To preface this, I'm not trying to rip anyone's opinion here, especially since most of you can spend more time scouting and watching college football than I can, so I defer to a lot of the consensus here. That said I have an honest question:
There seems to be this general consensus (read: the majority of people have this posted opinion) that Gordon will be going in the top 15 picks in the first round, and Gurley will be gone before we pick in the 31st. General draft history says this isn't true and that most teams are waiting until at least the 2nd round for even elite looking RBs. So what makes these guys so great that they're going to go in the 1st round, and high at that ?
The Gurley predictions in general intrigue me. I've read up on him and found highlights, and he looks like a great physical back with straight line speed. The closest comparison I have for him would be the Marcus Lattimore situation. Lattimore had a better college career, but a worse knee injury. The Niners drafted him in the 4th round, and they were lauded for getting great value there. At that point, no team had even looked like they were luke warm on Lattimore at that point. The Niners had the RB depth (as we do) to redshirt Lattimore and let him come back. We all know the story: he never was able to come back.
Personally, I'd think since that was recent, that would make Gurley's draft stock fall a bit. Teams look at that and the risk is reinforced with recent events. It has worked before; Willis McGahee from Miami tore his ACL in the bowl game, then got drafted (in the 1st round !) by the Bills (?) and went on to have a good career.
So is Gurley really that good ? What about the fact that his back up came in and tore it up as well....does that maybe show it was the system or OL to a small degree ? Honestly, I think it's the perfect situation for us: get a great physical RB and let him sit for a year or two until we can get our depth sorted out. Especially if we could get him in the 3rd or 4th.
What say you ?
There seems to be this general consensus (read: the majority of people have this posted opinion) that Gordon will be going in the top 15 picks in the first round, and Gurley will be gone before we pick in the 31st. General draft history says this isn't true and that most teams are waiting until at least the 2nd round for even elite looking RBs. So what makes these guys so great that they're going to go in the 1st round, and high at that ?
The Gurley predictions in general intrigue me. I've read up on him and found highlights, and he looks like a great physical back with straight line speed. The closest comparison I have for him would be the Marcus Lattimore situation. Lattimore had a better college career, but a worse knee injury. The Niners drafted him in the 4th round, and they were lauded for getting great value there. At that point, no team had even looked like they were luke warm on Lattimore at that point. The Niners had the RB depth (as we do) to redshirt Lattimore and let him come back. We all know the story: he never was able to come back.
Personally, I'd think since that was recent, that would make Gurley's draft stock fall a bit. Teams look at that and the risk is reinforced with recent events. It has worked before; Willis McGahee from Miami tore his ACL in the bowl game, then got drafted (in the 1st round !) by the Bills (?) and went on to have a good career.
So is Gurley really that good ? What about the fact that his back up came in and tore it up as well....does that maybe show it was the system or OL to a small degree ? Honestly, I think it's the perfect situation for us: get a great physical RB and let him sit for a year or two until we can get our depth sorted out. Especially if we could get him in the 3rd or 4th.
What say you ?