Good morning! I noticed something rather interesting in this year's draft. Something reminiscent of a time long ago. I'm talking about the year 1981, in the year prior, the 49ers secondary was notoriously bad. Randy Cross said that they went through over "Thirty-something defensive backs". So what did Bill Walsh do? What Bill Walsh does.
Round 1: Ronnie Lott.
Round 2: Eric Wright
Round 3: Carlton Williamson
In the America's Game episode with the 1981 49ers, Dwight Clark says something along the lines of "Bill Walsh went and got his secondary all at once". Obviously, this draft class is a bit different. For one thing, besides Will Redmond, the cornerbacks weren't taken in the first three rounds, they were taken in the later rounds. For another, these dudes have some question marks, though I don't know what Wright or Williamson's draft cards looked like so maybe they had similar evaluations. Still, I liked how Baalke pulled a Walsh and went to get a secondary all at once. Though our current crop of cornerbacks isn't bad (badly coached, yes), that secondary battle will be one to watch for in 2016. Let's see if this defense can again be elite.
Let's get to the links:
Gabbert 'taking control' during 49ers' workouts (Maiocco)
Colin Kaepernick resumes throwing (Alper)
Stubblefield declares innocence (Florio)
Reggie Wayne gives WR perspective on Kap, 49ers situation (CSN)
LOL. Rams. Report: Rams draft pick to be arraigned for April altercation (CSN)
Santa Clara: 49ers file for arbitration in rent dispute with city (Giwargis)
Niners Believe Garnett Can Make a Powerful Impact (Williams)
Tracking Progress of 49ers’ WR DeAndre Smelter (Sakamoto)
Linebacker Michael Wilhoite re-ups with 49ers for another year (Gantt)
Grading the 49ers draft — not a total failure, but close (Grant Cohn)
Colin Kaepernick's last hope to get away from 49ers is to skip OTAs (Steele)
Vegas gives 49ers worst odds to win Super Bowl LI (CSN)
49ers explain drafting tackles Theus and Cooper back to back in NFL draft (Biderman)
Alex Smith, Part II? New 49ers QB Driskel hopes so (Barrows)