(05-04-2019, 11:26 PM)p_rushing Wrote:

(05-04-2019, 08:45 PM)TJBender Wrote: So at least the 49ers are on the record as having liked Williams. DJ has heard from other teams (he actually has contacts, unlike Walter Fudgeballs) that they liked him too. At what point do the whiners have to shut up and give Williams a chance?

It's not really how good he ends up, it's that he probably would have been there in the 5th round. If he becomes a pro bowler, great, but the Jags may have missed out on a pro bowler in the 3rd round and still could have gotten him in the 5th.

They already said he wasn't the highest rated player on the board, he was the last LB they thought might be able to one day become a starter. They didn't take the best player, they picked for need and really reached doing that. He may eventually be worth the pick, but the Jags needed a LB and they didn't like any of the others left so they decided they had to reach in the 3rd.

Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk

The draft is an inexact science. Based on what I've seen and read, Williams would likely have been gone before the fifth round. Caldwell even said that they knew they didn't have a fourth-round pick and they tried to trade down but couldn't find a taker. In the middle rounds especially (and let's not kid ourselves, compensatory threes are into the middle rounds), you make moves like that.  Take the guy who could start tomorrow at one position instead of the guy that grades better today but would be buried on the bench at another spot. Taking Daniel Jones at six or Clelin Ferrell at four is a reach. Taking a linebacker you like at the very end of three because you have a strong feeling he'll be gone by the next time you're on the clock isn't.

---