If you trust Saban, ask yourself...

[SkapePhin]

Why would he draft Brown over Cadillac?

He, of ALL 32 NFL coaches knew these 2 better than anyone. He had firsthand knowledge of both of their styles, their abilities, their tendencies. Now if you trust Saban to be an intelligent football mind, how could you believe that he would comletely blow such an important pick, especially when he KNOWS these players better than anyone in the NFL.

Until Saban shows himself to be incompetent, I will have to trust him on his first NFL pick.. It is WAY too early to label anyone a bust, the guy is still getting adjusted to the NFL speed on defense. Might be an excuse, but its the truth.

 

[TarHeelFinFan]

Not an excuse, reality. The o-line is not very good. Holes opening up would make Ronnie look like a dang good back.

 

[Nappy Roots]

look i agree with you that Ronnie is definitly not a bust. but because saban played against them a few times doesnt necessary men he knows them better then anyone in the NFL. with scouts watching game after game, coaches, scouts, etc. watching hours apon hours of film on these guys, with people like jon gruden actually coaching Caddy and studdying ronnie, who knows who knows the most about them.

 

[bakedmatt]

well a very good argument would be simply, draft picks are like lottery tickets. there's a chance he screwed up.

on the other hand, i think ronnie brown is a more valuable weapon for our offense, especially when ricky returns and we can feature two backs at once.

then there's the argument where saban says that ronnie hasn't had much in the way of blocking. i trust that statement 100%, because i saw it with my own eyes as well. and you can bet politics doesn't play as much a role with saban as it did with wannstedt. if ronnie brown sucks it up, he's out of saban's offense sooner than wannstedt would admit it. so i think he's looking for a little more accountability from the OL and giving our backs, and qb some more time/room to make plays.

i think the passing game has to be more effective to help out the OL too, which means WRs can drop balls that hit them right in the hands... Chambers... :tsk:

 

[Awsi Dooger]

I'll ask a different question: if Saban had the 2nd pick in each of the next 10 drafts, would be pick the guy who turns out to be the best player every time?

Of course not. Probably half the time, or less. You have one pick and there are hundreds who follow. Over the course of 10 years you'll pick Hall of Famers, very good players, maybe an average player and possibly even a complete bust. So what's to say Saban won't make take a guy who turns out to be less than awesome in his first try? Nothing. In fact, I could argue it's more likely in his first year than any other time. You've got a new regime and aren't familiar with all the scouts and their strengths/weaknesses. It's not like we had a longstanding GM with a record of excellence for Saban to rely on.

I don't buy the familiarity argument. Butch Davis took William Green when Ed Reed and Clinton Portis was available. He recruited and coached both of those guys. And personnel was supposed to be Davis' strength. The NFL draft has turned into pathetic slotting. A guy is good enough to be the 8th pick but not the 2nd pick. It's all glorified crap but coaches are petrified to defy the projections especially early in the first round.

My belief is we wanted Alex Smith and were desperate for the 49ers to screw up and leave him for us. When that predictably fell apart we wanted to trade down but with the talent level atop the board so even and subpar, no one would offer sufficient compensation and we were forced to decline. At that point we switched to Plan C, which was to choose among a handful of guys including Ronnie, Braylon Edwards, Caddy and Benson. I have zilch inside info on any of that, just instincts. I've learned to trust them.

 

[yankeehillbilly]

I'll get back to you on that. After Ronnie has more than just a couple of games under his belt.

 

[ohall]

No HC/GM would pass on a 6 foot 230 pound HB that runs a 4.38 40-yard dash over a smaller slower HB like Caddy.

Make no mistake about it if Gruden was in the #2 spot he would have drafted Ronnie not Caddy.

Ronnie's upside is much higher than Caddy's.

 

[MCK_GIDEON]

man, some of you guys kill me. WE ARE REBUILDING. our offensive line sucks, they can't make holes. Our main receiver drops wide open passes that would have been first downs, we have a rookie running back that is playing in his second game, we have a defense that is learning a new system. Anyone who thought that we were going to the super bowl this year should get back to reality. Ronnie Brown is going to be a very good back in this league, but he has to develope. Its not right to compare his stats with Caddies stats, they are playing on 2 different teams that have different weaknesses. I really don't know why I have to say this stuff, but some of you need to just sit back and let the coach do his job. Nobody can denie that we are not 100 times better then last year....

 

[finfan54]

Oh brother, here we go....Ronnie Brown is not the problem. And who exactly were you sticking your neck out on come draft time? Hindsight is 20/20. RB was picked for obvious blocking skills, which we need, and soft hands, and to run the ball with power. ronnie Brown is not to blame for the L here.

 

[CTFinFan]

There were a lot of reasons why we lost yesterday. Poor blocking, dropped passes, endless 3rd and longs (how many times are we going to let them convert 3rd and long?), absent secondary, penalties. And where is it written that Special Teams can't make a play? When was the last time we actually tried to block a punt or FG? We are capable of playing like we did week one but we are still a team in transition and one that is rebuilding. And I agree with those who say we are still dealing with the WannSpiel debacle. Still, a loss to the Jets hurts worse than anything else in football. First because they're the Jets and second because they're not a very good football team. But they beat us. Again.:fire:

 

[ottie35]

Why would he draft Brown over Cadillac?

He, of ALL 32 NFL coaches knew these 2 better than anyone. He had firsthand knowledge of both of their styles, their abilities, their tendencies. Now if you trust Saban to be an intelligent football mind, how could you believe that he would comletely blow such an important pick, especially when he KNOWS these players better than anyone in the NFL.

Until Saban shows himself to be incompetent, I will have to trust him on his first NFL pick.. It is WAY too early to label anyone a bust, the guy is still getting adjusted to the NFL speed on defense. Might be an excuse, but its the truth.

Saban cant catch passes can he, frerotte threw some darn good passes that were flat out dropped by EVERYONE!!

 

[SkapePhin]

I'll ask a different question: if Saban had the 2nd pick in each of the next 10 drafts, would be pick the guy who turns out to be the best player every time?

Of course not. Probably half the time, or less. You have one pick and there are hundreds who follow. Over the course of 10 years you'll pick Hall of Famers, very good players, maybe an average player and possibly even a complete bust. So what's to say Saban won't make take a guy who turns out to be less than awesome in his first try? Nothing. In fact, I could argue it's more likely in his first year than any other time. You've got a new regime and aren't familiar with all the scouts and their strengths/weaknesses. It's not like we had a longstanding GM with a record of excellence for Saban to rely on.

I don't buy the familiarity argument. Butch Davis took William Green when Ed Reed and Clinton Portis was available. He recruited and coached both of those guys. And personnel was supposed to be Davis' strength. The NFL draft has turned into pathetic slotting. A guy is good enough to be the 8th pick but not the 2nd pick. It's all glorified crap but coaches are petrified to defy the projections especially early in the first round.

My belief is we wanted Alex Smith and were desperate for the 49ers to screw up and leave him for us. When that predictably fell apart we wanted to trade down but with the talent level atop the board so even and subpar, no one would offer sufficient compensation and we were forced to decline. At that point we switched to Plan C, which was to choose among a handful of guys including Ronnie, Braylon Edwards, Caddy and Benson. I have zilch inside info on any of that, just instincts. I've learned to trust them.

Ya, but what are the chances that, if he is a good talent evaluator, which most seem to believe he is, that he would pick a complete BUST on his first go round, when he stilll has the most knowledge of the college game, and had first hand knowledge of both Brown and Williams?

 

[SkapePhin]

Saban cant catch passes can he, frerotte threw some darn good passes that were flat out dropped by EVERYONE!!

:confused: What on Earth does this have to do with Brown?

 

[finmann]

man, some of you guys kill me. WE ARE REBUILDING. our offensive line sucks, they can't make holes. Our main receiver drops wide open passes that would have been first downs, we have a rookie running back that is playing in his second game, we have a defense that is learning a new system. Anyone who thought that we were going to the super bowl this year should get back to reality. Ronnie Brown is going to be a very good back in this league, but he has to develope. Its not right to compare his stats with Caddies stats, they are playing on 2 different teams that have different weaknesses. I really don't know why I have to say this stuff, but some of you need to just sit back and let the coach do his job. Nobody can denie that we are not 100 times better then last year....

Be careful, when you start to make sense people get upset. We are rebuilding and I think some of us don't really understand this, this is a work in progressed,we just got to be patient and let Saban do his job. We are a few years away from being taken seriously.

 

[KTOWNFINFAN]

I'll ask a different question: if Saban had the 2nd pick in each of the next 10 drafts, would be pick the guy who turns out to be the best player every time?

Of course not. Probably half the time, or less. You have one pick and there are hundreds who follow. Over the course of 10 years you'll pick Hall of Famers, very good players, maybe an average player and possibly even a complete bust. So what's to say Saban won't make take a guy who turns out to be less than awesome in his first try? Nothing. In fact, I could argue it's more likely in his first year than any other time. You've got a new regime and aren't familiar with all the scouts and their strengths/weaknesses. It's not like we had a longstanding GM with a record of excellence for Saban to rely on.

I don't buy the familiarity argument. Butch Davis took William Green when Ed Reed and Clinton Portis was available. He recruited and coached both of those guys. And personnel was supposed to be Davis' strength. The NFL draft has turned into pathetic slotting. A guy is good enough to be the 8th pick but not the 2nd pick. It's all glorified crap but coaches are petrified to defy the projections especially early in the first round.

My belief is we wanted Alex Smith and were desperate for the 49ers to screw up and leave him for us. When that predictably fell apart we wanted to trade down but with the talent level atop the board so even and subpar, no one would offer sufficient compensation and we were forced to decline. At that point we switched to Plan C, which was to choose among a handful of guys including Ronnie, Braylon Edwards, Caddy and Benson. I have zilch inside info on any of that, just instincts. I've learned to trust them.

Very good points. I agree totally. All that does not mean Ronnie will be a bust, he could come on later and be a solid player, much like a Larry Johnson type. But I really see no way possible for him to ever be worth 20 million.