Final Grade: 49ers Draft

[deep9er]

Gotta keep in mind that McDonald should also be improving, and the coaches may want to get him out on the field. I don't see us using three WRs as our base set. Davis clearly isn't coming off the field very often. And we love using Miller and McDonald. If either of those guys is on the field, we almost certainly won't have three WRs.

this is how I see it too, we're mainly going with what we've been doing the last two years. there will be a little more 3 wides, but only a little.

the personnel is built for the run game, so it wouldn't make sense to change to the 3 WR base. then there is the question of Kaep's ability to pass consistently, game in and game out?

 

[whysies]

this is how I see it too, we're mainly going with what we've been doing the last two years. there will be a little more 3 wides, but only a little.

the personnel is built for the run game, so it wouldn't make sense to change to the 3 WR base. then there is the question of Kaep's ability to pass consistently, game in and game out?

I don't think there is any way they switch to 3 wide as the base, Harbaugh has his head way too far up his own Schembechler for that to ever happen.

Although, I do think we use 3 wide more, and more than "a little" considering we have 3 good receivers now. Why trade for Johnson if you're not going to use him?

 

[deep9er]

I don't think there is any way they switch to 3 wide as the base, Harbaugh has his head way too far up his own Schembechler for that to ever happen.

Although, I do think we use 3 wide more, and more than "a little" considering we have 3 good receivers now. Why trade for Johnson if you're not going to use him?

Johnson doesn't have to be in on every snap, and neither does Boldin or Crabtree. what if one gets hurt again? so signing Johnson doesn't mean re-do your offense.

for me, the GOAL should be a balanced offense. don't want to spread the field and pass all game, all season long. however, having a goal and meeting it are two different matters, so ok trending a little more to the pass.

 

[-AC-]

Johnson doesn't have to be in on every snap, and neither does Boldin or Crabtree. what if one gets hurt again? so signing Johnson doesn't mean re-do your offense.

for me, the GOAL should be a balanced offense. don't want to spread the field and pass all game, all season long. however, having a goal and meeting it are two different matters, so ok trending a little more to the pass.

They are going from being the least amount of three-wide sets used in 2013 (somewhere around 200), so even if they were to double the number of times in 2014 that still would only be half of what the league high was in 2013 (somewhere around 800)...

They are a LONG way from being balanced...

 

[Badger8843]

I think they double it and CK will make teams pick their poison just as Stevie alluded too

 

[sjballer03]

I don't think there is any way they switch to 3 wide as the base, Harbaugh has his head way too far up his own Schembechler for that to ever happen.

Although, I do think we use 3 wide more, and more than "a little" considering we have 3 good receivers now. Why trade for Johnson if you're not going to use him?

Lol this cracked me up. It is frustrating how true that statement is. On a related note, one of my colts friends has been getting excited by the bevy of WRs that Luck has to throw to. I told him don't expect too much. Pep Hamilton is from the Harbaugh school of run it up the gut. At least we have RB talent, while they have Trich.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

I think they double it and CK will make teams pick their poison just as Stevie alluded too

I think doubling the number of three-WR sets is feasible with Stevie in the mix, but I would be surprised if we did more than that. This will still be a run-first offense, particularly if Hyde and Lattimore show something. And even running 400 plays out of three-WR sets (last year we ran 205 according to ESPN), that would only have accounted for about 41% of our offensive plays this last year.

 

[deep9er]

They are going from being the least amount of three-wide sets used in 2013 (somewhere around 200), so even if they were to double the number of times in 2014 that still would only be half of what the league high was in 2013 (somewhere around 800)...

They are a LONG way from being balanced...

meant balanced in overall offense....run versus pass.

 

[deep9er]

They are going from being the least amount of three-wide sets used in 2013 (somewhere around 200), so even if they were to double the number of times in 2014 that still would only be half of what the league high was in 2013 (somewhere around 800)...

They are a LONG way from being balanced...

yes, so even if they add 10% (20) more, it'll look to us like 30%.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

This may have been posted, but I thought it was interesting. Mayock's top-5 at each position going into the draft. According to this, the Niners had an exceptional draft:

Mike Mayock's updated position rankings for 2014 NFL Draft - NFL.com

They added the #1 center, the #2 running back and inside linebacker, and the #3 safety, inside linebacker, and guard. These are primarily less desirable positions, but still, adding six guys within the top-3 at their position (and frankly, Millard probably would be on that list if he included FBs) isn't bad at all.

For that matter, the Niners also added seven of his top-100, though none within the top-30.

2014 NFL Draft: Mike Mayock's top 100 prospects - NFL.com

 

[Jikkle]

With that amount of effort that went into finding a WR in FA and ultimately winding up with one when trading for Johnson it's clear that we'll be using more 3 WR sets this season.

The argument could be made we would've used more 3 WR sets last season but with Crabtree out it was a challenge to find a capable #2 let alone a #3 for most of the season.

But I also believe the playoffs were a wake up call for the offensive staff in that we can't just expect to run the ball to victory against great defenses.

That doesn't mean we're suddenly going to not be a power running team but we need to be fully capable of passing the ball and making sure we take advantage of defenses that overplay the run.

 

[BINGO]

Don't get me wrong, I really like Chris Borland, maybe more than some folks on here; but I think we made a mistake passing up on both Dri Archer and Telvin Smith. I think that Borland is slightly better than Telvin in terms of playing the run, but as far as running sideline-to-sideline to chase down ball carriers, Telvin is head and shoulders better than him in accomplishing that. In addition, Telvin Smith used to play safety. Which means that he's very skilled in coverage for a LB - he's probably already as good as Bowman and Willis in that area of the game? Anyway, I think Dri in the 3rd and Telvin in the 4th or 5th would have made our team better overall.


Telvin Smith - LB - Jaguars

Jaguars fifth-round LB Telvin Smith "stood out" during last week’s rookie minicamp.

"We felt like he learned really well, and he moved around really well," DC Bob Babich said. "He’s got a long way to go, but we saw a lot of potential." Smith fell to the fifth round due to off-field concerns, but has the cover skills to make an early-career impact in nickel packages. With only Geno Hayes ahead of him on the weak side, Smith could eventually develop into a three-down role.
Source: Florida Times Union

May 23 - 5:18 PM