Alright Mick 8) ...
9ers got Patrick Willis, inside linebacker from Ole Miss with their first pick at 11. Extremely athletic, great speed he's 6'2 with a 39' inch vertical, an absolute specimen. Mike Nolan and the 9ers staff coached the Senior bowl this year, Willis and Mike Singletary were attached at the hip all week long. In the game, he got 11 tackles, 3 for a loss and 2 forced fumbles. He was defensive player of the year in the SEC, a conference that produced 5 defensive first rounders this year.
They then traded their 1st round pick for next year to get New England's 28th pick. They got Joe Staley, left tackle for Central Michigan. Left tackle was a strong position this year with Brown and Thomas both going top 5 and in any other year Staley would have been higher in the first round. He's 6'5 300 lbs and ran a 4.7 in the 40. Great footwork, he went to Central Michigan as a tight end and grew into the left tackle spot, he still has some growing to do there. The Ravens were going to take him at 29 to succeed Ogden. He also attended the Senior Bowl and the Niner staff really took a liking to him. Right now we have Harris and Jennings at the tackle spot, he would probably compete with Harris but Jennings does have health problems so you never know.
The 49ers traded their second round pick for the Colts 1st round next year.
In the third they got another Senior bowl guy, Jason Hill, a wide receiver from Washington. Only 6'0 190, but very fast and worked well in that pro style offense at WSU. Only seen him once, he WORKED Cal cornerback Daymeon Hughes who lead the Pac 10 in interceptions 2 straight seasons and would have been a late 1st early 2nd pick until some character issues surfaced.
Then we stacked on defense with a bunch of guys I don't know. Take a look.
http://nfl.com/draft/drafttracker/team/SF
Biggest move we made today was getting Seattle Wide Receiver Darrel Jackson for a 4th round pick. Jackson is a stud and more importantly he kills the 49ers everytime out. the receiving core is shaping up nicely with Jackson at 1 who is a real good all around receiver, Battle at 2 who is a big body with sure hands and Lelie at the third. If Lelie returns to the form he had with the Broncos I think it was, then he could be a premier receiver. Then we have guys with serious speed who can stretch the field like Gilmore and potentially Hill. Not to mention Vernon Davis and Frank Gore.
Honestly, I can not wait for this season. The line worked very well together in the second half of the year with Harris still being the weak link, especially on pass protection.
Alex Smith didn't have many weapons outside of Gore and Battle, Davis being healthy and the pickup of Jackson and Lelie should sure that up.
Gore is a stud. And Michael Robinson is a bruiser. I'm not sure where they are going with the fullback position but I don't think it means to much.
The defensive line is still a bit of a concern to me, I'm hoping those guys from Florida they got can prove to be a real run stopper, because he's got the big body and you need someone big and powerful in the 3-4. The linebacking core is shaping up VERY nice. Brandon Moore led the team with 100 tackles last year despite not playing full time until week 8. He will get that strong side, and then Willis is going to make an immediate impact imo in the middle.
Then at secondary they got Nate Clements to add to Walt Harris and Shawntae Spencer both having career years last year. Should be awesome. I wonder why they didn't address the safety spot a little, Lewis lacks on the pass protection and the lone safety they drafted played corner in college.
I think the 49ers had the best offseason of any team in the league. If not better then the Pats or Broncos, they're right there. Should be a great time for the Bay Area.
Also, the Raiders had a SOLID draft. Michael Bush in the 3rd round, he could be the next Frank Gore. Guy is a stud in every sense of the word.