San Francisco 49ers: Drafting LaMichael James Anything but a Gamble

If you haven't figured it out by now, San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Jim Harbaugh don't do subtle. Their approach to the draft is to take the conventional wisdom of what positions they need to focus on and who they should pick and then to address those opinions with the business end of a sledgehammer.

In other words: Hello, LaMichael James, I'd like you to meet A.J. Jenkins. 

While it's true that franchise back Frank Gore isn't getting any younger—he'll be 29 by the time the next season starts—few folks out there thought the 49ers would have any desire for a fellow like James, because while he's unquestionably talented, he's not exactly a bruiser.

In fact, at 5'8" and 194 pounds, James is a bit on the small side when it comes to the notion of being a "franchise back," and there already exists someone of similar dimensions on the 49ers roster in Kendall Hunter, who's 5'7" and 199 pounds.

The Niners drafted Hunter out of Oklahoma State in the fourth round just last season and the scuttlebutt for this draft was that if they were going to draft any back, it'd have to be someone bigger, since Hunter projected to be more of a change-of-pace type than Gore's successor.

Harbaugh, however, was more than willing to defend James' credentials as a future full-time back, referencing the number of carries he shouldered for Oregon these past few seasons and his success rate in goal-line situations.

When asked what he specifically liked about James, Harbaugh said, "Change of direction, speed, play-making ability, durability, number of carries, number of yards, number of touchdowns," and compared James to Baltimore's Ray Rice.

If there's one thing that seems to make an impression on the 49ers head coach, it's when somebody kicks his butt. It's not a coincidence that two of the team's biggest free-agent signings are ex-New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs and receiver Mario Manningham.

The Giants, of course, defeated the 49ers in overtime in the NFC Championship Game, a rain-soaked contest in which the 49ers lost despite the valiant efforts of their defense because their offense simply couldn't move the ball.

Before Harbaugh took the 49ers job, he led Stanford to a 12-1 season in 2010, with the one loss coming to James' Ducks. All James did in that game was run for 257 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries.

Harbaugh agreed that it's a much better feeling to have James on his side going forward.

"(I've) seen him play up close," he explained after the pick was made. "(I've) seen all the things he can do. And lost games to his team, in large degree with his efforts."

Obviously, James wouldn't have been picked if Baalke hadn't signed off on it, and the 49ers general manager made it clear that he has no issue with Gore, Hunter, Jacobs and James all being a part of the same backfield (along with fullback Bruce Miller and special teams ace Rock Cartwright).

"It's like poker, it’s a full house," Baalke said. "That's a good hand, right?"

Well, James certainly came up aces in the scouting combine, posting a 4.45 time in the 40-yard dash (second among running backs). Lest you think he was just some workout warrior, James ran for 1,805 yards and 7.3 yards-per-carry last season for the Ducks, with 19 total touchdowns, and had 1,703 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2010, when he finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.

“I can do anything they ask of me as far as running the ball,” James said on a conference call from his home in Texarkana, Texas. “I can even run down on kickoffs. Block field goals. Whatever the team needs me to do as to win ballgames, that’s what I’m going to do.”

One area where he can contribute immediately is in the return game. James returned 64 kickoffs (21.3 average) and 14 punts (9.8) at Oregon. He's a nice security blanket for the team in those areas should anything happen to fragile return man Ted Ginn.

(Meanwhile, with Jenkins on the roster and now another return threat in James, all the signs point to NFC title game goat Kyle Williams plying his trade elsewhere in 2012, but we digress.)

The 49ers have gone to great lengths to get more explosive on offense, not just in the draft but in free agency with the acquisitions of Manningham and Randy Moss. Looking back on it, it was practically a miracle they advanced as far as they did last season with Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree and just about no one else as receiving threats.

Full credit to Baalke and Harbaugh for realizing how fortunate their run was and for being proactive enough to not want to cheat the reaper again in 2012.

"What we've tried to do is add speed and explosiveness to this offense and to this football team," Baalke said. "With these two picks, we've done that."

Indeed. What the 49ers have also done is throw a metaphorical pie once more onto the faces of all the draftniks and pundits out there. They'll have five more picks on Saturday—they traded their third-rounder for Indianapolis' fourth-round pick (97th overall) and a 2013 fifth-round pick—and have shown that it's a fool's errand to guess what they're going to do with any of those picks.

Conventional wisdom says that they still need a guard and that they could use another safety, an outside linebacker, a corner and a defensive end.

They'll probably pick another receiver, a couple of tight ends, a fullback and a punter, just to make Andy Lee sweat a little. Expect the unexpected and repeat the mantra that however counter-intuitive it may appear, "They know what they're doing... they know what they're doing... they know what they're doing..."

Michael Erler is a writer and editor for San Francisco Illustrated and is a Correspondent for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.