Pioli reflects on drafting Baldwin, insists ‘he can make catches others can't'

[Hammock Parties]

Suck it Fat Scott.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers/2...nfl-just-cant/

cott Pioli is rooting for Jon Baldwin to succeed with the 49ers, as would have been the case even if Baldwin wasn’t traded Monday from the Chiefs.

Pioli, the former Chiefs general manager and now an NBC Sports NFL analyst, remains a big believer in Baldwin’s potential.

“When we drafted him, we felt he was a tremendous height, weight, speed prospect,” Pioli said in a Tuesday phone call. “Even though he’s a big, tall guy, he has deceptive speed and covers more ground than you’d expect.

“He can make difficult catches that others can’t. He just needs to work on his consistency a bit.”

Here are some other insights Pioli offered:

On if Baldwin drops too many passes: “He’s got very good hand. He just needs to be more consistent. He’ll make catches other players in the NFL just can’t make.”

On if Baldwin’s deep-threat ability will thrive with Colin Kaepernick: “I don’t know if it’s fair to speculate. What happens between a quarterback and receiver is very much chemistry related, and that’s yet to be determined.”

On Baldwin’s red-zone threat: “Players’ ability in the red zone comes down to chemistry and the trust the quarterback develops with that receiver. You can’t just throw guys out there and throw magic dust on and it happens.”