San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke met with the media on Wednesday for a pre-draft discussion. He was asked about Anthony Davis and his potential return. Baalke said Anthony Davis’ status does not affect the draft plans of the team at all. Below is a transcript of what he said about the Davis situation and the infamous headache tweet:
Where do things stand with Anthony Davis?
As of right now, to my knowledge, he hasn’t applied for reinstatement. There’s nothing to update you on.
He mentioned speaking to you, or someone named Trent...
Gave him a headache? It’s like me speaking to you, it gives me a headache. (chuckling)
What is he referring to?
I’m not going to get into our conversations with the media. We’ve had several text messages back and forth and that’s the extent of the conversation. There’s nothing more to add to it than that.
If he wanted to play, shouldn't he have been here for the start of OTAs?
You have to ask him. What do you want me to say about that? It's voluntary. No. One, he's not a member of the National Football League. Two, so he can't show up until he gets reinstated.
Have you seen him lately? Or talked to him face to face?
Nope.
Can he say or do anything in the next week that would affect what you do in the draft?
Nope.
The talk continued to discuss the offensive line which has had its share of challenges since the departures of Mike Iupati, Jonathan Goodwin, Davis and now Alex Boone. My question asking about offensive linemen taking more time to transition to the NFL than defensive linemen brought an interesting response:
The two things I've pointed out earlier, they're young, they're real young. There's a reason Olympic weight lifters, the champions, are usually in their upper 20s to low 30s, because that's when you develop the old saying, "Man strength," right? They need that. They need time to get cock-strong.
It's a different game. The college is 'one, two, balls out.' 'One, two, balls out.' There's no three point stances, They're not coming off the ball, surging to knock off the line of scrimmage. It's more catch and protection than it is strike. It's just a different game.
It takes these guys time to grasp it, the physicality of it is tremendously different.
Baalke said that he hasn't ruled out moving up in the draft as they did for Anthony Davis in 2010, but could they move back? That hasn't been ruled out either.