Jikkle wrote:CrimsonCrew wrote:Read an article on the Niners' 2022 draft class. What a disaster that draft is looking like, outside of Purdy (who, to be fair, single-handedly makes it). Drake Jackson, Ty Davis-Price, Danny Gray, Spencer Burford, Samuel Womack, Nick Zakelj, Kalia Davis, and Tariq Castro-Fields. There's a legit chance none of these guys are on the roster to start the 2025 season, and a slew of them may not make the roster this year.
I'll give Drake Jackson a bit more time since he was always going to be a project and he clearly got hurt early so I'll still give him a question mark but yeah that draft class is brutal.
I'd be shocked if Gray makes the roster since this draft made it brutally clear the team is done with him barring some incredible offseason turnaround.
Burford has been such a big disappointment since he showed some promise as a rookie and seems like he has the physical tools but he just did not take any step forward in year 2.
We're always asking where's Womack and he never sees the field so no telling on what's going on with him. Guess to be fair he was hurt a chunk of the season so maybe he just was never able to get fully on track.
The rest of the guys were late-round picks on a loaded roster so while I'll still knock the team for them it's not something to rake them over the coals over.
Where I'll really just rake this team over the coals though is it's 3rd round picks. Just been awful the past few years in the 3rd round and what a waste of all those extra picks.
And while it'd still be bad it would be easier to live with if the picks made sense but just didn't pan out. I mean Ambry Thomas made sense but he just didn't quite live up to expectations. But when you have picks like Trey Sermon, Ty Davis Price, Jake Moody, and Cameron Latu where everyone thought they were terrible picks before they even set foot on a field that's what makes it indefensible.
This is coming from a guy that thinks people get waaaaay too caught up in the draft and get tunnel vision when it comes to their team.
Yeah, it's still too early to write these guys off. And it's hard when your first pick is late in the second round. Jackson has been a disappointment. There's still some reason to have hopes for him, but after a season and an offseason to bulk up and get ready, he was awful before he went down with the injury. He's got to establish himself as an effective rusher to get back to things.
TDP was always an awful pick. We should have taken him in the 5th or 6th (if at all), not with our second pick in this draft. The value was bad, he was ordinary as a player, didn't catch the ball, didn't have speed. Just a head-scratcher from the start.
I could see what they were looking for in Gray, and I liked certain aspects of him. He had that elite speed, but he wasn't really a deep threat. They used him a lot on crossers where he could outrun guys. It felt high for him at the time, and the writing is certainly on the wall now. We'll see. Maybe he comes back super motivated and beats out Ronnie Bell or Chris Conley for the sixth spot. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
The only reason Burford is so disappointing is because he was really promising as a rookie. If he hadn't played as a rookie, then came in this year and looked the way he did, you would just chalk it up to a disappointing season. But he looked good as a rookie, and I expected him to make a jump this year. Instead, he seemed to regress.
Womack has been a head-scratcher, too, though for different reasons. It seems like every time he sees the field, he makes plays. But there must be something else going on. I think the staff realized he's not physical enough to play inside, and he's probably too small to play outside, so he doesn't really have a fit. Still, in retrospect, probably would have beaten KC if he'd been on the field instead of Luter (only because of the freak play where the ball hit Luter). Also curious that he's been great on STs, and physical there, but not when playing CB.
I had hoped Zakelj could do something. We've kept him around over other guys who showed more in the preseason, but he just doesn't seem to have the heft to anchor at guard or even center. He's probably gone this year. Also had some hopes that Davis might pan out, and he still might as last year was basically his rookie season, but it's a tall order at this point. The good news for him is that DT is still a bit thin. Tariq Castro-Fields was an interesting prospect, but a long shot.
