Speed isn't  everything in a wide receiver, but at the pro level you better have some juice in the tank or you will be swallowed by faster players . After seeing Michael Crabtree's struggles getting open I've concluded that. Crabs will never be more than an average posession receiver, and there was a good reason that he avoided being timed during or after  the combine last year. The man is SLOW by NFL standards and I'm sorry to say that speed is one thing that can't be coached up.  Yesterday Crabs had one catch where he had decent YAC but that is more of an anomally than the rule which is a catch and immediate tackle. Crabs has great hands and his routes are pretty clean, but his lack of speed makes him an easy cover for a defensive secondary, and game after game he's taken out of the offensive mix  by an average corner or safety. In his defense I will say that Alex Smith has very poor accuracy and overthrows or throws behind his receivers  with regularity which is a YAC killer, but still he's not been much of a factor in any of the games this year, he just doesn't get open cleanly enough. He's not a bust yet, but with his lack of foot speed I can't see him improving enough to become the  truly dangerous receiver he was slated to be. To now Dominique Zeigler is every bit the weapon that Crabs is, with good route running and great hands, and he comes at a far cheaper cost. Trent Baake take note, this team is in desperate need of a #1 wide out, and we had better target one in next year's draft! 

I think back to the Bill Walsh era and how he scripted plays to probe and test defensive strategy at the start of each game. He used that initial playcalling as a diagnostic tool to read  schemes and coverages and overall defensive tendencies. He would also throw in certain plays that would be "set up" plays to be used to his advantage later in the game. After going through the first twenty or so plays he had enough information to start disecting the opponents gameplan and dictate the tempo of the contest.  He was seemingly always two or three steps ahead of a defense no matter what they threw at him and we have three Lombardi trophies to prove the point. He was crafty, cunning and extremely innovative and few people could match him in a game of wits on the gridiron. He was also a master of the halftime adjustments and more often than not  would find a way to correct first half problems to "take what he wanted"  from a defense during the second half.                                        

My point is this, Walsh was a chess master who saw the game four moves ahead of the other guy and would bait players and coaches into his offensive traps, it was a thing of beauty  There are a few other coaches today that are similarly gifted , Mike Shannahan is one Sean Payton another and probably Mike McCarthy should be put into that category, who have brilliant offensive minds and know how to keep a defense off balance. Now the relevant question is how do you see Jimmy Raye from this perspective? Is he an innovator, a tactitian, do opponents fear his game planning and play calling? Does he keep the opponent off balance, are his halftime and midgame adjustment effective? Is he calling the game  as one playing chess " four moves ahead" setting up your opponent to do what you want him to do?  Or do you see a dink and dunk offense as one playing checkers where you respond to other players moves and take what they give you?  What do you see?  

We know that the deafening crowd noise in Seattle is their twelfth man on defense, and causes many a snap count and line call to go unheard.  Things can turn ugly very quickly in that environment even for seasoned O linemen. That being said, how do you think Mike Iupati and Anthony Davis will hold up in their first career start. Will they be overwhelmed by stunts and blitz packages and look overmatched?  Will they show why they were drafted so high in the first round by showing flashes of dominance. Or will they look very good at times and very "rookie" at others and get a mixed review?  Personally I think both of them will raise some eyebrows around the league with their solid play early in the season!

 With the tremendous amount of talent available in the 2010 draft, this is looking like a bumper year for teams to stockpile players and build good team depth. We should be getting solid players through at least the first 6 rounds and we should have many more hits than misses because of the talent pool being so large. I have confidence that Trent Baake will do well as the triggerman this year, and think that he'll do better in the later rounds than McC.  I'm just hoping that the front office is as aggressive in pursuing after draft UFA's as McCloughan was in 2009.  On this site Scott McCloughan seemed to have few supporters where drafts were  concerned and he's taken his share of bashing from many of us about his lackluster picks, some of it well deserved .  But he really did well "post draft" last year and should be given credit where its due. We landed at least two players that had talent in, Alex Boone, and Kory Sheets. Boone still being with the Niners and Sheets going to Miami. This years crop of UFA's will be so much stronger than last years was, and there will  be many players available after saturday that would have been 6th or 7th rounders last year. I really hope they've done their homework on this because many bargains are waiting to be had!  

 It seems that very few fans would be left if we pick Clausen in round 1, (what with the mass suicides and all), but how about we look at it from a strategic standpoint . What if we draft to trade him?  There may be several willing partners near the bottom of the first who need a QB but dont want to lose all their picks to move up high enough to pick him. Minnesota is one of those teams that needs a young QB to groom and may be a possible trade partner. So what if we chose Clausen with #17 and traded him to the Vikes for their #30 plus a proven young starter at a position of need  like maybe RT Phil Loadholt ?  I'm  just putting it out there as an example, I'm not sure the Vikes would give him up anyway, but they might, it's a lot harder to find a good QB than a RT. There may be other teams and other players to do a deal like this with, but I think  it would give us good leverage to fill a need without lots of risk, and still leaves us well positioned for the rest of the draft.  Thoughts? Other teams you think would deal? Or is this idea crazy?

I'm not sure if anyone has talked about this prospect,  if we have sorry about the repetition, but if not we should, Tony Washington from Abilene Christian. I know he had consentual sex with his sister six or seven years ago,and most people blow him off for that reason, but the niners better take a hard look at this guy, he could be our answer at tackle. First of all he admitted his horrible deed and didn't make any excuses for his act, and he's been in no trouble for seven years since it occured (1/3 of his life ago) so his character should be little issue!  Secondly, he has a prototypical nfl body that rivals any first round pick with the exception of Campbell.  He stands 6-6 and about 310,  has 35-1/2" arms, benched 225-33 times and ran the forty in 5.19 at the combine. I haven't seen much film on him but he has been rated by a number of sites as possessing 1'st round talent, and is slated to be only a day two or three pick because of his history.  From what I read he is a dominant run blocker, a very solid pass protector with quick feet, and flashes the nasty attitude on the field thats needed for the position. He didn,t play division one ball so he isn,t on many mock drafts,but you can bet pro scouts know about him, and his huge upside and many will have him on their big board on draft day. He could end up a better player than any of the 1st round choices and may be the steal of the draft!    

did not need first round talent to build a solid offensive line. In fact I can only remember two they picked in the first anyway, that being Harris Barton, and Kwame Harris. Barton was a solid left tackle who was runner up rookie of the year,a great choice at  #22, and  I would  give him an A-minus grade. The other was Kwame (turnstile) Harris, taken in the first round at #26, a bust by every measure of the word. He probably did lead the leage in allowing QB sacks, so I guess he was brilliant at something, but as a tackle he was as bad as they come. I would give him an F.   So even with great coaching, the bust rate for our first round tackles has been 50%. (Those that go back further with the niners, correct me if I'm wrong, there may be others I don't  remember) The problem I see is that many people on this site think that if we don't get a high first round tackle, that we have no hope of finding a quality player  in later rounds,and that's just not the case. Arguably our best O line was in 1989 and 1990, so I'll reference off of 1989         

Harris Barton round 1

Guy McIntyre 3rd

Bubba Paris 2nd

Jesse Sapolu 11th

Steve Wallace 4th

(ONE) first rounder ( Barton ), the rest  are solid picks from later rounds. The point is, we don't necessarily have to pick  (high profile, high round) , players from big name schools, to get great players.  Good evaluation can find the gems in every round, from even the smallest schools. Our history says we can, AND WE HAVE FIVE LOMBARDI TROPHY'S TO PROVE IT!  So don't jump off the Golden Gate if we don,t take a tackle with our  #13 or #17 pick, chances are with good coaching, a lower round choice will be a better player anyway !

 BPA

Mention the name Taylor Mays

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Berry is not worth  first round picks #13 And #17 !  I have read all the arguments for going after him, but they all fall short of reasoned assessment.   With Berry, we would get a really good player, thats a given, but  first round picks are way too valuable to just throw one away like that. Trading away two picks for Berry would  be a great move  for the team we trade with, but for us ,it would just be akin to roster suicide.    It would reduce our chance of getting  impact players by half in the first round, and our team is not so talented we could sustain the loss.  We're also not so strong  a team, and so close to a championship, that one player will put us over the top anyway. We need that extra pick!   2010 is touted to be the deepest draft since 1983, and there should be good corners and safety's all through the rounds without reaching with a 2fer  anyway.   Berry likely will go in the top five, at least that's what the pundits say, but as good as he may be , he's not a franchise left tackle or quarterback  (the money positions), and he would cost us a fortune not only in picks but with his contract too . Probably as much as Okung. There's a very good reason that unless there's a "Peyton Manning"  an Orlando Pace,or great defensive tackle available , most teams want to trade out of the top five to the middle of the round ,to maximize picks and value   Safety just isn't the highest of value positions,and not worth a franchize left tackle contract. Think about "our" last trade up,  when we screwed the pooch and overreached  for Joe Staley. I like him,and  he's a decent player , but we could have found his equal in the second round, or waited one year for a better choice. But no, we sold our soul to New England for a low twenty's pick and Staley.  I'm sure Bill Bellichic was laughing at us the next year as he drafted Jerrod  Mayo (a pro bowler) with our #6 pick!  Theres a reason Belichic almost always trades down and not up.  Value!  Bottom line is this, we are in a great position in this draft , in fact we are sitting where most teams want to be, right in the high middle of the first round , we get solid picks  for maximum value, and we're not too high up that teams wouldn,t want to trade up with us. We should be able to get one ELITE player, and one solid starter in the first by just letting the draft come to us.   And another thing. Berry may remind some people of Ed Reed, but he's not Reed, he's Eric Berry. He may become as good as Reed , he may be better, but he also may only turn out just a little better than average.  My guess is that he will be a pro bowler in three years!  And when he does play in the Pro Bowl, he will share the secondary with Earl Thomas, who we should take with # 17 without any trades!

STAND PAT, NO TRADE UP !

Yes I know he's a special teams stud and that has value, and I know he is a popular player. That being said , his seems like a wasted roster spot to me !   I mean he doesn't  run  like a true RB ,and he sure isn.t a QB.  He also isn't a wide out, or even a true fullback ! He  can do a few things "adaquetly ", but seems to shine only on special teams.

So do  you think the niners would be better served by designatinghim  as a special teams player only ,and getting a real RB in his place ?  I know  discussions on the blogs  center around  a breakaway threat like Spiller , Best ,or McCluster, and rightly so. We are sorely lacking a dynamic RB, and game changer ,which should be addressed with one of our higher picks. But as I see it , we really need two RB's, one explosive , and another ," a power- back" , to get the tough yards ,and move the chains.

So the questions are:

#1  How high would you rate Robinsons value outside of special teams on a scale of  1 - 10 ?

#2  Would this be a good roster move ? Would you do it ?

#3  If so , who would you choose  as a power back to replace him ?

If this has been discussed previously ," bear with me",  Im still pretty new to the site !

McCloughan could fall into the Al Davis trap

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A different Take

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Please! No wasted first round picks!

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