With the 2008 NFL Draft in the rear-view mirror, lets look back on it and break it down.
My beloved San Francisco 49ers, in my opinion, did not have a good draft.
The two things they needed were an impact wide receiver and a pass rusher. The Niners did not address either need.
With their first round pick, the Niners took Kentwan Balmer, a run stopping DT. The Niners desperately needed a DE or outside linebacker to rush the passer, but passed on players like Quentin Groves of Auburn or Phillip Merling of Clemson. The 49ers didn't take a single DE in the whole draft.
The Niners also needed a No. 1 wide receiver. The 49ers are relying on Bryant Johnson, an unproven No. 3, and an aging Issac Bruce. With the 39th pick, the Niners passed on DeSean Jackson and James Hardy. Offensive guard was not enough of a need to pass on quality wide receivers. The only wide receiver the Niners took was Josh Morgan, a sixth round pick who won't make an impact.
Overall, the San Francisco 49ers had a solid draft and acquired good talent, but did not address holes that desperately needed to be filled.
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from 15 days ago
i didnt think the 49ers had a great draft, but the super impact players they needed just werent available at their slots. not having a top ten pick hurt them bigtime in my estimation, as i predict more of the same for them this year.
from 15 days ago
The 49ers are counting on their free agent acquisitions to fill the needs for pass rush and wide receiver. But the DE they got from the Bengals did not have a good season and may never be as productive as he was earlier in his career. Bruce is an all time great that the 49ers have had to be on the opposite end of far too often, but he is getting on in years and is no longer the deep game-breaker they need, Arnaz Battle is a perfectly usable possession, #2 guy. The one thing I did like was building depth on the offensive line. I'm not sold on their new free agents or Balmer, who some evaluators believe to be a one-year wonder. Time will tell...
from 15 days ago
The Niners filled plenty of need. Unfortunately, the team has so many holes that plenty still are evident.
You do realize that Justin Smiley and Kwame Harris left as free agents, Larry Allen may be set to retire and David Baas is out until probably the start of the regular season with a torn pectoral.
Nabbing one of the top guards was a great move in the second rd. In Balmer, the 49ers took the best available player, and with BY retired and plenty of question marks, if Balmer turns out to be a stud D-lineman, than it is a great move.
The team still needs help at receiver, but you've got to protect a qb to have a chance to let a guy get open. Definitely not a sexy/flashy draft, but I think they did pretty solid.
from 15 days ago
Yeah, there were no absolute studs at either position, and your article sounds like it's based on what a talking head on SportsCenter told you. Balmer is a tough, aggressive, and driving lineman. The fact is that they DID draft a defensive end. And a nose tackle. In one guy. To even suggest that the small and easy to push around DeSean Jackson or the lanky, slow James Hardy would go anywhere NEAR #1 WR-ville is just plain uninformed. Isaac Bruce is still a 1,000 yard guy, and Johnson at times played better than Boldin or Fitzgerald.
from 11 days ago
I loved our draft! I only griped whjen we did not grab a QB in the 5th round or later because J.T. is not going to cut it and if Smith is not the answer the nHIll becomes a stop gap for a year or two. With BY gone we need some more D linemen to stop the run and garner double teams. Our pass rushers come from Justin Smith at DE and Manny Lawson as well as Tully when he gets in. We lost a lot of depth and core players in the O-line this offseason and the biggest movew that will hurt the 49ers this year will be the loss of Larry Allen. If we had gotten Long then crisis averted but without the #1 poick we could not get him. I can gurantee Martz told people that there was not a WR he liked for the fit in his system so not to spend any picks there. We were not destined to have a good draft because we got the stud Staley, which I am happy with so I will not complain, last year and with the BS tampering crap that got put on us cost us a pick and we swapped places one round. So to lose a pick hurt andf we dropped in one round. The 49ers will struggle this year I gurantee it, but this draft alone would not be the ultimate fix
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