The first day of the 2012 NFL Draft is a wrap, which means it is time for all sorts of random and fairly useless grades. In reality we cannot provide much in the way of accurate grades the day after these picks are made. When it comes to the 49ers in particular, any grades assessed today will have little to no bearing on grades we provide a year from now, five years from now, or a decade from now.
At the same time, that will not stop us from looking at grades and grading the picks anyway. Pete Prisco was the first to get NFL Draft grades up and he gave the 49ers a B-. In his grading he said, "This kid can run. He is frail, but he can run. Randy Moss isn't the answer. This is a surprise, but scouts really liked this kid. He can run." So there's always that.
I am writing this in the wee hours of the morning following a late night of shooting video in which I helped grade various draft picks. I headed up the NFC West group and will have that video posted sometime later this morning. For a quick sneak preview of the content, I did give the 49ers a B-, much like Prisco. In reality, I probably could have just thrown a dart against a board for the grade. The more I look into this pick, the more intrigued I am. That's not to say I think this is a surefire winner, but I'm intrigued.
How do you grade the pick, if you are so inclined?