2023 NFL draft thread

[GW21]

11 hours ago, Forge said:

Feels like 49er Twitter is really hive minding Blake Freeland. I've seen him show up a lot in my feeds

I think he had a very good PFF pass blocking grade and tested ridiculously well; this was inevitable. 

I do think he’s definitely worth one of our picks at the end of three if he makes it there though. 

A couple of other guys I like there if they make it are Overshown, Zach Harrison, and Forbes. 

[Forge]

4 hours ago, JIllg said:

He looks like a clone of Mike McGlinchey lol. Better athletic testing numbers - Freeland tested like an absolute freak. Better 40" vertical than A.J. Brown. Worse competition by far in college. Blake really struggles with inside counter moves. I think we'll be interested. But there's a strong chance that the combine testing numbers get him drafted higher. I like moving to around 85 with a pair of our spare late round picks to secure a premium target that we've brought in for a visit. Freeland is one of those.

I think super tall guys on the outside always present the same issues. Guys like Bosa on an edge are just getting so low nowadays that i think it makes them really tough for a guy who is 6'8 or 6'9 to handle. Really would hope that Freeland can fire off quickly and let his athleticism beat a defender on the arc. Of course, that may require Freeland to commit too much to the outer hip which would explain the troubles with inside counter. 

[JIllg]

1 minute ago, Forge said:

I think super tall guys on the outside always present the same issues. Guys like Bosa on an edge are just getting so low nowadays that i think it makes them really tough for a guy who is 6'8 or 6'9 to handle. Really would hope that Freeland can fire off quickly and let his athleticism beat a defender on the arc. Of course, that may require Freeland to commit too much to the outer hip which would explain the troubles with inside counter. 

He does pretty well getting to guys on the arc. But like you say, that tends to get him off balance. And while his length holds up relatively well against speed to power right through him, anything to the inside shoulder wins. At the senior bowl, the book was out and he took a whooping by my scoring.

[Forge]

1 hour ago, GW21 said:

I think he had a very good PFF pass blocking grade and tested ridiculously well; this was inevitable. 

I do think he’s definitely worth one of our picks at the end of three if he makes it there though. 

A couple of other guys I like there if they make it are Overshown, Zach Harrison, and Forbes. 

The funny thing is that the team hasn't really shown a propensity for athletic freaks on the offensive line under this regime. Zakelj was kind of the outlier there (he had a 9.85 RAS), but everyone else pretty much ranged to the bad to meh range. 

Justin Skule: 7.17

Jaylon Moore: 7.49

Aaron Banks: 7.47

Colton McKivitz: 4.05 (for tackles) 

Daniel Brunskil: 4.27

Spencer Burford: 6.7

McG didn't really do a lot of drills, but the couple he did were pretty meh (His jumps were 61% and 65% for Tackles, respectively). We also passed up one of the most athletic tackles to ever test in kolton Miller to draft McG 

We did bring Brendel in and he had an excellent athletic performance...so it really seems like where we really value that is in the middle of the line (Zakelj and Brendel...Alex Mack was an 8.34...richburg is a slight outlier and he still ran up a 6.3). 

[JIllg]

12 minutes ago, Forge said:

The funny thing is that the team hasn't really shown a propensity for athletic freaks on the offensive line under this regime. Zakelj was kind of the outlier there (he had a 9.85 RAS), but everyone else pretty much ranged to the bad to meh range. 

Justin Skule: 7.17

Jaylon Moore: 7.49

Aaron Banks: 7.47

Colton McKivitz: 4.05 (for tackles) 

Daniel Brunskil: 4.27

Spencer Burford: 6.7

McG didn't really do a lot of drills, but the couple he did were pretty meh (His jumps were 61% and 65% for Tackles, respectively). We also passed up one of the most athletic tackles to ever test in kolton Miller to draft McG 

We did bring Brendel in and he had an excellent athletic performance...so it really seems like where we really value that is in the middle of the line (Zakelj and Brendel...Alex Mack was an 8.34...richburg is a slight outlier and he still ran up a 6.3). 

 

13 minutes ago, Forge said:

The funny thing is that the team hasn't really shown a propensity for athletic freaks on the offensive line under this regime. Zakelj was kind of the outlier there (he had a 9.85 RAS), but everyone else pretty much ranged to the bad to meh range. 

Justin Skule: 7.17

Jaylon Moore: 7.49

Aaron Banks: 7.47

Colton McKivitz: 4.05 (for tackles) 

Daniel Brunskil: 4.27

Spencer Burford: 6.7

McG didn't really do a lot of drills, but the couple he did were pretty meh (His jumps were 61% and 65% for Tackles, respectively). We also passed up one of the most athletic tackles to ever test in kolton Miller to draft McG 

We did bring Brendel in and he had an excellent athletic performance...so it really seems like where we really value that is in the middle of the line (Zakelj and Brendel...Alex Mack was an 8.34...richburg is a slight outlier and he still ran up a 6.3). 

Yeah, commonalities are weird for the group of guys they have looked at. They want an elite athlete at C. I think that seems pretty clear. They do want quality run blockers above all. Outside of McKivitz and Burford, most of them have really good vertical leaps - maybe indicating short area explosiveness. I think that you are right about looking for leverage. Outside of McKivitz, they have been shorter and bulkier guys for the position with relatively long arms for their height - we haven't looked at the really short armed types (minus Poe, but he's so short and stout that he's still hard to outleverage).

[Forge]

Holy moly, what a come up. In  Matt Barrows' last mock draft that I posted, Adebawore was one of his picks for us in the third round lol 

[GW21]

4 hours ago, Forge said:

The funny thing is that the team hasn't really shown a propensity for athletic freaks on the offensive line under this regime. Zakelj was kind of the outlier there (he had a 9.85 RAS), but everyone else pretty much ranged to the bad to meh range. 

Justin Skule: 7.17

Jaylon Moore: 7.49

Aaron Banks: 7.47

Colton McKivitz: 4.05 (for tackles) 

Daniel Brunskil: 4.27

Spencer Burford: 6.7

McG didn't really do a lot of drills, but the couple he did were pretty meh (His jumps were 61% and 65% for Tackles, respectively). We also passed up one of the most athletic tackles to ever test in kolton Miller to draft McG 

We did bring Brendel in and he had an excellent athletic performance...so it really seems like where we really value that is in the middle of the line (Zakelj and Brendel...Alex Mack was an 8.34...richburg is a slight outlier and he still ran up a 6.3). 

For sure, I’m just saying from a fans perspective that athleticism is always going to be high on the priority list. PFF ratings also seem to be up there for the casual fans. 

I think there is some value in both of those things, but I do think they are the two biggest things that get players overrated by the masses.

[Forge]

I'm not really sure how i feel about it (I suppose it would depend on who is there), but I really think that the niners are going to do everything that they can to move up to the bottom of the second round this year. 

Two of the comp thirds this year plus a third round pick next year. 

It's not something I'm enamored with, but with three thirds this year, three more next year (plus first and second round picks), and another two thirds in 2025 right now, I get why they would want go after someone this year in the first 63 picks. 

[Forge]

I listened to him talk about Witt a little on the podcast and it's pretty interesting. Long term project, but interesting story. 

[Forge]

 

[Forge]

lol 

[NinerNation21]

An intriguing corner for us: Julius Brents from K State. TheDraftNetwork says he's a pretty solid zone corner and he's a top-end athlete with size. He's also a good tackler and hits hard, which definitely fits our mold. We also apparently met with him at the Combine.

Mock draft database's consensus bigboard has him at 64 overall, so we might have to move up to get him. 

Digging into the corners, I like Brents, DJ Turner, Elias Ricks, Jakorian Bennett, Garrett Williams, and Mekhi Blackmon. Williams is recovering from an ACL tear in October, though.

Edited March 24, 2023 by NinerNation21

[StevenK]

5 hours ago, NinerNation21 said:

An intriguing corner for us: Julius Brents from K State. TheDraftNetwork says he's a pretty solid zone corner and he's a top-end athlete with size. He's also a good tackler and hits hard, which definitely fits our mold. We also apparently met with him at the Combine.

Mock draft database's consensus bigboard has him at 64 overall, so we might have to move up to get him. 

Digging into the corners, I like Brents, DJ Turner, Elias Ricks, Jakorian Bennett, Garrett Williams, and Mekhi Blackmon. Williams is recovering from an ACL tear in October, though.

I want to say Brent’s was the corner that was showing out at the Senior Bowl practices 

Edited March 25, 2023 by StevenK

[Chrissooner49er]

6 hours ago, NinerNation21 said:

An intriguing corner for us: Julius Brents from K State. TheDraftNetwork says he's a pretty solid zone corner and he's a top-end athlete with size. He's also a good tackler and hits hard, which definitely fits our mold. We also apparently met with him at the Combine.

Mock draft database's consensus bigboard has him at 64 overall, so we might have to move up to get him. 

Digging into the corners, I like Brents, DJ Turner, Elias Ricks, Jakorian Bennett, Garrett Williams, and Mekhi Blackmon. Williams is recovering from an ACL tear in October, though.

I am 'meh' on Blackmon. That could be influenced by my dislike for USC and Lincoln Riley, though. i have been watching both USC/Utah games and he didn't seem to stand out much....  I was hoping Utah's Vele would be in this draft (though we probably would be too low to take him) because he REALLY stood out to me...so did Dalton Kincaid, TE.

 

[Ftn49]

On 3/19/2023 at 9:46 PM, GW21 said:

Being out of shape before your biggest job interview makes him look either very dumb or very lazy, both of which aren’t good characteristics to have for a pro football player. 

Maybe this has just been a poor offseason for him, but it’s a bad look either way.

He also watched a buddy of his die a couple of months ago. Look, I get all the doubters and feel free to bring him to me if he doesn't pan out, I surely do when he makes it. I've watched him play for years now and this feels so similar to Jamar Chase to me a couple years ago. People getting wayyyy to down on one of the most elite players in the draft.