Our F-ing draft!

[Ralphy Boy]

Okay, I really did not like the draft. The Berry pick was great but after that I didn’t like the way they went about it.

I don’t believe that Pioli & Haley actually stacked the board and ranked the players. I think they developed an infatuation with McCluster and reached on him. I believe the reason they didn’t have their assistants in the draft room was because they didn’t want everyone to see them throwing out all of the scouting reports, just to take who they wanted most. Basically I think Pioli did it just like he did last year.

The way I look at the 2nd round is this; Pioli & Haley tried to get cute here and screwed everything up. It would be one thing if we passed on Clausen to address an area of concern with the best player available but we didn’t. Whoever you draft in the 2nd should, IMO, be looked at as an eventual starter and I don’t see that in either of them.

I'd have rather had Clausen & Tate than McCluster & Arenas.

First of all I don't buy the BS that Philly was going to take McCluster. I think Nate Allen was their choice all along. Everyone thought they were going to take Earl Thomas in the first, but they took Graham knowing that Allen would be there in the 2nd. McCluster doesn't offer Philly anything that Jeremy Maclin & DeSean Jackson don’t already do.

Basically I see the picks of McCluster & Arenas as “cute” picks. As in Pioli & Haley tried to get cute by taking them because both are undersized guys who don’t have a real position. Does anyone actually believe either of these two will be starters? How many plays a game will these guys really get?

McCluster vs. Tate.
I'm not taking anything away from McCluster, he's dynamic and great. Everyone is rationalizing him as a multipurpose player who can rush & receive and he’s pretty good at both, but better as a RB. Given his lack of size, I can’t see him holding up in the NFL as a rusher and that wasn’t an area of need for us. For now he’s slotted as a WR, so I have to compare his ability there to that of Tate.
Career numbers:
McCluster = 130 catches, 1,703 yards (13.1 avg), 7 TD's
Tate = 157 catches, 2,707 yards (17.24 avg), 26 TD's

Obviously McCluster is not on Tate’s level as a pure receiver, but he’s a much better rusher so in my mind they are essentially break even.

The problem is that taking McCluster not only cost us Clausen, but we could have had someone who is, if not as good or better of a receiver, he is at the very least just a step below.

I know that they will use him as a rusher and I know that he’ll create matchup problems; I just don’t think there are enough rushing attempts in the season to go around to justify taking him this high.

Maybe they'll use him as a returner but his averages are less than spectacular in that area. 7.13 avg on punts and 19.68 on kickoffs for McCluster compared to 11.04 & 20.6 averages for Tate.

Maybe McCluster would have made it to the #50 pick, maybe he wouldn’t. Again, I don’t buy that Philly was going to take him at #37. Shit gets tossed out every year that someone is going to take someone and maybe half of it is true.

Arenas vs. the rest of the 2nd round talent.
This just made very little sense to me. What in the world makes Pioli think that it’s okay to take a return man this high? He’s a return guy and a very good punt returner.

He’s not a realistic every down option at CB and doesn’t really have the size to ever be, so it just makes little sense. We needed a starter here, not a role player, because we JUST took a role player in McCluster. There were at least 6 picks here that could have been made for an eventual starter and half of those would have been better than what we have on the roster right now.

I really don’t mind the Asamoah pick. I can’t say I was really excited about it, but he seems like a good player with a good head on his shoulders. It would just seem to me that we could have addressed our completely vacant pass rush or done something to close the "All Rushing Lane's Open" sign instead.

As far as trading up for Moeaki, I think they panicked and I think it was a horrible pick. Indianapolis was picking next and I think they must have thought that Indy would take him, since they did well with the last Iowa TE they picked in Dallas Clark. I don’t see anything worth getting excited about. Risking two picks (the two we traded up to get him) is insane for a guy who has only played in 21 games the last 3 years.

Obviously I can’t do anything about it, other than bitch. So just to make myself feel better, I’m going to say that, knowing what I know now about how the players came off the board, that this is how I would have drafted.

1 Eric Berry, FS
2a Jimmy Clausen, QB
2b Golden Tate, WR
3 Donald Butler, ILB
4 Clay Harbor, TE
5a Perrish Cox, CB
5b Cameron Sheffield, OLB
5c Cam Thomas, NT

I'd have been pretty torn about taking Clausen with Kindle on the board but I'd have done it. If we took Clausen, we could have still had Tate too and I think the two of them combined would be much better than McCluster & Arenas.

I can't imagine that Romeo & Charlie aren't pissed about not being in the draft room.

McCluster better end up being A LOT better than Tate and Jimmy combined. That or Jimmy better be a head case who has a huge meltdown ala Todd Marinovich.

Every pick they made after Berry, up until Lewis, was made to make Cassel look better and while I hope it was worth it, I can't help but question the picks.

I'll go back to hoping and praying that he will improve and be the guy that they thought we were getting. I'll hope and pray for a Trent Green 2nd Season Recovery. I'll fall in line with everyone else who has basically already decided that the "experts" were right. I'll try not to be envious of the teams that got the players I wanted us to get. I'll try not to wonder why I love this freaking team so much.

Okay, my venting is over.