Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Originally posted by Giedi:
The team went 5-0 and legitimately beat two playoff teams and spanked a 3rd playoff team when they took the day off. I think they have a shot at the playoff this year. When was the last time this team went 5-0? Jim Harbaugh? I don't know if he ever had 5 in a row.
Don't take short term results and extrapolate them long term. Garoppolo played great but at some point that just isn't going to be enough. He will have bad games, teams will have a whole offseason to prepare for the 49ers offense, looking for tendencies and trying to take advantage of whatever weaknesses they might see in Garoppolo's film.
Take away Garoppolo and this was a 1 or 2 win team, this roster still needs a ton of work. Pass rusher is only one of many needs.
As for Andre Carter vs Dwight Freeny - this is where we can tell if this coaching staff is legit. The coaching staff that picked Andre was mediocre at best. The guy that picked Dwight Freeny was the architect of the legendary tampa two defense that John Lynch played under. If ShanaLynch chooses a LEO/Edge rusher and flops, that means that they have a lot of growing to go from a defensive coaching and player acquisition standpoint. I'm betting Lynch knows a thing or two about pass rushes considering he has a little bit of experience playing in the tampa two, and of course, he's surrounded himself with some good people. If they decide to trade up, I think it will go well, and if they decide to trade down, I'd be disappointed, but I think it will still end well.
I think Dwight Freeney would have been a great pass rusher pretty much anywhere. A lot of drafting comes down to luck. There have been a ton of "sure fire, can't miss players" that have been complete and utter busts. Its not that they weren't coached, they just didn't have the goods, whether it was a lack of heart or the inability to keep up with the NFL game upstairs. You're always rolling the dice and when each pick comes down to a certain amount of luck, having plenty of shots at the dartboard isn't a bad way to approach it. You still have to hit on at least some of those guys but you have the luxury to miss a few as well whereas if you trade up, you'd better hit the bullseye or you've squandered a whole ton of draft capital for no reason.
If you look at the scheme that Kyle runs, it's hard to type cast and predict. Look at the coach himself, he's had a top notch offense pretty much his entire career in the NFL. He's building counters to everything a typical defense can bear on his offense. I think it's fair to say that a 5 game sample size is a pretty good indicator of where the team is given it's a only 16 game season. The QB prior to Jimmy was a big factor in those 10 losses. It's not like at the beginning of the 2018 year, we're going to bench Jimmy and play BeatHard. That much is certain.
As for pass rushers, NY85 did a study and basically came up with the conclusion that the higher in the draft you go, you increase the odds of finding that elite edge rusher. The lower you go, the less odds of finding that elite edge rusher. You can take a stattergun approach to the pass rusher position, but that also the same as trading up for *one* pass rusher - because now you are devoting two or maybe three picks to the same position vs *trading* two or three picks for one guy. To me it's basically a wash from a draft capital spending point of view.
The critical point is the evaluation of the players. If they are off from a player evaluation point of view, whoever they pick - be it first round or 7th round, they are going to pick bad players. My hope is that if there is a better player for their scheme than Landry (assuming Landry will be available at #9) they should be willing to risk a trade up and go for the higher rated player. That higher rated player is Chubb, but that's just me stealing opinions from the draft experts here on the boards. I'll give it back to them once the draft is over.
And I think there's a good chance they trade up *if* they think Chubb is better than Landry *and* if he's available near the 9th pick. Wrathman is wright 
when he says Chubb is more of a strong side/big end DLineman than a true LEO pass rusher. Landry truly fits what they have on hand already in Attouchu and Cassius. But correct me if I'm wrong, aren't the draft experts here are saying Chubb can be a good LEO too? He has that kind of elite level talent to play strongside DE/Big End/ *and* LEO. If that's the case, he's more well rounded than Landry. Landry is a pass rush specialist, whereas it seems from the draft experts here, Chubb can play all four downs. Anyway, my gut tells me we don't have a chance at Chubb and I'll still be very happy if we get Landry.