49ers select Nick Martin-LB-Oklahoma State with the 75th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft

Nick Martin plays with urgency on the field. I love it. The game will slow down for him in time, and he'll learn to control and apply to his speed better. Dee Winters was literally in this exact position just last year and significantly improved since then.

Crazy game speed. He might be the fastest LB the 49ers have had in the Shanny era.

Originally posted by 49er-from-Yavin-IV:

Originally posted by Scoots:

Originally posted by miked1978:
The kid had a decent game yesterday. It's hard for some of you to imagine but these rookies typically get better each week during training camp. Maybe not the best to judge them based of 1 preseason game

... or the first couple days of pad practice in camp.

Great points. Folks need to take a longer view with the team and these players.

With players like Nick Martin (and a lot of his draft classmates), the team/roster is moving in the right direction.

To be fair to the critics, the game is also changing and guys like Martin were safeties a few years ago. The reality is that if the 49ers needed a LB to exert gap control and directly engage linemen then Martin is simply too small. Also Martin had diagnosing issues in college so it was clear he had to get better.

The positives were that when he read the play right he was very good at quickly getting to the ball.

He still has a ways to go, but on the very bright side Winters appears to have grown a lot and enough to be ready to play a lot.

Missed 4-5 tackles in two games... This one screams of bad miss already and bust. We normally are great at drafting lbs also so it's surprising.

Kwon Alexander 2.0

__PRESENT__PRESENT

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
Missed 4-5 tackles in two games... This one screams of bad miss already and bust. We normally are great at drafting lbs also so it's surprising.

Kwon Alexander 2.0

Dre Greenlaw, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Dee Winters all took a couple years to come into their own. But what is surprising is how you can tell he's a bust already after watching a couple preseason games.

calling someone a bust after 2 preseason games is crazy work.

Originally posted by Heroism:
calling someone a bust after 2 preseason games is crazy work.

I thought he showed great improvement from game 1 to game 2. Very encouraging

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:
I thought he showed great improvement from game 1 to game 2. Very encouraging

agreed

Originally posted by miked1978:
__PRESENT__PRESENT

Dre Greenlaw, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Dee Winters all took a couple years to come into their own. But what is surprising is how you can tell he's a bust already after watching a couple preseason games.

When you want Kyle fired you root for everyone to bust

Originally posted by miked1978:
__PRESENT__PRESENT

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
Missed 4-5 tackles in two games... This one screams of bad miss already and bust. We normally are great at drafting lbs also so it's surprising.

Kwon Alexander 2.0

Dre Greenlaw, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Dee Winters all took a couple years to come into their own. But what is surprising is how you can tell he's a bust already after watching a couple preseason games.

He's supposed to be a tackling machine. He's had his ankles broken multiple times already against scrubs.

That's why it's arrow down right now. Hopefully he improves but you never know.

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
He's supposed to be a tackling machine. He's had his ankles broken multiple times already against scrubs.

That's why it's arrow down right now. Hopefully he improves but you never know.

I didn't love drafting him or Collins. Not because they can't become good to great players (they can), it because I don't think they can give us much in year 1.

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
Missed 4-5 tackles in two games... This one screams of bad miss already and bust. We normally are great at drafting lbs also so it's surprising.

Kwon Alexander 2.0

Kwon Alexander was a really good linebacker before injuries derailed his career. If Martin is Kwon 2.0 we got a great player.

Fred and Dre always sing Kwon's praises btw…

I will hold my judgement until a few regular season games have been played by said players.

Originally posted by ModestoNiner33:

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
He's supposed to be a tackling machine. He's had his ankles broken multiple times already against scrubs.

That's why it's arrow down right now. Hopefully he improves but you never know.

I didn't love drafting him or Collins. Not because they can't become good to great players (they can), it because I don't think they can give us much in year 1.

Collins won't help us this year? What else does your magic 8 ball say?

Originally posted by ModestoNiner33:

Originally posted by BoldRedandGold:
He's supposed to be a tackling machine. He's had his ankles broken multiple times already against scrubs.

That's why it's arrow down right now. Hopefully he improves but you never know.

I didn't love drafting him or Collins. Not because they can't become good to great players (they can), it because I don't think they can give us much in year 1.

Do you only draft for the rookie year? I would much rather draft players planning for a 13 year hall of fame career than how they perform as rookies :)

His speed is evident but everything else...Im not even sure his best position is at LB. Could be best utilized as some hybrid LB/S who can blitz a good amount. Like a poor man's Adams or something.

These missed tackles are a problem and I dont think they will ever go away.