Great read: Inside (SF) Draft room -- merged

[long distance]

This is quite a story from inside 49ers draft room..
.. especially for those who voted on getting all-access Draft room card..

San Francisco 49ers draft room during Bears trade, more | The MMQB with Peter King


quote:

Foster was following the draft on TV. And five minutes earlier, he’d gotten a call from Saints coach Sean Payton. “It got down to the point where he was like, ‘I'm going to pick you,’” Foster told me. “But he said, ‘I got a question. What's your girlfriend first name?’ I said, ‘Alissa.’ He said, ‘Is she next to you? Give her the phone.’

“I was like, okay, I gave her the phone. You know, you don't want to argue with no head coach. You respect them! So I gave her the phone and I was just nervous and scared just thinking about what they were talking about. But all he was saying was is she gonna be that guidance and that person and make sure I don't get in no trouble.’ This I heard after the fact.

“So my girlfriend holds the phone out to me. Call waiting. I look at the screen. San Jose California. 408 number...

 

[DaBruinz]

Great read.

 

[patsfan13]

Nice piece about the draft process.

 

[fan345]

I don't know if people have discussed this, but the Bears would have gotten Trubisky anyway, SF had no interest in him and I thought that was pretty well known before the draft.

 

[BelichickFan]

I don't know if people have discussed this, but the Bears would have gotten Trubisky anyway, SF had no interest in him and I thought that was pretty well known before the draft.

It's easy to say that but the Bears had no idea if Cleveland or someone else was competing with them to trade for the #2 pick.

 

[patchick]

What a tremendous read -- and what an un-Patriotslike level of candid access.

Important takeaway lessons for me:

1. The 49ers were prepared to take Foster at #3, yet he lasted all the way to #31. Teams' evaluations vary enormously, and it's a total shot in the dark whether a player "would have still been around later."

2. Whenever a player the Pats are rumored to like goes a few picks before their selection, there's a chorus of "why didn't they just trade up?" (Or sometimes it's "why did they move down a whole 19 spots, 8-10 would have been a better position," etc.) This article shows just how hard it can be to move around the board. The 49ers spent the majority of the first round calling every possible team in a desperate attempt to trade up, and kept getting rebuffed. You can't just decide to parachute into the spot of your choice.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

It's easy to say that but the Bears had no idea if Cleveland or someone else was competing with them to trade for the #2 pick.

And based on the beginning of the article, they were right - someone was competing with them. But the Bears' initial offer was the one that intrigued them the most, and the 49ers managed to squeeze even more out of them.

 

[long distance]

So its actually possible . elsewhere..

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Embedded Reporting from the 49ers War Room


I'm not a big fan of Peter King, but this is a terrific behind-the-scenes look at how a new GM handled draft weekend. Fascinating read.

San Francisco 49ers draft room during Bears trade, more | The MMQB with Peter King

 

[patchick]

So its actually possible . elsewhere..

picturing telling my kids that I've diverted their college fund...they'll understand, right?

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Thanks for the merge. Didn't even see the other thread. Great stories.