Monday, May 2, 2016

San Francisco 49ers 2016 Draft Recap

"With the seventh pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers select... DeForest Buckner, defensive-end, Oregon." Those were the words of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when it came time for the 49ers to announce their first pick in last week's Draft. In need of a player that can apply pressure on the defensive side of the ball, San Francisco addressed the need with the 6-foot, 7-inch defensive-end that was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. Drawing comparisons to 2-time Pro Bowl DE Calais Campbell of the Arizona Cardinals, the 291-pound Buckner tallied 18 career sacks in his collegiate career with the Oregon Ducks and will now be reunited in San Francisco with his good friend Arik Armstead who the 49ers selected out of Oregon in the first round of last year's Draft and coach Chip Kelly who recruited him out of college to play for the Ducks. As if the familiar faces weren't enough to make him fit right at home, he also fits the Niners' system as a five-technique player.
Adding a player with the strength and measurables like that of Buckner figures to improve a 49ers defensive attack that ranked 29th a season ago. Looking to fill the void left by the tandem of Justin Smith who retired before last season and Aldon Smith who the Niners cut ties with after numerous off the field incidents, GM Trent Baalke is hoping the duo of Armstead and Buckner can evolve into an even younger version of the tag-team simply nicknamed, the "Smith brothers." One of the bigger surprises on day 1 of the Draft would come at pick 28 when Trent Baalke and company made a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, trading back into the first round and acquiring the 28th overall pick which the Niners would use to select Stanford Guard Joshua Garnett. San Francisco would also acquire the 249th overall pick in the trade, while dealing their 37th, 105th and 187th overall picks to K.C. With offensive-line being one of if not the biggest areas of concern for San Francisco heading into next season, they went out and grabbed the best guard in the class according to some analysts who also labeled him the best interior run-blocker, with 2015 first-team all Pac-12 and 2015 first-team AP All-American honors to show for it.
The next two picks on the 49ers board would be used to take a pair of cornerbacks as San Francisco ranked 27th in pass defense a season ago. With no picks in the second round following the trade with the Chiefs, the Niners had to wait until round number three to hear their name called again as they used the 68th overall pick to take Will Redmond, CB out of Mississippi State who could've gone as early as a late first-rounder had it not been for a torn ACL he suffered in practice. He would be the first of three corners taken by the Niners with Rashard Robinson of LSU (4th round, 133rd overall) and Prince Charles Iworah of Western Kentucky (7th round, 249th overall) being the others. Robinson, who's been touted as being one of the best press corners in the draft, shined in the little playing time he received during his career at LSU due to a suspension. Without those off the field issues, scouts say he could've gone in the first two rounds. Instead, the Niners snagged him in round 4, 133rd overall as a great value pick. Another pick that was praised by NFL analysts for the value was that of Appalachian State defensive-end Ronald Blair who was named 2015 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and was made a Niner with a 5th round pick, 142nd overall. ESPN had him rated on their top 100 list and as a potential third-rounder.
With QB protection being a major problem for the 49ers a season ago, Kelly and Baalke took a pair of offensive-tackles in the 5th round and were criticized by fans on social media for not addressing the need much earlier, nabbing Georgia Bulldog John Theus (145th overall) and Fahn Cooper out of Ole Miss (174th overall). Theus, who was named first-team all-conference, started three of his four years at Georgia including his freshman year as the starting right tackle which is quite the feat given he comes from an SEC school and has played against some of the toughest talent the collegiate level has to offer. With the pair of picks to join Garnett, the 49ers selected three offensive linemen in the same draft for the first time since 1998. Three of San Francisco's final four picks would be used to draft a quarterback, running back and receiver, all of which taken in the 6th round. First on the list would be Louisiana Tech QB Jeff Driskel who was taken 207th overall. A former top-rated QB coming out of high school, Driskel transferred to Lou Tech after his successful stint with the Florida Gators was cut short after suffering a broken leg and later benched. The athletic QB with dual threat ability isn't expected to compete for a starting job anytime soon, but if anybody could turn him into a serviceable signal caller for the future, it's Chip Kelly. For what it's worth, Driskel recorded the fastest time in the 40-yard dash among QB's, clocking in at 4.56 seconds.
Kelvin Taylor, son of former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, would be next on the list. 6th round pick, selected 211th overall, Taylor was a former teammate of Driskel's at the University of Florida where he starred as the Gators' go-to back his junior year in 2015, rushing for 13 touchdowns and over a thousand yards while never fumbling in his 486 carries and 510 touches. With Carlos Hyde expected to bounce back this season from an injury-plagued 2015, Taylor could be Hyde's backup come Week 1 as a nice change of pace speedster to compliment the much tougher running style of Hyde. And last is wide-receiver Aaron Burbridge, selected 213th overall out of Michigan State. Named Big Ten Receiver of the Year in 2015 as well as first-team all-conference for the Spartans, Burbridge had himself a breakout season his senior year and served as Spartans QB Connor Cook's go-to target, leading the Big Ten in both catches (85) and receiving yards (1,258). With Anquan Boldin now a free-agent, Burbridge might be the one called upon to fill in for Boldin assuming the team has moved on from their top receiver of the past three seasons.
Something else this draft tells us is that coach Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke aren't exactly ready to throw in the towel on quarterback Colin Kaepernick just yet considering they didn't seem to be in a rush to draft a quarterback in the earlier rounds like many had predicted. Instead, they seem just fine with their current quarterback situation which is expected to be fought for between Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert. While there's still speculation that he could be released before the start of season, I'll put my money on him still being on the team come kickoff. Trade talks were more than talked about between the 49ers and Denver Broncos, but Kaepernick's unwillingness to take a paycut ultimately deterred Broncos vice-president John Elway and the reigning Super Bowl champions from finalizing a move as they traded up in the draft to take their quarterback of the future in Memphis' Paxton Miller instead. As for the position of need that the 49ers didn't address in the draft, Baalke elected not to select a single linebacker. We'll see if that decision comes back to haunt him.
Like every year, it's always fun keeping an eye on those players drafted heading into their first year, especially those taken in the later rounds as their journey to NFL begins or if they make the team at all. It's also a time for those struggling teams (like the 49ers) to help dig themselves out of the hole and build to help better their future. There's no denying that this was the most significant draft in years for San Francisco as the franchise is still looking to recover from a handful of unexpected retirements and an ugly fallout with one of the game's premier coaches. Now in a new regime under head coach Chip Kelly, the 49ers are in need of a spark to help the franchise's rise back to prominence and regain its rich winning history.


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Sunday, May 1, 2016

Walton lands Dream Job with Lakers

With a vacancy in their head coaching position, the Los Angeles Lakers have found their man. After finishing the past three regular seasons with the worst record in franchise history and diminishing win totals of 27, 21 and 19, the Lakers are ready to start off on a clean slate. And they'll be doing so under newly hired head coach Luke Walton. Name sound familiar? That's because it wasn't long ago that Walton was on the court playing for the Lakers where he spent nine years as a fan favorite. And now both Laker fans and the front-office are hoping that will continue as he returns back to the Lakers bench, only this time with a suit and tie on instead of a jersey.

Hired to become the 26th head coach in franchise history, Walton, son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, joins a long list of names of former Laker players who later went on to coach the team. Impressive names with the likes of George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis and most recently -- Byron Scott who was relieved of his duties after just two seasons. Thus making Walton the eighth former Lakers player turned coach. However, of the seven others before him, only three of those names have finished their tenure with a winning record. And only two if you're counting a full season's worth of work. With Walton being the eighth Lakers coach to have also donned the purple and gold as a player, it's safe to say the Lakers prefer to keep it in the family by hiring one of their own. And hopefully this one works out better than the last one did.
After capturing only 38 combined wins in two seasons under Scott, the Lakers are hoping to have much more success under Walton who was twice named coach of the month this season while filling in for Steve Kerr as the intern head coach of the Golden State Warriors, whom he led to a 39-4 record, including a blazing 24-0 start. Following Kerr's return back to the Warriors bench after recovering from back surgery, the Warriors went on to assemble the greatest regular season in NBA history, finishing with an all-time best record of 73-9, narrowing the 72-10 mark previously held by the team that Kerr coincidentally played for -- the '95-'96 Chicago Bulls. Because of the accomplishment, Kerr would be named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season, while many believed the award should've gone to Walton or at the very least share the award with co-Coach of the Year honors. Unfortunately for Walton, that wouldn't be the case. But at least his time in the driver seat helped skyrocket both his stock and interest in landing a head coaching job.

Two years removed from being a part-time assistant coach in the NBA's Developmental League, Walton, who becomes the youngest active head coach in the league at just 36 years of age, will now takeover the most winningest franchise in the NBA. Having grown up in Southern California and later playing for the team he lived just a stones throw away from, the hiring of Walton could be the perfect fit in L.A. Or it could be another Byron Scott-type disaster that we were more than excited for at first, and later ended up hating. At first glance, Walton doesn't seem like the type of hire you'd make when looking to help develop players which is exactly what the Lakers are in need of with their crop of young players led by Julius Randle and DeAngelo Russell. Then again, Walton could be the perfect man for the job, knocking it out of the park and proving us all wrong. The truth is, only time will tell. And whether or not the Lakers organization might not want to admit it, regardless of who it was they decided to hire, the next man for the job was going to need plenty of that to help get the Lakers back into winning form -- time. Entering year three of the Lakers current reconstruction, the front-office will have to show patience with Walton, something they showed very little of with Byron Scott calling the plays. And with Walton reportedly agreeing to a five-year deal, four of which guaranteed at an amount not yet made public, they appear to be understanding.
Smart move or not by Walton with many believing he jumped the gun and should've returned to Golden State for at least another year, he might not have had the opportunity to land his dream job again if he chose to wait it out another season. Sure leaving an organization that is currently atop the basketball world in both popularity and excitement, not to mention has the talent to become a dynasty, seems hard, but jobs like the one Walton just agreed to take don't come around too often. Though it was only a small sample size, we've seen how well Walton can coach a roster full of stars and talented players in their prime including the league's MVP, now lets see how well he can coach a bunch of youngsters still looking to make a name for themselves and whether or not he can help guide the Lakers franchise back to prominence as they look to end their dry spell of missing the playoffs for a franchise worst three consecutive seasons. And with a young team in hand already, the Lakers are expected to get even younger as they hope to strike gold in this month's NBA Draft Lottery and perhaps even in free-agency after striking out in each of the last three seasons.


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