the Zone who has some experience with the OL positions (either scouting or coaching) comment on this future possibility.

On the surface, however, what I know about Davis from the draft profiles I've read is that he is extremely athletic and very strong. He was supposed to have good (quick) feet coming out of college but that certainly does not seem to be the case thus far in the pros. He has been pretty strong in the running game and my belief is that if he had less space to worry about, with his athleticism, he could become adequate in pass coverage too.

If he continues to struggle at RT, it is certainly worth a try to play him at OG. Several other guys in the NFL who have been drafted as OTs have had fine careers at OG so there is precedent there.

Originally posted by communist:
Rachal is the problem, not Davis. The guy is in his 2nd year, what do u expect?

Second year, with no offseason, learning a new blocking scheme.

Originally posted by Oakland-Niner:
Second year, with no offseason, learning a new blocking scheme.

Thats what I'm talking about.

the problem is that boone is a very valuable backup at LT or RT. if we plug him in at RT to start, what happens when joe staley goes down?

Davis looks overmatched right now. He's still very young so I don't think we should give up on him. Personally I think Boone is our best LT and should start there. He's an absolute monster and when Staley went down against Philly he made Trent Cole look like a child. He dominates every time he gets in. Move Staley back to RT and let Davis be the back up and learn the scheme in practice and from the sideline.

Im not sure why were all giving everyone else a chance to be coached up by Harbaugh and dont want to give the same to Davis and Chilo. Davis was the youngest player in the NFL last year and turns out he was playing for the most Unorganized head coach in the league. He is still so young. I realize we all want to win right this instant, but what happened to developing talent. Davis has unnatural talent and ability, just needs some time in a real system, chilo as well. For the first time we are in complicated times, the scheme is real and wont happen over night. Even Staley has had his rough spots, a brand new center as well. Im lookin forward to the future, when we see this line gel as a unit. I really believe they can be dominant. For some reason i just cant give up on Chilo. He has dealt with so much adversity in his life and i still think he can be a real good player.

Originally posted by Furlow:
Davis looks overmatched right now. He's still very young so I don't think we should give up on him. Personally I think Boone is our best LT and should start there. He's an absolute monster and when Staley went down against Philly he made Trent Cole look like a child. He dominates every time he gets in. Move Staley back to RT and let Davis be the back up and learn the scheme in practice and from the sideline.

Not a bad idea either. Extend Boone's contract now though, while we can sign him rather cheaply. He should jump at signing a 3 yr 7 mil deal compared to what he's making now. Hope Staley's hitting the weights, because he seems kinda weak for playing RT... but I guess what he lacks in overpowering can be made up for in technique.

It's actually worse than communist said, in that altho this is ADs second yr, he had one complete yr of b.s or no coaching by a guy who knew nothing about the O, but even less about the OL. BM(bigmike) was a stellar LB coach. He had no business doing anything other than that,, so AD learned some mighty bad habits, and by end of yr was a worse player than when he was in college. On top of that, he had to cover for Rachal, not just last yr but this yr too. It really makes determining how good the guy is difficult. Put a really good, or even mediocre OG beside him and then see how he does. As for Rachal, it was just a bad pick on a guy who pancaked defenders at USC, only to find out you had to study, understand how to play OG in the nfl and met up with a bunch of guys who were meaner, stronger, quicker, smarter and had tons of experience. Also, krappy coaching really hurt Rachal. Go back look at tapes from last yr and he went downhill as season went on. He just got horrible coaching from the gitgo, and i really believe having BM as HC ruined Rachal as a player. Hence the spillover onto AD.

Originally posted by ayleswbj11:
Im not sure why were all giving everyone else a chance to be coached up by Harbaugh and dont want to give the same to Davis and Chilo. Davis was the youngest player in the NFL last year and turns out he was playing for the most Unorganized head coach in the league. He is still so young. I realize we all want to win right this instant, but what happened to developing talent. Davis has unnatural talent and ability, just needs some time in a real system, chilo as well. For the first time we are in complicated times, the scheme is real and wont happen over night. Even Staley has had his rough spots, a brand new center as well. Im lookin forward to the future, when we see this line gel as a unit. I really believe they can be dominant. For some reason i just cant give up on Chilo. He has dealt with so much adversity in his life and i still think he can be a real good player.

I hope he does get better but given where he was drafted he should be having a more positive and immediate impact.

So far: Anthony Davis=Kwame Harris.

Poor guy lost his father Al today.

I would give him 3 years. If he isn't solid or still inconsistent after that, look to move on. He was considered athletic for his size but raw when they drafted him.