Darqueze Dennard-CB-Michigan State

Originally posted by sf_nicoya:

Revis doesn't rely on his athleticism tho - he relies on being physical, disrupting timing, technique and cornerback IQ. He had a great season last year even without being fully recovered from that ACL tear.

and it's not like Dennard is some bum athlete 5'11, 200lbs and ran 4.5. Dennard is ideally a outside CB and projects to be a damn good one too.

Revis ran a 4.38 at his pro day and ran a 6.56 3 cone and 4.08 shuttle. His arms were 32 3/8" which is pretty good for a corner and he was roughly 5'11.5 and bigger than Dennard. He was a similar athlete to Gilbert and has very good hips. He is known as a technician, but is (was) an elite athlete on top of that. Sherman is 6'3 with 32" arms. He has been successful as a press corner because of his size, length, and ball skills in addition to his technique and ability to read receivers' routes.

Dennard's upside is nowhere near those guys. I'm not sure he should be a first round pick and plenty of analysts are coming around to that school of thought which is why he's being ranked as the 5th corner and not invited to the draft.

Originally posted by sf_nicoya:

Revis doesn't rely on his athleticism tho - he relies on being physical, disrupting timing, technique and route awareness. He had a great season last year even without being fully recovered from that ACL tear.

and it's not like Dennard is some bum athlete 5'11, 200lbs and ran 4.5. I guess you wouldn't take Joe Haden either? Dennard is ideally a outside CB and projects to be a damn good one too. The big question is do the Niners want a inside guy like Verrett or a outside guy like Dennard?

Joe Haden is a great athlete. Athleticism isn't determined purely by 40 time and Dennard's change of direction skills are as much or more of a concern than his lack of top end speed. Haden has phenomenal hips and quickness and long arms (32 3/4").

Originally posted by eastcoast49ersfan:
Dennard's upside is nowhere near those guys. I'm not sure he should be a first round pick and plenty of analysts are coming around to that school of thought which is why he's being ranked as the 5th corner and not invited to the draft.

Mike Mayock and Mel Kiper have him ranked as the top corner in the draft so I am not sure where this is coming from.

Good points all around on everything else. I still like what I see from Dennard.

Player, arm length, hand size:
Dennard: 30 1/4", 9"
Haden: 32 3/4", 9 1/2"
Revis: 32 3/8", 9 3/8"
Sherman: 32", 9 3/4"

Obviously, there is more to the position than length and athleticism, but Dennard's short arms are a serious concern for any teams looking at him in the first round.

Sherman has also been very successful because of the defense he's in with the games best FS playing behind him. If Sherman was put on an island like Revis was for much of his career and if PI was called for him like it was at Revis' prime Sherman would struggle more. Not to take anything away from Sherman's game, but they don't compare. At their peaks and on a different defense Sherman doesn't measure up to Revis.

Why do people think the 49ers would play Verrett inside and Dennard outside? Fangio has said that he prefers bigger corners in the slot and wants his outside corners to have better range and feels that smaller corners can be more successful outside where they can make better use of the sideline. Rogers was no where near the quickest of the 49ers corners but he was in the slot more than any other corner last year.

Fuller is 2.25" taller than Verrett and his arms are 2.25" longer than Verrett's ... that's around 4" more reach at the point of the catch. I'm fairly sure that Baalke will see that as a significant difference.

Several good/decent CBs to pick from... if HarBaalke can't decide from film, measurables and personal viewings, then they might just go with which one has the longest hose

@Scoots and eastcoast49ersfan - who is your fav CB out of the top guys in the draft?

I actually like Roby the most, but with his off-field issues I moved Fuller into first place for me followed by Roby.

Originally posted by Scoots:

Fuller is 2.25" taller than Verrett and his arms are 2.25" longer than Verrett's ... that's around 4" more reach at the point of the catch. I'm fairly sure that Baalke will see that as a significant difference.

I actually think arm length is way more important than height for corners. Height is a concern on jump balls, but Fuller wouldn't have 4" more reach on most throws because most of the time the receiver and corner aren't jumping straight up for the ball. We also don't know for sure that Fuller's standing reach is 4" higher - you can see in the NBA, sometimes shorter guys with smaller wingspans have higher reaches because of how they are put together. Unfortunately, this isn't public knowledge in football. Length also helps with pressing receivers and shedding blocks.

I'd rather have Gaines in the slot with one of our 2nd round picks than Dennard in the first if we do view him as a slot corner.

eastcoast, I agree that it was just an estimate, but certainly height helps determine how high your arms start and also puts more of a block between the QB and the WR and absolutely arm length is more important than height. But Fuller has 2.25" over Verrett in both categories and that really is going to matter quite a lot if all else is equal (which it never is of course :) )

Originally posted by sf_nicoya:

@Scoots and eastcoast49ersfan - who is your fav CB out of the top guys in the draft?

Gilbert and it's not close. He and Roby are more solid in coverage than their burn rates indicate - both struggle in zones and need to work on their route recognition, but Gilbert especially is solid in man coverage and has all the tools you would look for in a corner. I'm not as high on Gilbert as I was on Patrick Peterson and he's not the same athlete and playmaker and may be a little rawer coming out. I have more confidence in Gilbert being able to improve on his weaknesses than I do in Dennard growing longer arms or becoming a more fluid athlete. Gilbert does have tiny hands, but he has reasonable ball skills and I don't see hand size being as big of a concern at CB as it as at WR.

I'd rather get Verrett or Roby at 30 than trade up for Gilbert, but I also really like Tuitt if we trade back into the 2nd or Evans if we trade up.

Originally posted by Scoots:

I actually like Roby the most, but with his off-field issues I moved Fuller into first place for me followed by Roby.

What are Roby's off-field issues?

He got charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct last offseason and OVI just recently. He says both didn't happen, but they are still red flags for the 49ers.

Originally posted by Scoots:
He got charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct last offseason and OVI just recently. He says both didn't happen, but they are still red flags for the 49ers.

Yeah, management is more into felony level counts....

I also like Roby at 30. Coming into last season I thought he was one of the best CBs only behind guys like ifo. Seems like that suspensions really messed with his play this season. I know Fangio likes to utilize both man and zone so I wonder how these guys fit into our scheme.