After a two-day festival of offensive tackles from Vanderbilt, cornerbacks from Tennessee State, and strident opinions about players we watched play once, maybe twice, in their college careers, it’s time to evaluate the 49ers Draft Class . . . .

. . . of 2005.

That’s right: 2005. I figure that’s pretty much the smart thing to do, since it’s essentially impossible to figure out if the 49ers made the right picks this past weekend.

How will the current draft class react when it gets money in its pocket? How will the current draft class react to the speed of the NFL? How will the current draft class play through injury, overachieve, underachieve, and respond to adversity? How will the current draft class adjust to the relentless criticism leveled by the well-known skeptics of the KNBR morning airwaves, Murph and Mac – the Butchers of Hawthorne Lane?

The answers are simple: We don’t know, which makes it ridiculous to try and evaluate the picks.

Kentwan Balmer could turn out to be Bryant Young . . . or he could turn out to be Reggie McGrew. Chilo Rachal could turn out to be John Ayers . . . or he could turn out to be Kwame Harris. Reggie Smith could turn out to be Eric Davis . . . or he could turn out to be Dana Hall.




What we do know is that in 2005, the Niners of Mike Nolan and Scot McLoughan drafted a class that has now played three full seasons in the NFL, and is worthy of being judged. The class, in case you forgot:
1st round: Alex Smith, QB.
2nd round: David Baas, OL.
3rd round: Frank Gore, RB.
3rd round: Adam Snyder, OL.
5th round: Ronald Fields, DL.
5th round: Rasheed Marshall, WR.
6th round: Derrick Johnson, CB.
7th round: Daven Holly, CB.
7th round: Patrick Estes, TE.
7th round: Billy Bajema, TE.

That’s 10 players drafted. Realistically, we can say from the outset that if you hit on half of those players, it’s a successful draft. That’s my arbitrary measuring stick, given the wildly rough environment of the NFL, given that 3 of those picks were 7th rounders, and given that money, injuries and the inconsistencies of human nature all come into play.

For starters, let’s eliminate Johnson, Holly, Marshall and Estes. They are no longer 49ers, which means that 6 of the 10 still are, even three years later, and right away that’s a fairly positive statement for the first draft class of “McNolan”, as the Nolan-McLoughan regime is sometimes called in the blogging world.

So, with a 60 percent ‘hit’ rate, McNolan’s first draft class is ahead of the game.

Now, let’s consider the value of the picks. Are any of the picks home run selections, surefire great Niners?

Only one: Third-rounder Frank Gore.

Period. The kid rules. Next topic.

One home run is better than none, but you’d like to think that your first-rounder and your second-rounder were home run picks. With Alex Smith and David Baas, that’s not been the case.

Smith is, at best, an infield single of a pick. To carry on this baseball analogy, he has several more at-bats to come in the year 2008, but suffice to say, he’s closer to the ’08 Richie Aurilia than the ’02 Richie Aurilia, and we need to see more of the ’02 Richie, pronto.

Baas is a single. You would have thought, as the 33rd pick, he would have started sooner, but the fact that he is now a fixture on the line (setting aside his torn pectoral clouding the summer), he’s at least got an on-base percentage.

Snyder, as a third-rounder, is more of a double, given his versatility. No Niner fan feels insecure with Snyder at tackle or guard, and that’s a very good thing.

Fields, in the D-line rotation in ’08, is another infield single. Granted, as a 5th-rounder, you don’t expect much, but it would be nice to see some heft and worth out of that spot.

Bajema, as a 7th rounder, is a bonus. Call it a double, given the low expectations of his selection spot.

By my count, that’s one home run, two doubles, and three singles. Not great, not bad.

The McNolan Class of ’05 gets a B-plus, and that’s OK, considering it could be a lot worse.

Check back in 2011 to get your Kentwan Balmer-Chilo Rachal updates.


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