It had to be Connor Cook, right?
When the San Francisco 49ers traded back into the first round on Thursday night, sending their second-round pick (No. 37 overall), along with a fourth-rounder (No. 105) and s sixth (No. 178) to Kansas City for the right to move up nine spots (No. 28), coupled with an extra seventh-round selection (No. 249), the strong-armed Michigan State signal caller’s name was on the tip of everyone’s lips.
And why not?
The 49ers are ostensibly moving forward with the disgruntled Colin Kaepernick and the flawed Blaine Gabbert at the most important position there is, so snaring a signal caller, even one with some real personality problems, seemed like a prudent course.
Instead Trent Baalke and Chip Kelly hyperextended their backs reaching for Stanford offensive guard Joshua Garnett, a player most draft experts rated as a second- or third-round talent at a position where plenty in the NFL feel you can find competent options later in the process.
Former Super Bowl-winning coach Brian Billick is fond of saying, “need is the worst talent evaluator in sports.”
On the surface at least, it certainly seems like the 49ers’ braintrust fell into that trap while pondering the loss of Alex Boone in free agency, interestingly once an undrafted player out of Ohio State who eventually developed into a two-time Pro Bowl selection with San Francisco.
Kelly’s part in this move is also interesting because when he did have total control over personnel in Philadelphia, the now-49ers coach jettisoned a Pro Bowl-level guard in Evan Mathis and entered the 2015 season believing he could make due with nondescript options like Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner, who was injured early and eventually replaced by Matt Tobin.
There are two schools of thought here.
To say Kelly’s plan backfired with the Eagles is an understatement so perhaps the headstrong mentor actually learned from his mistake and pressed Baalke to go get him a difference maker on the interior of the offensive line because his zone-based running concepts rely heavily on athletic lineman who can get out and pull, an undeniable strength of Garnett.
Or perhaps San Francisco simply saw something in Garnett that others didn’t and had him rated as a first-round pick because the organization has gone from having one of the most talented rosters in football during the height of the Baalke-Jim Harbaugh marriage to one of the most deficient in almost record time. And there were plenty of other areas to address when the team targeted Garnett and went to go get him.
Sept 27, 2014: Stanford’s Joshua Garnett against Washington. Stanford defeated Washington 20-13 at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington.
Garnett’s coach at Stanford, David Shaw, was siting in on the NFL Network’s set when Garnett was selected, perhaps foreshadowing what was coming.
“What a lot of people don’t understand about Chip Kelly — Chip Kelly and I have become friends the last couple of years — Chip Kelly loves to run the football,” Shaw continued. “He loves nasty guys with attitudes up front and that’s what they’re getting in Joshua Garnett.”
So maybe the real answer is that it just came down to comfort. Shaw sold Garnett to Kelly, the 49ers’ coach took the recommendation of one of the few football people he actually trusts and took his case to Baalke, who rubber stamped it.
“You know what you get in Joshua Garnett? You get a brilliant young man,” Shaw said. “He’s a biology major and you’re going to get a tough son of a gun. This guy loves football. He’s physical, he’s nasty, he’s got some work to do as a pass protector, which he improved every single year, but right now you’re going to get one of the best physical run blockers you’re going to see come out of college the last couple years.”
Effusive praise aside, there are two issues you have to take into account with every NFL draft pick, the player and his ultimate success is obviously the biggest part of it but to be a successful organization on a consistent basis for years and years, you also have to get value out of your selections.
In the 49ers’ first choice on the night at No. 7 overall, they chose talented defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who is going to be the punch line of many a joke because Kelly found a way to get the Oregon player despite the fact he doesn’t have control over personnel.
That take is unfair, however, because this particular Duck can actually play and many observers felt San Diego was a logical landing spot for Buckner at No. 3 overall. So, on paper at least, the 49ers got a significant talent coupled with tremendous value with their first swing.
Hindsight may prove San Francisco also got a very good football player in Joshua Garnett but the value just wasn’t there at the point he was taken and that part of the equation can never change.
-John McMullen is a national football columnist for FanRagSports.com and TodaysPigskin.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @ — Also catch John every day at 4:05 ET on ESPN South Jersey and check @JFMcMullen for John’s upcoming appearances on YAHOO! Sports Radio, FOX Sports Radio, as well as dozens of local radio stations across North America.
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