NFL Network Path to the Draft: 49ers Recap

Yesterday afternoon the 49ers were featured on NFL Network's "Path to the Draft." The feature included comments from Eric Davis, Charlie Casserly, and Bucky Brooks. There wasn't much in the way of shocking information, but it's still interesting to see what the talking heads have to say.

The segment opened with a quick recap of Alex Smith's relative success in 2009. Mike Singletary provided some comments in a previous interview about his excitement going into 2010 with Alex Smith getting a second season under the same offensive coordinator and being completely healthy.

They then discussed the additions, extensions, and subtractions this offseason, followed by the team's last six #1 draft choices. I always forget that the 49ers will have two #1 picks for the third time in five years. It's something we all know, but it's still an interesting fact.

The show then put the 49ers "on the clock" and brought in former 49er and current local commentator Eric Davis to discuss the 49ers picks. He opened by declaring that the team should trade a pick for Donovan McNabb because it would put them in the driver's seat for the division. We have had plenty of discussion on this topic so I won't go into it any further. At the 13th pick, Davis felt the team should go with offensive lineman Mike Iupati. He felt he was an "angry" player who could bring the necessary force to the line. At the 17th pick he felt the team should go with safety Earl Thomas because Davis feels he's a playmaker who has the "fast-twitch" ability of a corner with the vision and disposition of a safety. Feel free to take that for what it's worth. Not exactly a crazy pair of predictions given some of the mocks out there.

The show then shifted to the studio and had Charley Casserly address offensive issues and Bucky Brooks address defensive issues. Casserly felt we could see one of the OTs could slip. He thinks Bryan Bulaga could drop down there, and if that was the case, they should take him at 13. If the tackles were grabbed early, he thought the team could potentially go with Iupati at 17, or even reach a bit for Charles Brown at that 17th pick if Iupati and the big-name tackles were all gone.

Bucky Brooks did not exactly impress me in his discussion of the defense.He pointed to the pass rush as the biggest concern on defense, which certainly is an astute assessment. He suggested Sergio Kindle because he has an explosive first step and would be a nice hybrid mix in the 3-4 defense. He then said that if they didn't go with an OLB, they could go with Joe Haden because of his awareness and ball-hawking abilities. Haden has his fans and detractors. What kind of bugged me was Brooks saying Haden could step right in and be a starter opposite Nate Clements.

Attention to detail is something I consider very important and not acknowledging that Shawntae Spencer would likely be one of the two starting cornerbacks in 2010 is kind of an oversight, wouldn't you think? I suppose maybe he thinks Spencer will revert back to his nickel back ways, but I think that's a big assumption at this point.

Anyways, I'm sure plenty of people missed out on this episode of Path to the Draft, so I thought this recap would be somewhat helpful.