2011 NFL Draft: San Francisco 49ers Emerge as Biggest Losers Through Day 2
When it comes to impact players in the NFL, generally speaking, most of them are drafted in the first three rounds. That means if a team was going to significantly improve their fortunes, they probably have already seen that opportunity come and go.
So the question after the second day of the NFL Draft is, which teams failed to take advantage of the golden opportunity to get better that comes around only once a year. The franchises that draft well are usually the pictures of success and stability in the league. Let's take a look at the teams we probably don't have to worry about making a Super Bowl run any time soon.
Loser No. 4: Carolina Panthers
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The Carolina Panthers are somewhat a victim of their circumstances. They felt they had to take an extremely high reward player at No. 1, and they felt the player with the highest upside was Cam Newton.
Unfortunately, in doing so, they also selected the player with the highest amount of risk in the draft. Drafting that much risk with the first overall pick put the Panthers on the bubble of being a draft loser, but the next couple of picks really put them over the edge.
I do not have an inherent problem with taking Terrell McClain, the defensive tackle out of South Florida. I believe they reached for him a little bit in the second round, but not so much that it bothered me.
What really makes the Panthers losers in the draft was taking another defensive tackle in the third round, Sione Fua out of Stanford, who graded out as a potential undrafted free agent. They reached for Fua a minimum of two rounds too early.
If Cam Newton makes the adjustment to the NFL and becomes the best dual threat quarterback the league has ever seen, then this draft grade will obviously change significantly. However, considering how rarely dual threat quarterbacks succeed in the league, it appears as though the Panthers will be drafting pretty high again in next year's draft.
Loser No. 3: Minnesota Vikings
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The Vikings only had two picks in the first three rounds which contributed heavily to them becoming a loser in the draft so far. When those two picks include an enormous reach and a luxury selection, the formula for draft doom is completed.
I have said it multiple times, and I will say it again, I love the prospect of Christian Ponder becoming a quality starter in the NFL. However, I did not love the prospect of Christian Ponder coming off the board in the first half of the first round.
That being said, I do believe Ponder will be successful with the Vikings. Ponder is the most NFL ready quarterback in the draft and it certainly makes the growing pains of a rooking QB more manageable when they can spend roughly half of their plays handing off to Adrian Peterson.
Still, in terms of pure value from the draft position, the Vikings did not do a very good job here. If they really wanted Ponder, they should have traded back somewhere in the 20's where he belonged.
The other issue with the Vikings draft was selecting tight end Kyle Rudolph when they already had one of the better tight ends in the league in Visanthe Shiancoe. The issue of Shiancoe's drop off in production last year had much more to do with Brett Favre being a train wreck last season than it did with anything Shiancoe did. It is hard to justify drafting a tight end in this spot even if it was a solid value pick.
There is good news for the Vikings, and that is they are a pretty solid football team already and probably did not have as many holes as some other teams drafting in similar positions. The fact that they did not hit a home run in the draft may not keep them from reaching the playoffs, especially if Ponder ends up being as good as the Vikings apparently think he is.
Loser No. 2: Seattle Seahawks
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The Seattle Seahawks are in a similar position to the Vikings as they only had two picks in the first three rounds. The fewer draft picks you have, the fewer chances you have to land an impact player and therefore the larger chance you have of become a draft day loser.
The Seahawks used both of their picks to address their needs along the offensive line. The problem was, they reached with the first of those picks, choosing James Carpenter at No. 25 despite the fact that he was the 43rd ranked prospect; not exactly what you would call a value pick. With their second pick, the Seahawks took John Moffitt out of Wisconsin, which actually is a pretty good value pick and a selection I genuinely like.
I just cannot seem to get over the fact that despite getting some much needed help in the trenches, the Seahawks did not seem to give much thought to who their new offensive lineman are protecting.
Matt Hasselbeck is a free agent, and even if they end up signing him, that is not necessarily a good thing. Hasselbeck has not had a quality season at quarterback since 2007 and at the age of 35, the chances that he is going to bounce back at this point are slim at best.
Protecting the quarterback is important, but if you don't have a quarterback to protect, it does not help you win many ball games. The Seahawks are losers in this draft for not correctly prioritizing what needs to address with their limited resources.
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Loser No. 1: San Francisco 49ers
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Early on, it looked like the San Francisco 49ers were about to pull off a miracle. Somehow, the best quarterback in the draft had fallen to them at No. 7. As everyone knows by now, the 49ers biggest need since Jeff Garcia left town has been at the quarterback position. Everything had fallen perfectly into place. Then the 49ers did what bad franchises do. They screwed up.
Instead of drafting Blaine Gabbert and allowing arguably the best quarterback mentor in the league (Jim Harbaugh) to work his magic, the 49ers reached for Aldon Smith, a defensive end who ironically was Blaine Gabbert's teammate at Missouri. Even those who are the highest on Aldon Smith were shocked the 49ers passed on Gabbert, and picked Smith instead who probably should not have come off the board for about a half dozen more picks.
Then in the second round, the 49ers seemed to remember that they need a quarterback, so they traded up to draft Colin Kaepernick with the 36th overall pick. I like Colin Kaepernick as kind of a project quarterback, but he should have been drafted somewhere in the third round, not just outside of the first round.
If the 49ers had selected Gabbert at No. 7, they would have addressed their biggest need at quarterback with a much better prospect than they did with Kaepernick. Then they likely would have tried to address their need for an improved pass rush with their pick at No. 45 (assuming they did not trade up). With the 45th pick, they would have been able to get either Da'Quan Bowers or Justin Houston, both of which are considered to have first round type talent.
So let me ask this, if you were the 49ers, would you rather have Aldon Smith and Colin Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert and Da'Quan Bowers/Justin Houston? I know what I would pick, and that's why the San Francisco 49ers are my biggest loser.
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