Well after almost 19 hours over 2 days, the 49ers 2007 draft and my live blog is complete. We managed to get a little bit of everything, while I managed to avoid going completely insane with around-the-clock draft coverage. I want to thank everybody that visited the site over the last 2 days as we shattered all previous records for site traffic. Naturally I chose the longest draft ever to start live-blogging, but we all made it through without being committed (yet).
I'll do an all-encompassing review later tomorrow afternoon/evening (going to the Warriors' game tonight), but we'll do a quick review Day 2 for now. More will come later tomorrow when I get some time and have detoxed from football for a day. If you missed it, we reviewed Day 1 late last night.
The second day saw the team reach in some areas, and fill some depth issues at running back, linebacker and in the secondary. There was some spirited debate over many of the Day 2 picks, but I think we landed some guys who could contribute right away as back-ups and could be pieces of the puzzle down the road. My assessment DOES NOT include the trade for Darrell Jackson. I'm simply looking at the players we drafted in grading the draft for now. The all-encompassing review will include the Darrell Jackson trade.
Jay Moore, Defense End, University of Nebraska - I've been a fan since the Senior Bowl and I bet his performance then helped convinced the 49ers to take him, considering it helped in evaluating Willis. Moore is going to trim down and be an OLB with the ability to move down to defensive end in pass rush situations if need be. Even at his current size he's been solid in dropping back into pass coverage from the defensive end location. Many here wanted Soliai but I think we could have done a lot worse than Moore.
DaShon Goldson, Safety, University of Washington - It seems like Goldson struggled this season but bounced back late. He'll give us some depth at safety and appears to be able to play cornerback on occasion as well. We've got excellent starters in our secondary but we definitely need some extra bodies for passing situations and if injuries creep up.
Joe Cohen, Defensive Tackle, University of Florida - We all seem to agree that this was a reach considering some of the talent on the board. I think the teamis clearly happy going into the season with Aubrayo Franklin and Isaac Sopoago as your 1-2 punch at the nose tackle spot. Cohen makes the team but I don't expect a lot of production. I think it's the worst pick of the draft for us.
Tarell Brown, Cornerback, University of Texas - This is one of my favorite picks. Brown and McDonald could be 2 steals for us a few years down the road. McDonald had injury issues, Brown has character issues. However, I trust that Nolan is not worried about long term issues from Brown. As he said during the Trey Wingo interview, if the team had character issues with a guy, he's taken off the board. This is a guy with Day 1 talent and if he can keep his head on straight, it's a steal in Round 5.
Thomas Clayton, Running Back, Kansas State University - I personally wanted DeShawn Wynn with this pick, but Clayton is growing on me. If he doesn't work out, it's not a big loss as a 6th round pick. If he does work out, the upside is quite solid as a backup with Michael Robinson. Hicks is the primary backup for now, but I think Robinson is clearly the guy they want to move ahead of him on the depth chart. He's got the size and I think Nolan's the type of coach that can keep him in line. Of course I'm sure that people said that about Shanahan when he drafted Maurice Clarett. So we'll see.
Overall Grade - I'd give Day 2 a C with the potential to move up to a B or down to a D or F. We took some gambles and we won't know how they pay off (or don't pay off) for some time. When we look back, if 3 of these 5 picks cashes in for us, we could be creating some incredible depth. However, the good news is that as late picks, if they don't cash in, we don't lose out too badly. We could have done better, but we also could have done significantly worse, thus the C grade.