49ers select Kaelon Black, RB, Indiana at no. 90

I'm pretty done with this anyway, but it's absolute b******t that I've cherry-picked or twisted the opinions of evaluators. I pointed to the three most informed opinions I have found on Black outside of our team and to my view have been pretty faithful to what each has said. This included OTC, who perhaps you confuse my inclusion as twisting his words to be supportive of the pick. No, I including OTC despite his opinion differing from Cosell and JD. I included his differing opinion to display that even someone (also well-informed) who didn't like the pick, still considered him round four value. Thus he was another person who watched a lot of snaps and saw a draftable guy, which is ostensibly the reason why scouting departments invite players to the combine. I don't know, maybe you thought you had me in a gotcha moment, but perhaps I just didn't communicate well why I referenced his opinion.

I have always been more interested in discussing the player, so here's where you will find me.

It's June now. Time, I feel, to park the arguments about when he was drafted and start discussing the player. Discussions about relative values of draft picks etc and the team's strategies should be referred to the DWR.

Thank you.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Unless he becomes a perennial pro bowl player, this pick alone makes me want to fire Lynch. And I've never been a fire-Lynch guy. This is one of the most horrendous picks and wastes of a third I've seen in a long time. Not based on the caliber of the player, but based on the fact that he enters camp as RB5. I MEAN WTF...

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
It's absolutely inexplicable. How tf do we expect this to help us compete with Seattle? HOW??

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
I don't know that he's gonna beat out James, honestly. He looks like he could be a much better pass catcher, but I stick by my initial comments that he runs into backs of linemen a little too much for my liking.

Vision is typically one of those "either you have it or your don't", so I don't know if that can improve much. Hopefully it's better than it looked like on tape. Patience can be improved though.

He looked like a high round 4 guy to me on tape. But hopefully we see better than that in the preseason.

^^^

Standing by it! Hope he proves me wrong!

The winner between the two young RBs will depend on who Shanny likes more... it's not about who's better, but who Shanny likes more... The loser will end up having some kinda BS reputation for not being a good blocker, not picking up the offense enough or just isn't the runner that Shanny thought he was..

it's always been this way..

Originally posted by 9moon:
The winner between the two young RBs will depend on who Shanny likes more... it's not about who's better, but who Shanny likes more... The loser will end up having some kinda BS reputation for not being a good blocker, not picking up the offense enough or just isn't the runner that Shanny thought he was..

it's always been this way..

Quick who was the last guy who went into Kyle's doghouse and then went on to have great success for another team?

.

I like this young man.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by 9moon:
The winner between the two young RBs will depend on who Shanny likes more... it's not about who's better, but who Shanny likes more... The loser will end up having some kinda BS reputation for not being a good blocker, not picking up the offense enough or just isn't the runner that Shanny thought he was..

it's always been this way..

Quick who was the last guy who went into Kyle's doghouse and then went on to have great success for another team?

exactly

Originally posted by fropwns:
I like this young man.

I think they may have finally hit on one.

Originally posted by fropwns:
I like this young man.

Fro is good, fro is wise.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by 9moon:
The winner between the two young RBs will depend on who Shanny likes more... it's not about who's better, but who Shanny likes more... The loser will end up having some kinda BS reputation for not being a good blocker, not picking up the offense enough or just isn't the runner that Shanny thought he was..

it's always been this way..

Quick who was the last guy who went into Kyle's doghouse and then went on to have great success for another team?

Aside 54, 85 and 97 he's yet to find a player that you can call GREAT.... so your question is actually misleading..

Originally posted by 9moon:
Aside 54, 85 and 97 he's yet to find a player that you can call GREAT.... so your question is actually misleading..

No it's not. Your point was that Shanahan doesn't play players based on merit, but who he 'likes more'. If that was the case there'd be examples of players who Shanahan didn't personally like, and didn't play, but went on to be successful elsewhere.

Your argument is baseless.

Wow, if even Lombardi is praising him, you know he's been impressive.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by 9moon:
Aside 54, 85 and 97 he's yet to find a player that you can call GREAT.... so your question is actually misleading..

No it's not. Your point was that Shanahan doesn't play players based on merit, but who he 'likes more'. If that was the case there'd be examples of players who Shanahan didn't personally like, and didn't play, but went on to be successful elsewhere.

Your argument is baseless.

YOUR argument is baseless..

QUESTION WAS: Quick who was the last guy who went into Kyle's doghouse and then went on to have great success for another team?

if a player is GREAT, he will never be in Kyle's doghouse, so how can he have great success with another team??

It's like Ronnie Bell and how he was getting some playing time UNTIL the dropped that long pass ( i forgot against who ) ...

Intiendez mendez ??

Originally posted by 9moon:

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by 9moon:
Aside 54, 85 and 97 he's yet to find a player that you can call GREAT.... so your question is actually misleading..

No it's not. Your point was that Shanahan doesn't play players based on merit, but who he 'likes more'. If that was the case there'd be examples of players who Shanahan didn't personally like, and didn't play, but went on to be successful elsewhere.

Your argument is baseless.

YOUR argument is baseless..

QUESTION WAS: Quick who was the last guy who went into Kyle's doghouse and then went on to have great success for another team?

if a player is GREAT, he will never be in Kyle's doghouse, so how can he have great success with another team??

It's like Ronnie Bell and how he was getting some playing time UNTIL the dropped that long pass ( i forgot against who ) ...

Intiendez mendez ??

Aiyuk was in the doghouse. Aiyuk's talent was never an issue. Still isn't. He was benched until he showed the urgency and determination that Shanahan expects from his players.

You're insinuating that he's giving guys preferential treatment but yet what's he's doing is playing guys he believes are putting in work that represents what he wants from his team. If he's willing to sit down a guy he was SUPER excited to draft in the first round just a year prior cuz he thinks he's not doing the right things then your point has 0 leg to stand on.

All the complaints claiming 49ers play roster politics came from street FA, scrub type players. And Aiyuk was great btw. If he didn't sabotage his own career here we'd see that. 2023 showed us a glimpse of it.

And guess 3 potential HOF players aren't enough for you.

So to get this back to the topic at hand. I trust Shanahan to play the guys he considers best for the team at that time. We'll see where Black lands on the depth chart. It's good to hear good things about both Black and James. We need our running game to be back on track.

Originally posted by 49ersRing:

Apparent after watching a couple of these 49ers practices: Kaelon Black has real juice.

The burst is real. Black hasn't had a chance to showcase his greatest statistical attribute from college, where he averaged 3.4 yards after contact per carry

— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) June 3, 2026

Wow, if even Lombardi is praising him, you know he's been impressive.

It seems we finally found a topic both Lombardi and Cohn agree upon.