I'm not nearly as enamored with this draft as I was with our 2022 draft. Here's why:
We did not get our QBOTF. If this is because we were of the belief that he didn't exist in this draft or couldn't be had for a somewhat reasonable trade up, then I'm good with it. But anytime you go into a draft with a long-term need at the most impactful position on the field with a class that is relatively decent, a ton of draft capital, and come away empty handed, it has to be considered a failure. My Plan B if that QBOTF wasn't within our grasp would have been to trade down...and with all the wheeling and dealing in the first round, it's hard to believe that wasn't an option...and reap a future #1 pick that might be parlayed into that goal in next year's draft.
However, I was very pleased with what turned out to be Plan C, Devon Witherspoon. He was at the very least one of the two top cornerbacks at a critical position on a defense that desperately needs improvement, and for what we didn't do, which would have been to select Jalen Carter, of whom I regard the riskiest top 10 ten pick in recent memory.
I did not like two out of our next three picks, ie WR Jaxon Smith-Njiba and RB Zach Charbonnet, not because of the player but because of the position. Great teams are not built around great wide receivers, they're built around great quarterbacks, offensive lines, and defenses. Good but not great wide receivers, like our SB WR's Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse, are a dime a dozen and teams do just fine with those types of receivers. And what the hell happened to Dee Eskridge? Wasn't he supposed to be our 3rd receiver? We're spending one helluva lot of capital, both in terms of salary and draft picks, on a non essential position.
A similar situation exists with running backs, but it's even worse as it's compounded by the fact that it is the most injury prone position on the field and they typically don't play on all three downs. Additionally, as good as these two players are, neither of them is projected to be starters, so they were luxury picks, and in the case of Charbonnet, an expensive insurance policy.
We continued to ignore our center position, a spot that has been a revolving door ever since we traded Max Unger without a plan in place to replace him. This was somewhat mitigated by drafting Olusegun Oluwatimi (try saying that name three times as fast as you can) in the 5th round, who has 45 starts at a FBS level and a nice trophy case of Outland and Rimmington awards. We had a chance to select a very good center in John Michael Schmitz with our #52 overall, but opted for a running back that won't be a 3 down player. It reminded me of our 2021 draft where we bypassed Creed Humphrey for a wide receiver that has already been given up on.
Last year, we didn't come out with our QBOTF, either. But it was an unusually barren draft class for QB's and we had the knowledge that we'd be armed with 2-#1 picks for the next season. This draft had much better prospects, as evidenced by QB's being the first 3 picks off the board vs. none in the top 19 last season, and we don't have the 'wait until next year' hope following the 2022 draft.
Sorry to rain on everyone's parade, but at least until I see how these draftees perform in the preseason, I can't join you in your summersaults and handsprings that many of you are turning in response to our draft.