A Mock Big Board? Say Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

from thefinsiders.com

I can’t do anything without a lot of context, backstory and a generally verbose preamble. So here’s like 1,500 words to preface an experimental re-ordered big board.

Jesus Christ...

So as I said I’d do in my “Being Trent Baalke” piece, I’ve made a new, re-ordered draft board with the grading system I outlined in that post. It is 50 players, and some of the top prospects in the draft are completely absent because they are players the 49ers simply aren’t going to draft due to the fact they are bad fits for our scheme.

Speaking of scheme fit, this board is trying to take that into account. To make a board based on scheme fit I obviously had to make a decision as to what scheme the 49ers run. Simple right?—It’s a 3-4 obviously.

Well…yes and no. They actually run a lot of “4-3 under,” which looks like a 3-4, but is run much more like a 4-3 in terms of each defenders role and responsibilities.

It’s why Glenn Dorsey is a perfect nose tackle for our scheme even though he couldn’t man the nose in a more traditional 3-4. It’s because he isn’t really playing a true 0-tech NT position, but more of the 1 or 3-technique he was so great at while playing college ball for LSU.

And it’s why Ahmad Brooks has been such an impact player for us since the arrival of Vic Fangio. The college middle linebacker is no longer playing out of position as a traditional 4-3 OLB, but more often like a 4-3 SAM linebacker.

Still, we do ask our players to run out of a traditional 3-4 set sometimes, and ask them to handle the responsibilities of traditional 3-4 defenders. This is one of the reasons I value versatility so highly in my personal draft grades—almost all teams play some sort of hybrid scheme nowadays.

To be a key contributor to the 49ers’ front seven you need to have the body type associated with the 3-4 prototype, but be able to handle the responsibilities associated with a 4-3 defender. This makes scouting the front seven incredibly difficult for an outsider such as myself. But I do my best.

In coverage we play a fairly vanilla off-man Cover-2 most of the time. We throw in a good amount of press-man Cover-1 and even a little single high safety Cover-3, but when scouting defensive backs it’s best to think of them as fitting into our predominantly used Cover-2.

49ers cornerbacks must have the ability to stick their foot in the ground and drive hard on the ball. Other highly valuable traits are hip fluidity, route recognition and length. Speed is important of course, but a cornerback with average speed can succeed in our defense because there is often a safety on the hash over the top ready to bear down on receivers running vertical routes.

Being able to react and drive on slants, curl and comebacks is more important than being able to keep up step for step with a receiver running a streak. Once again—awesome if they can do that—but you don’t sacrifice hip fluidity and lower body explosion for long speed.

Length (height and arm length) is important too, because it forces the quarterback to throw the ball “over the top” of the cornerback, which gives the safety an added split second to make a play on the ball or the receiver. Or it forces the quarterback to throw the ball high and on a line for the receiver to make a play on in the air, which gives the safety a target area to unleash the fury on.

Safeties in our system have to have three qualities, in this order; intelligence, speed and physicality. But those are pretty much the top-3 qualities for safeties in any scheme. We aren’t drafting a safety in the first round anyway, so enough about them.

Before I reveal the board, let me give you one example of how I grade cornerbacks for our scheme (because we will be drafting one or two cornerbacks early on in this draft).

I’m going to compare the two big-bodied cornerbacks in this draft—Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Keith McGill—and make the case for why I think McGill would make a better 49er that Jean-Baptiste.

McGill is a Cover-2 cornerback. Stanley Jean-Baptiste is a Seahawk/Jaguar-esque Cover-3 cornerback.

McGill has the necessary lower body power and explosion to drive to the ball in off-coverage. His 4.18 20-yard shuttle is evidence of that, putting him at 10^th among all defensive backs at the Combine. McGill was one of three cornerbacks 6’0” or above (he was actually the only above) to rank in the top-10 in this drill, along with Antone Exum and Marcus Roberson. The 20-yard shuttle tests for the ability to stop momentum and accelerate—basically what is asked of cornerbacks when they transition from a backpedal to driving forwards to a ball in the air.

McGill’s excellent balance and lower body explosion was also evident when he measured the second longest broad jump among all defensive backs, trailing only Pierre Desir. The vertical jump generally gets more attention, but most scouts will tell you the broad jump is the more important of the two, because it tests the entire body. Balance and coordination is tested as well as pure lower body explosion.

He clearly has the length to play in the system (he has the length to play in any system at 6’3”) and he actually is “longer” than Jean Baptiste because McGill’s 33 ¼ inch arms are slightly longer than Jean-Baptiste’s 32 3/8 inch arm.

McGill is the superior quick twitch athlete and has better lateral movement skills than Jean-Baptiste. He is much more suited to an off-man scheme than Jean-Baptiste, who is more of a linear athlete with build-up speed on vertical routes.

Jean-Baptiste fits the Seahawks cover-3 impeccably, possessing better ball skills than McGill, and having an impressive vertical jump to go with his height and long speed. In the Cover-3 Jean-Baptiste would have help underneath as opposed to over the top, so his responsibility is to stay over the top of the receiver and not get beat deep, while also needing to play the intermediate and deep ball in the air, which he is fantastic at, being a former wide receiver.

Both have flaws; neither is as physical as you’d want from overly large cornerbacks, both are older than your typical rookie and both are raw and undeveloped on technique and footwork.

But both have ridiculous potential. They have size and speed and athleticism. I just feel McGill’s type of speed and athleticism translates much better to the 49ers’ scheme than Jean-Baptiste’s particular brand of speed and athleticism. So that will be reflected in their grades on this big board.

For further reading about what kind of defensive scheme(s) the 49ers run under Vic Fangio I recommend these two articles as starting points:

·         For a summary of the 4-3 Under

·         For a breakdown of the various coverage schemes

I’m also going to mention briefly that on offense the 49ers use a power-man blocking scheme. So bigger, more physical offensive lineman were at a premium over light-footed technicians for the purposes of this board.

from nyusportsandsociety.org

Quarterbacks were also graded partly on Bill Parcells’ “QB Criteria” for grading quarterbacks (go here for the 7 “musts” a QB has to haveaccording to Parcells). I know Jim Harbaugh plays a huge role in evaluating and grading quarterbacks for the 49ers, so the other part of the grade comes from what he looks for in a quarterback, part of which is outlined here in an interview with Matt Barrowsof the Sac Bee.

Obviously I don’t have Jim Harbaugh’s instincts, but I can try to identify the football smarts and athleticism he covets. I also know he prefers height and big hands, but I can’t find the article that backs that up, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.

Of the top QBs, you should know this info for their Parcells QB Criteria (italics for criterion not met):

Teddy Bridgewater: 3 year starter, 35 starts, 27 wins, 3 : 1 TD to INT, 68.4 completion %, Junior, earned Sports Administration Degree.

Blake Bortles: 3 year starter, 27 starts, 22 wins, 2.9 : 1 TD to INT, 65.7 completion %, Junior, did not graduate.

Johnny Manziel: 2 year starter, 25 starts, 19 wins, 2.8 : 1 TD to INT, 68.9 completion %, Sophomore, did not graduate.

Derek Carr: 3 year starter, 39 stars, 24 wins, 4.7 : 1 TD to INT, 66.7 completion %, Senior, earned Recreation Administration and Leisure Services Management.

And without further ado…