100 in 100: Brandon LaFell (16 of 100)

by Drew Kerr on Jan 27, 2010 1:00 PM PST in 100 in 100 (2010)

Brandon LaFell is one of the taller premier receivers coming out this year. If LaFell has a good workout at the combine, he may be the second wide receiver off the board. He red-shirted his first year as a Freshman, but once he made his way on to the field, he made his prescence known. In 2007, LaFell was a one of the number one targets for LSU. The only thing that may hold him back is that from time to time, he doesn't come up with the more difficult catches. If it's off the mark even the slightest bit, he has trouble coming up with some of them. If he wants to reach that "elite" status, he's going to have to start catching tennis balls and wild passes to get his concentration up. In 2008, LaFell continued his success but in 2009, his statistics tapered off a bit. However, the LSU Wide Receiver did make his mark in the 2009 Capital One Bowl with 5 Catches for 87 Yards and a Touchdown.

While LaFell has left his imprint on the world of college football, he does have alot of work to do at the next level. He was fairly limited in receptions and getting more reps by playing in a system who prides itself on mixing it up between alot of different players.

There are other receviers that LaFell will be competing with for draft slot such as Arrelious Benn, Mardy Gilyard, and a couple others. LaFell will need to tighten up his route running and fine tune his ability to catch the ball in adverse situations.

Below, we'll look at some of the highlights from LaFell, some of his stats and other accomplishments throughout his career in college...

In this video, LaFell get's the better of top cornerback prospect Joe Haden. He has the natural ability to get open and good awareness as to who is where on the field for the defense. He is great at finding the holes in zone coverage but will need to fine tune his route running on press and man coverages.

AWARDS AND HONORS:

2006 Freshman All-SEC
2008 First Team All-SEC

CAREER STATS:

Stats Overview	Receiving					Rushing					Fumbles
YEAR	REC	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	ATT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	FUM	LST
2006	5	140	28.0	58	2	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
2007	50	656	13.1	56	4	1	18	18.0	18	1	0	0
2008	63	929	14.7	43	8	2	6	3.0	4	0	0	0
2009	57	792	13.9	58	11	5	13	2.6	7	0	0	0

2009 Regular Season Game Log			Receiving					Rushing					Fumbles
DATE	OPP	RESULT	REC	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	ATT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	FUM	LST
9/5	@Washington	W 31-23	4	34	8.5	12	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
9/12	Vanderbilt	W 23-9	7	38	5.4	20	0	3	13	4.3	7	0	0	0
9/19	Louisiana-Lafayette	W 31-3	3	57	19.0	21	2	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
9/26	@Mississippi State	W 30-26	6	101	16.8	58	2	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
10/3	@Georgia	W 20-13	3	52	17.3	34	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
10/10	Florida	L 13-3	4	44	11.0	26	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
10/24	Auburn	W 31-10	6	67	11.2	19	1	1	-7	-7.0	0	0	0	0
10/31	Tulane	W 42-0	4	85	21.3	39	2	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
11/7	@Alabama	L 24-15	4	28	7.0	12	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
11/14	Louisiana Tech	W 24-16	2	54	27.0	38	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
11/21	@Mississippi	L 25-23	5	75	15.0	26	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0
11/28	Arkansas	W 33-30	4	70	17.5	24	1	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0

2009 Postseason Game Log

Receiving

Rushing

Fumbles

BOWL

OPP

RESULT

REC

YDS

AVG

LNG

ATT

YDS

AVG

LNG

FUM

LST

CAPITAL ONE BOWL

Penn State

L 19-17

17.4

7.0

SUMMARY AND PROJECTIONS:

Like I mentioned above, LaFell will have a bit of work to do at the next level. He does have the athletic tangibles to make it as a very very good wide receiver in the NFL. I believe that he will be a late 1st round to early 2nd round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, April 22nd.

Possibilities -- 1st round; Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Cowboys, Chargers. 2nd round; Rams, Lions, Bucs, Chiefs, Browns.

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Comments

Not that you're suggesting he'll end up in SF ...

… (I know you’re doing 100 of these, not based on likelihood of landing in San Francisco – and as you know I’m really enjoying them) … but presumably WR is just about the last position we’d look to draft? With Crabtree and Morgan as the two main guys, and Jones and Hill on the roster, not to mention Ziegler on the PS, it feels like we’re stocked there?

Do we still think right tackle, safety, corner, OLB, possibly QB, maybe RB, in that order? Maybe this comment is better placed in the mock draf conv, in which case apologies.

"This could be another Very Special Team" ... Superbowl winning Niners lineman Dan Audick ...

by LondonNiner on Jan 27, 2010 1:12 PM PST reply actions

No, the comment is placed well here.

I personally don’t have a ton of faith in Morgan. I am not saying take LaFell because he’ll go too high. But I certainly wouldn’t mind a 3rd round pick spent on a WR.

Tim Tebow = 1,432,219 season tickets next year. Who wouldn't pick him in the 1st round with those projections?

by Drew Kerr on Jan 27, 2010 1:19 PM PST up reply actions

i wouldnt mind a reciever after the 3rd round, especially if he can return kicks.

other than that, i want O-line, pass rushing LB’s, CB, DL

im gonna be all up on you like a spider monkey!

by remembering9ergods on Jan 27, 2010 1:41 PM PST up reply actions

You realize that our offense was not that good last year, right? All defense isn’t the wisest move. Our OLB’s are fine… Our Corners are good enough and Dline is set of all the guys come back. On defense we need a Strong Safety.

Tim Tebow = 1,432,219 season tickets next year. Who wouldn't pick him in the 1st round with those projections?

by Drew Kerr on Jan 27, 2010 2:02 PM PST up reply actions

so what are you going to do on offense?

RB? nope
WR? maybe but not early which i already said
TE? doubtful
QB? alex smith, and two developing QB’s in nate davis and who ever we draft. again doubtful. maybe a vet signed if hill is gone.
O-line? oh yes, definetely.

that leaves defense. the biggest problems i see on defense is we need someone opposite smith on the DL and i would like someone who can get to the QB at times instead of Sopoaga.

id like to see a fast, sack specialist who can backup lawson and/or willis. i like brooks but id still like to add another.

i can agree with safety but i dont know whats going to happen with clements which is why i mentioned CB.

but hey, again, it’s oply my opinion

im gonna be all up on you like a spider monkey!

by remembering9ergods on Jan 27, 2010 2:13 PM PST up reply actions

Joey Porter

just went on the market…. just an FYI

And Running Back, YES, Gore has had trouble staying healthy and has had ankle problems throughout his career. A Running Back (Another premier RB) secures the future and takes some of the work load off Gore.

Wide Receiver: Definitely, and I wouldn’t consider us “set” there. Not so sure Morgan is the best we can get at the number two spot.

TE: I agree there.

Oline: Need extreme help there.

And as far as the Defensive Line, I think we are fine there. We had one of the better front sevens in the NFL. We finished tied for third in sacks in the entire NFL, so I am not sure what the problem is there.

Anyway, all I know is that our defense was pretty good and our offense had a ton of problems. Oline would be the starting point of course but we dont have a guy that can break a game wide open on offense… so we definitely need a couple of those IMO.

Tim Tebow = 1,432,219 season tickets next year. Who wouldn't pick him in the 1st round with those projections?

by Drew Kerr on Jan 27, 2010 2:19 PM PST up reply actions

see we are not that far apart in thought.

as for the speed, sacks, etc…the more you can pressure the QB the more you can get away with an average secondary.

i want opposing teams to fear playing against our defense and hopefully this year they start to feel that way about our offense too

im gonna be all up on you like a spider monkey!

by remembering9ergods on Jan 27, 2010 2:35 PM PST up reply actions

I want us to draft a WR in the 3rd or 4th

we need help with the WRs

Yes Drew K, Tim Tebow will get picked in the first round.

by smileyman on Jan 27, 2010 10:05 PM PST up reply actions

This is the type of WR the 49ers used to love to draft. Considering Alex Smith has trouble being accurate a large WR is a viable solution. Dropping balls is an indication of lack or work ethic, he could turn out to be very good.

by bignerd on Jan 27, 2010 1:48 PM PST reply actions

What I take from the video

is that Joe Haden could take a few more years than expected to develop

1.Trent Williams 1.Brandon Graham 2. Syd Thompson 3.Andrew Quarless 4.Torell Troup 5.Mike Kafka 6.Quinton Andrews 7.Preston Parker

by supraman on Jan 27, 2010 1:57 PM PST reply actions

I agree, I did not like one bit how LaFell almost juked Haden

out of his shoes on one play…Haden got lucky that the pass was thrown behind the WR on that one or otherwise it would have been a big play.

by jviet on Jan 27, 2010 5:30 PM PST up reply actions

Top rated CB prospects are almost always highly overrated. The Cardinals have two 1st round drafted CBs on their roster, have you noticed? Mike Rumph was excellent CB.

by bignerd on Jan 27, 2010 6:35 PM PST up reply actions