Just one more thing…how we feeling about this draft class?
2nd (33): WR De’Zhaun Stribling, Miss
3rd (70): DE Romello Height, Tex Tech 3rd (90): RB Kaelon Black, Ind 4th (107): DT Gracen Halton, Okla 4th (127): OL Carver Willis, Wash 4th (139): CB Ephesians Prysock, Wash 5th (154): LB Jaden Dugger, Louisiana 5th (179) Enrique Cruz Jr. OT Kansas
The theme of the draft was to add athletes.
ReplyDeleteNot going to lie, pretty uninspiring haul imo. But that was always a risk out of this draft - just not a lot of quality.
Of the group, I expect Height to be the one that sees the most action as a rookie. Stribling is more one for the future as WR is a bit of a logjam, while Black probably needs injuries ahead of him to get a lot of action this year.
Halton and Willis will be interesting to see if they can carve out (see what I did there?) playing time in 2026. The others are development/ STs guys for now you'd expect.
I don't have an assessment of the players as I don't watch college football, for the most part, but I just wish they had a poker player in the room to try and max out the "value" of picks relative to the league- Ozzie Newsome was a phenomenal GM due in large part to hitting the drafts........ hopefully, some picks pan out, but 49ers maybe need to evaluate the draft room.
ReplyDeleteLots and lots of sports media criticizing the Niners and their draft strategy and picks this year. Here's one from CBS Sports on Day 2. He might have added that questionable choice of yet another running back in the 3rd round--
ReplyDelete49ers' Day 2 strategy
The 49ers made one of the most shocking picks of the day on Friday when they opened up the second round by taking Ole Miss WR De'Zhaun Stribling at 33rd overall.
The pick might have been the biggest reach of the second round. Stribling was the 19th-ranked receiver on our big board here at CBS Sports and the 120th-ranked overall player. At ESPN, he was ranked as the 15th-best receiver and 76th overall. I don't think there was a single ranking that had him in the top 70 and the 49ers decided to take him at 33rd overall. The bizarre thing is that this pick wasn't even out of character for the 49ers because they have a track record of making bad picks on Day 2. It's like they can't get out of their own way.
Based on that list, the 49ers might want to start thinking about just trading away all of their Day 2 picks, because nothing seems to be working out for them.
The 33rd pick was a popular one and multiple teams tried to make a trade for it, but the 49ers held on to the pick and selected a player they probably could have gotten in the third or fourth round.
Oh my goodness turns out the CBS guy did roast the Niners again for their pick of a running back. Gosh, but Lynch and Shanny are getting no mercy this draft year.
ReplyDeleteRunning backs
The draft got off to a hot start for running backs with Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian both getting taken in the first round. However, things have cooled off considerably since then. There were ZERO running backs taken in the second round, marking the first time in 23 years that there wasn't a single running back taken in that round. Things didn't get much better in the third round with just one running back going off the board. That happened when the 49ers selected Kaelon Black with the 90th overall pick. That pick was arguably another Day 2 reach by the 49ers.
All these lists and rankings are done by people who don’t play football or ever did and not at a high level. The people who do the draft are professionals who do this full time. I think it’s rather hilarious when we criticize a pick because he was taken by professionals at a spot hire than the non professionals ranked him.
ReplyDeleteThe Niners, however, have room full of professionals scouts, coaches, etc. and they collaborate on who to pick. A player can be worthless to one team and highly needed by another. It’s not a science by any means. I don’t advocate that the Niners need to overhaul their draft room because they didn’t follow the rankings of journalists.
I know that many fans have a lot of fun doing mock drafts as well they should. Just don’t take yourself too seriously. You do it for fun. Teams do it to keep their jobs.
All good points. But... also worth noting that, historically, players that are drafted significantly higher than consensus draft boards have a much lower rate of success relative to other players drafted in that range. So consensus draft boards aren't nothing.
DeleteAnd if the 49ers had a good track record of drafting guys above consensus working out it would be an easy thing to dismiss. However... the track record on guys they've drafted well above consensus is about as good (bad?) as it is league wide.
I do the draft for fun because I'm a nerd. I did Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. This is my adult fun, but I'll say this, Shanahan and Lynch have a good track record of winning football games and that's good enough for me.
ReplyDeleteYes, they win football games with the way they think. This year they are going to the SB and play the Chargers.
DeleteAlso another great point. The 49ers have played a lot of good football over the past 7 seasons. And they'll likely continue to do so.
DeleteBut, that also doesn't mean they always draft well or shouldn't receive any criticism for things they do that have shown historically to not work well.
Their best draft picks have tended to be guys that were taken around where they were expected to go or higher - i.e., guts considered to be pretty good value by draft boards.
But the track record on guys they have drafted earlier than expected is not good.