Draft grade so far? C.

We drafted the bookend DE to Aric Armstead in DeForest (Bones) Kelly, uh, Buckner, and traded up to get the only position we filled in free agency, namely Left Guard. Color me baffled. Most draft boards had Cody Whitehair as the no 1 guard in the draft. And he was scheduled as a 2nd rounder. Joshua Garnett, the Stanfoo product was the Outland winner, and such, but was slotted as a low-2nd/high 3rd round pick. Yes, we need a pass rush, yes we need bodies on the line, but Buckner is more an interior run-stuffing guy, and we already signed a guard a few weeks ago. Come to think of it, we didn’t stop the run well either, so there’s that. I just hope he provides more immediate impact than his Duck buddy Armstead did.

The guard thing though confuses the shit out of me, though. I ALWAYS get the sense Trent is drafting in a bubble of his own creation. Like saying he had AJ Jenkins name in an envelope 30 days before we drafted him smacks of arrogance and intractability. This was another pick that was about 1-2 slots too high for a guy that ended up being a complete bust. Even beyond the fact he was a washout, what does it say about Baalke that he doesn’t even pay attention to what happened leading up to his pick at 30 that year? Trading up for a 2-3 guy in the 1st is the same kind of thing. Like he knows something that no one else does. Like he’s outsmarting people by doing this. Well, all he is doing is outsmarting himself. KC is happy as hell with their haul of our 2nd, 4th, and 6th round picks. Att to jump 10 spots for a guy that would have been there.

That being said, I LIKE that he drafted line help. I just don’t understand why the trade for a guy that would have been there 10 picks later. Mainly because he’s burning whatever flimsy bridge there was between Anthony Davis and the 49ers. AD is a tool for doing what he did last year, but Baalke is the tool this year for acting the innocent party and floating trade rumors. As it is, we still need a right tackle.

Today’s proceedings get a little less fun what with the trade out, but hey, See you in the 3rd round.