One of the regular features of the pre-draft process is commentary by anonymous sources. Scouts, coaches, and executives have plenty to say about draft prospects, but more often than not the juiciest details come via anonymous comments.
Milwaukee NFL columnist Bob McGinn runs a pre-draft column every year featuring all sorts of random comments from anonymous scouts. They love giving opinions without attaching their name, and McGinn does a great job compiling the quotations.
I thought that for each San Francisco 49ers pick that showed up in McGinn’s column, I’d pull out what the scouts had to say. Some of the comments are going to be truthful, while it’s possible others were scouts looking to get a guy down to them, or push him up to get someone else down to them. Whatever the case, it gives us opinions from people who do this for a living, with slightly greater repercussions than your average draft prognosticator.
We took a look at what scouts had to say about Mike McGlinchey and what they had to say about Dante Pettis. Today we move on to the 49ers third round pick, BYU linebacker Fred Warner. McGinn polled 13 personnel people, asking them to list their top seven linebackers in order. Tremaine Edmunds and Roquan Smith led the way, while Warner finished sixth
Below are five quotations, three from a McGinn source and two told to The Athletic’s John Middlekauff. We don’t know the context for why these people made the comments they did, but they do offer a little something to chew on as they relate to Warner.
McGinn executive: “Great size and excellent measurables,” one scout said. “He’s right on the cusp of the top group. He needs to be more physical.” Posted 32 on the 50-question Wonderlic intelligence test, best among the top 12 LBs.
McGinn executive: “Good kid,” said a second scout. “That (toughness) is the question on him. He’s more that rangy, run-and-chase, back-side player. He’s not that attack and shed, power, hit you in the mouth type guy.”
McGinn executive: “I don’t know what to do with that guy,” a third scout said. “Played in space a lot … like a safety. He is not a good tackler but he can move. Looks good physically.”
Middlekauff scout: “He’ll be a good coverage linebacker, really rangy, and he’s going to be functional on run downs,” he wrote. “The league is trending to what he brings to the table.”
Middlekauff scout: “He reminds me of the Eagles’ Jordan Hicks, who also went in the third round a couple years back,” another scout said. “A rangy 21-year-old with upside that had a lot of support in our building.”