I remember watching Sanchez throughout the season and thinking “He’s good, probably a bit better than Booty but not quite Leinart…I wouldnt mind if the niners spent a 3rd round pick on him.” Then all of a sudden McCoy, Bradford, and Tebow decide to stay and Sanchez is put on this pedestal as a top 5/top 10 pick. I think the media sensationalizes these big name/big school QBs as top picks for whatever reason (ratings, more attention to mock drafts) and unfortunately they get GMs to drink some of that Kool Aid.

I’m not saying that hes gonna be horrible, and I’ll even say that in the right situation, I’m confident that he can be a solid QB, but at 10 its too much of a risk given that he started for only a year. Now some of you may point to Cassel, but when you learn by osmosis from Brady and can dump off to Welker or have Moss catch virtually every ball you throw to him, its not as difficult to put up gaudy numbers and succeed in this league.

That said, it’s been a while since we’ve had depth in the “trenches”, so now that our d-line is somewhat deep its time to add depth to the o-line or to the rest of the front seven.

I think it’s a mistake to ignore the team needs in the secondary.

Everyone mentions the sack total from last year, but a lot of that is due to Mike Martz and J.T. O’Sullivan. Martz QB’s often have above-average sack totals and unless they have a quick release and can read coverage well (Warner), they are going to get pressured and sacked a lot. O’Sullivan was a poor decision maker and we had a pretty poor receiving group. O’Sullivan was sacked 32 times and had 220 pass attempts, while Shaun Hill was only sacked 23 times on 288 pass attempts. When you factor in that the Niners will become a run first team, how important is protecting the passer really going to be? I’d rather have lower-paid mauling bulldozers who can run block than overpaying for a premier LT.

On the other side of the ball, the only reason our pass defense finished 20th is due to the outstanding play of Spikes and Willis last year. Our secondary was pretty awful aside from Clements. The worst units on this team were Run Offense (27th) and Pass Defense (20th). I think the Niners can address the run offense in the 2nd/3rd rounds with some of the top Guards in the draft and 2nd tier Tackles.

Pass defense on the other hand… needs to be addressed early in this draft. I’m having a hard time seeing how guys like Michael Jenkins, Sean Smith, and Vontae Davis are less value for the Niners than Oher or Smith. All three of those guys would play a significant role in the Niners 2009 season and hopefully beyond. Are they consensus top 10 picks? Probably not, but I’m still holding out hope that the Niners can trade down to the teens and grab one of these guys.

If that is the way to go, probably you would need players, at least in the first 3 rounds, that can make an immediate impact or at least represent an upgrade to the starter you have in that position. They should be able to altern in their first team in the rookie year expecting them to become fully starters in their second year.

In the second day you have many picks that you may be able to get some depth or decent prospects and you can focus more on the weakest and thinest positions in your team. At least one of those, like Josh Morgan, can have a good rookie season and that can qualify as drafting for now.

Some positions need more time adjusting from college to the pros, especially QBs, so you shouldn’s expect an immediate impact, being Flacco or Ryan exceptions to that rule.

In that case, I am thinking now that a QB in this draft can only be taken in the final rounds, and only as a gamble, hoping to get lucky, if not Tom Brady lucky at least Marc Bulger lucky, just hoping really to get a good QB in a few years that few see it was there

For drafting just a backup we already have one sure at least for this year, and the possibilities are so many (Hill succeeds, Smith succeds, both fail, the starter does a good enough job but will not make us a playoff team in the future, etc.), that in this draft we still do not have the need or information to risk wasting a 1st or 2nd. round pick in a QB that may be just a backup for 2 to 3 years.

Smith is still a prospect, and until the team needs to give up on him we should not waste a high round pick on another prospect with only good “upside”. Better to take good players that have better chances of giving value to your team. Everybody is talking that next year will be a strong QB class, and I prefer to wait and draft a good QB then, and if necessary keep the “run first” approach until that drafted QB is ready to step up, or until we get a franchise QB in free agency.

I was one of the first to be totally against him but now think he will turn out to be a solid QB. In Sanchez I see a QB similar to Hasselbeck but with an occasional out of nowhere stinker like Warner. Looking at his college career, the unforseen stinker appears to be Sanchez’s only real blemish.

I also think he is Carrol’s best QB prospect behind Palmer. I never thought Booty was any good and also felt Leinart’s hype was bloated. He received 30% of stats dumping the ball off to Reggie Bush and any scout that could get you to listen said Leinart constantly missed reads.

Two things about Sanchez this spring have really changed my mind about him. First, everyone’s come out against kid . . . even his college coach but he’s found a way to overcome that rift and make the relationship work again. He’s also kept his poise and continued to work his game while every team has been openly shying away from him. In the past, guys have hit the panic button.

In his pro work out he also showed improvement. He seems to have taken the time to perfect his foot work. Good mechanics and quick decision making are attributes that a serve QB well in the NFL.

I started changing my mind about Sanchez when I saw the teams not interested in him. The Lions are going to pass and of course he isn’t going to picked by Browns, Bengals and Raiders (for obvious reasons). The Jets fans also seem to hate the idea of getting Sanchez. Yes, it’s false logic but if you gets the thumbs down from that perennial group of draft day losers than maybe you will turn out to be a good pro. Not to mention if you are thinking along the lines of that group it’s time to rethink your position.

Finally, QB’s are going to dominate next year’s draft. Odds are teams are going to be reaching next year for QB sorta like how teams are reaching this year for OT. Maybe the better strategy is to grab the QB in Sanchez this year and take advantage of the undervalued OT or pass rushers next year who are probably going to drop in the draft behind the QB hype. At least the 49ers have the opportunity to let Sanchez sit and learn for a year and have him ready for 2010. They can still get starting day OT, DE/OLB in next years draft.

They can still get starting day OT, DE/OLB in next years draft.

I think that even if they took Sanchez, they can find a starting RT and maybe a pass rusher in the second and third rounds.

This is not to say that I’d want the 49ers to take Sanchez, however. Though, I would be a lot less upset (if you can even call it upset) if they took Sanchez than if they took Oher or any other OT not named Monroe or J.Smith.