Niners hire Kris Kocurek as DL coach

Originally posted by moeab:

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by JMC52:
Did we overrate him a tad? Just wondering what everyone thinks after our struggles

Nope, I think Kocurek's track record speaks for itself. The dude is singlehandedly responsible for turning around Arik Armstead's career from bust to beast. A lot of fans forget how Armstead was perceived by the fanbase before Kocurek arrived. He helped develop players who were considered nobodies, castaways or busts like Kerry Hyder, Arden Key, Charles Omenihu, Samson Ebukam into legitimate pass rushers and got them all paid by other teams. He helped develop DJ Jones and turned him into one of the best run stoppers in the league.

Kocurek is unquestionably an elite DL coach, but he's also not a miracle worker. He can't polish every single turd into a diamond. The team has done a terrible job of bringing him young talent to work with. In the last 5 drafts, the team has drafted 4 DL in Javon Kinlaw, Drake Jackson, Kalia Davis and Robert Beal. That's not a very inspiring group, nor is it nearly enough resources invested in a position group the the teams claims to prioritize. Compare this to the teams with the best young DLs in the NFL: the Rams, who have drafted 8 DL in the last 2 drafts and completely rebuilt their DL, or the Eagles who have drafted 10 DL in their last 4 drafts.

49ers stopped investing in the position group through the draft and tried to patch their holes with bandaid FA signing. That's not a sustainable approach, and explains why the DL is in a terrible state. This is the year, however, that should change with how crazy deep this draft is at DL. They need to go all in on infusing the group with as much young talent as possible.

Terrible state? Hargreaves is a stud. Bosa is a future hall of famer. Floyd is decent pass rusher. Malik Collin's is solid. Theirs some talent on this d line so saying our defensive line in a terrible state is a bad take.

It's Hargrave and he's going to be released. Pretty much a done deal.

Floyd, Collins and YGM are all going into their last contract year. DL needs a ton of help.

Originally posted by genus49:
It's Hargrave and he's going to be released. Pretty much a done deal.

Floyd, Collins and YGM are all going into their last contract year. DL needs a ton of help.

Yeah, I don't know what that dude was thinking when he listed a player who won't be on the team and 2 old players in the last years of their deals to counter that DL isn't in bad shape.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by JMC52:
Did we overrate him a tad? Just wondering what everyone thinks after our struggles

Nope, I think Kocurek's track record speaks for itself. The dude is singlehandedly responsible for turning around Arik Armstead's career from bust to beast. A lot of fans forget how Armstead was perceived by the fanbase before Kocurek arrived. He helped develop players who were considered nobodies, castaways or busts like Kerry Hyder, Arden Key, Charles Omenihu, Samson Ebukam into legitimate pass rushers and got them all paid by other teams. He helped develop DJ Jones and turned him into one of the best run stoppers in the league.

Kocurek is unquestionably an elite DL coach, but he's also not a miracle worker. He can't polish every single turd into a diamond. The team has done a terrible job of bringing him young talent to work with. In the last 5 drafts, the team has drafted 4 DL in Javon Kinlaw, Drake Jackson, Kalia Davis and Robert Beal. That's not a very inspiring group, nor is it nearly enough resources invested in a position group the the teams claims to prioritize. Compare this to the teams with the best young DLs in the NFL: the Rams, who have drafted 8 DL in the last 2 drafts and completely rebuilt their DL, or the Eagles who have drafted 10 DL in their last 4 drafts.

49ers stopped investing in the position group through the draft and tried to patch their holes with bandaid FA signing. That's not a sustainable approach, and explains why the DL is in a terrible state. This is the year, however, that should change with how crazy deep this draft is at DL. They need to go all in on infusing the group with as much young talent as possible.

I gotta disagree with the inspiring group part. The careers of Kinlaw, Jackson, Davis, and.Beal haven't turned out to be much. But they all had Kocurek's stamp of approval and most were highly regarded coming out. Kinlaw was deemed to be a freak coming out. But injuries, weight loss, and inconsistently playing doomed his development. Drake had the profile of a high level edge rusher. Never panned out. Beal was a 5 star recruit at UGA that couldn't play enough due to the depth they had. Now we see it was more than depth. Davis was a good athlete, but oft injured. He was given high ceiling projects the last few drafts. Not unlike Arden Key or Armstead who he turned around as you said. It just didn't work this time around.

Hopefully we walk away with 4 legit players- a three down DE and DT, a NT, and perhaps one DE/DT type.

I still think he's a good d-line coach just have to get him some guys with potential that's coachable

Originally posted by BMoore56:
I still think he's a good d-line coach just have to get him some guys with potential that's coachable

Idk anymore...I think he's very good when he has the right players, he gets the most of out good players and can make them great. But he really hasn't developed any young guys, very few if any.

Originally posted by GoreGoreGore:

Originally posted by BMoore56:
I still think he's a good d-line coach just have to get him some guys with potential that's coachable

Idk anymore...I think he's very good when he has the right players, he gets the most of out good players and can make them great. But he really hasn't developed any young guys, very few if any.

In his defense, those players haven't gone elsewhere and blown up. Solomon Thomas is a nice backup. Kinlaw is just a backup and probably won't be a high demand one. Kentavius Street hasn't amounted to much. So the fact that these players are going elsewhere and aren't doing much of anything shows it isn't Kocurek.

I think we as fans put too much on coaches. We blame them for a lot beyond their control. If a player misses a block costing the game its the coaches fault. If the 6th round draft pick doesnt develop into a starter its the position coach's fault. We got grown men getting paid millions upon millions of dollars but yet we expect the coaches to not only coach them up but to motivate them to do their job. I wonder how many great coaches are out there with no job because they lack the motivational aspect? Can't get a job because you can't motivate a multi millionaire to do their job. LOL