Sports Illustrated's Peter King posted his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column and had a nice little feature on 49ers Director of Player Personnel and Scot McCloughan fill-in, Trent Baalke. Baalke apparently had no real intention of going to work in the NFL until he received a random call from the Jets. Next thing you know, Baalke's an area scout for the team.
Although, it's hard to tell from reading a short feature, Baalke comes across as a fairly confident individual. Who knows whether things will work out with him in the position, but I could be much less confident heading into the 2010 draft.
However, the best comment (and thanks to Florida Danny for pointing this out) was this comment:
"My job's really the same,'' he said. "Except I'm responsible for the final decision. We'll all team up to evaluate the players and stack the board, but my philosophy is pretty much the same as Scot's, and when Scot left, the board was 85 to 90 percent done. One guy may be the guy in control, but I don't look at it like 'I'm pulling the trigger here.' I have to trust I've learned enough along the way to make the right calls.''
The McNolan era may officially be in the rear-view mirror, but the trigger NEVER DIES!