Cameron Latu-TE-3rd Round 2023 Draft

Sometimes you draft for culture and attitude. This guy has it. Great men make great football players. It all starts with a winning attitude. Watch his interviews this guy has the golden helmet traits.

Originally posted by kansasninerfan:
this was a bit early but I think their hand was forced. All of the TEs were gone. I thought this guy was a 4th or 5th round pick but at least we got a TE and he will fit our scheme.

Keep in mind Lindys had him as a 4th round pick. He was picked AFTER the 3rd round was over in the compensatory pick section, so essentially he was a high 4th round draft pick.... Its splitting hairs as Moody was picked at pick 101 and Kyle got crucified yet no one mentions the Pats picked the second best kicker at pick 112,

Originally posted by 9erred:

Originally posted by kansasninerfan:
this was a bit early but I think their hand was forced. All of the TEs were gone. I thought this guy was a 4th or 5th round pick but at least we got a TE and he will fit our scheme.

Keep in mind Lindys had him as a 4th round pick. He was picked AFTER the 3rd round was over in the compensatory pick section, so essentially he was a high 4th round draft pick.... Its splitting hairs as Moody was picked at pick 101 and Kyle got crucified yet no one mentions the Pats picked the second best kicker at pick 112,

to me that clearly was not a KS pick, KS wanted the RB badly he basically admits it
the team overrode him thanks to his RB pick success rate in round 3 i am guessing

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Sometimes you draft for culture and attitude. This guy has it. Great men make great football players. It all starts with a winning attitude. Watch his interviews this guy has the golden helmet traits.

What exactly is "golden helmet?" I've seen it mentioned a few times but I'm not sure what the criteria is for it

Originally posted by tankle104:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Sometimes you draft for culture and attitude. This guy has it. Great men make great football players. It all starts with a winning attitude. Watch his interviews this guy has the golden helmet traits.

What exactly is "golden helmet?" I've seen it mentioned a few times but I'm not sure what the criteria is for it

basically when the team does their draft prep if they see a guy who has all the traits they are looking for in a 49er, they assign that player the special 'golden helmet' designation..

I am not aware if there is a formal criteria, it's more this is the guy for our team, typically multi year team captain, leader of men type traits.. when I see the old Latu he seems like a guy who is dialed in and gets it, will fit very well with our group, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was one, it's hard to find out unless they let slip that so and so was..

Originally posted by tankle104:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Sometimes you draft for culture and attitude. This guy has it. Great men make great football players. It all starts with a winning attitude. Watch his interviews this guy has the golden helmet traits.

What exactly is "golden helmet?" I've seen it mentioned a few times but I'm not sure what the criteria is for it

Think of John Lynch the player. Leadership, hard work, helps teammates, basically the guys in the locker room that will ensure any cancers get dealt with by the team and not have to have a coach come in and pull rank which leads to a whole nother problem. Show by example and the rest fall in line. If your stars are working their a$$es off and setting the example for being a niner, most rooks will too, the ones that dont... are gone. Same with FA's.

Originally posted by TheRickestRick:

Originally posted by tankle104:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Sometimes you draft for culture and attitude. This guy has it. Great men make great football players. It all starts with a winning attitude. Watch his interviews this guy has the golden helmet traits.

What exactly is "golden helmet?" I've seen it mentioned a few times but I'm not sure what the criteria is for it

Think of John Lynch the player. Leadership, hard work, helps teammates, basically the guys in the locker room that will ensure any cancers get dealt with by the team and not have to have a coach come in and pull rank which leads to a whole nother problem. Show by example and the rest fall in line. If your stars are working their a$$es off and setting the example for being a niner, most rooks will too, the ones that dont... are gone. Same with FA's.

wow, i couldn't have said it any better myself

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:

Originally posted by elguapo:
Add in losing their starting rb in Sanders and Guard too.

we have to keep in mind that this is the only college tight end that was invited to George Kittle's tight end University. I'm sure he had some input on him and why we drafted him. I trust Kittle a little more than some fans that may have some doubts. We will see

Excellent call!

Thanks LVW I think that is super important especially for us fans that don't agree with this pick. I do like Willis better at TE now but in a year or 2 that might not be the case

Cam is going to be rocking 81!

After watching more film on him he's starting to grow on me a little. One thing I really really like is he catches the ball out in front with his hands, he hardly ever lets it get deep into his body. Looks really natural plucking the ball out of the air. He also plays a little faster than his 40 time imo

Originally posted by Luckycharms:
After watching more film on him he's starting to grow on me a little. One thing I really really like is he catches the ball out in front with his hands, he hardly ever lets it get deep into his body. Looks really natural plucking the ball out of the air. He also plays a little faster than his 40 time imo

Earlier today an article came out from our old GM Scott Mccloughin, he still does a lot of consulting work for teams during the draft. He had a second round grade on Latu. Said he is a work in progress but has a lot of positives.

he said he runs routes like a basketball player, very smooth.

Originally posted by Luckycharms:
After watching more film on him he's starting to grow on me a little. One thing I really really like is he catches the ball out in front with his hands, he hardly ever lets it get deep into his body. Looks really natural plucking the ball out of the air. He also plays a little faster than his 40 time imo

Noticed this as well. The other TE we drafted does this as well. Plucks the ball out. Irks me when dudes catch it with their body

Originally posted by q0c0p:
Noticed this as well. The other TE we drafted does this as well. Plucks the ball out. Irks me when dudes catch it with their body

Vernon said "sup"

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by q0c0p:
Noticed this as well. The other TE we drafted does this as well. Plucks the ball out. Irks me when dudes catch it with their body

Vernon said "sup"

vance stone hands mcdonald says hold my beer

Originally posted by illinois9er:

Originally posted by q0c0p:
Noticed this as well. The other TE we drafted does this as well. Plucks the ball out. Irks me when dudes catch it with their body

Vernon said "sup"

Honestly, I think hands are overrated somewhat.

Would you rather have T.O. or Brandon Lloyd?

Vernon was one of the best players we've had since I started watching the team in the early 1990's.

People mock his hands all the time but all he did was catch touchdowns, in a run first offense with horrible QB play for most of his career.

On the Patriots or any other team, I think he's a first ballot HOFer.