Good question that's worthy of a pole. I think we was worthy of the pick. At the time I remember it came down to AJ Hawk and Vernon Davis and the overwhelming majority wanted Davis.
I think he performed commensurately for his draft position as we got a few solid seasons out of him. However he didn't perform well according to his hype.
Yes, man I still remember that weekend in such great detail. Loved being able to grab him. Looking back I wish we had better stability those years to develop talent better
Originally posted by boomer49er:
It wasn't a bad pick. He was a high level player for a long time, and the picks immediately after him were not as good as him over their careers.
Looking back he was a fine pick, but we would have been better suited picking Haloti Ngata.
Do we still sign Justin Smith if we had Ngata though? Probably not. Give me Davis.
Yes. I wanted him to be a 49er so bad and was so damn happy when we drafted him. He provided us with some historical 49ers moments, he was just kind of soft, compared, for being such a physical beast. Kam stole his soul unfortunately. He was a bit of a disappointment for me personally, but he was worth the pick and especially considering it was widely believed it would be either AJ Hawk, Vernon Davis or Michael Huff at that pick and the prognosticators on the webzone were balls on accurate with the picks at 5 6 and 7 falling in that order.
I didn't want Davis, I just believe that TEs can be found any round of the draft.. No matter what Davis stats is, I still don't think he was better than Brent Jones - Wesley Walls - Eric Johnson and today's Kittles... and these TEs are not even in the HOF..
Originally posted by 9moon:
I didn't want Davis, I just believe that TEs can be found any round of the draft.. No matter what Davis stats is, I still don't think he was better than Brent Jones - Wesley Walls - Eric Johnson and today's Kittles... and these TEs are not even in the HOF..
Vernon was awesome. Fans always seemed lukewarm about him, I never understood why. He always seemed a little "soft" when push came to shove, but he was great. At one time, he had the most receiving touchdowns by a tight end in one season, excellent blocker... he was excellent.
I feel like Vernon was a much more exciting prospect than Pitts. His physicality and speed was unheard of. The only other TE that had looked close to that was Kellen Winslow Jr, who was also a very high pick.
I remember watching Maryland highlights of Vernon dragging half the defense for over 10 yards in one play, and then running away from everyone in the next. He's the first player I remember watching before the draft, hoping to see the 9ers draft, and then having him get picked.
Wether or not he lived up to the potential everyone saw in him is a little debatable... but I don't for one second think it was a bad pick.
That time VD knocked the s**t out of that dude in training camp and screamed "f**k you ni**ga" while scrawny Mike Nolan was trying to hold him back .......lol, hell yeah he was worth it, love that dude.
Yes ... if for no reason but that catch alone. pretty good player ... that's all you can ask. not every player picked in the top ten will be a hall of famer. Remember Web Zoners , There are only 346 total hall of famers with this latest class included. Go Niners !!!