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49ers have interest in Andre Smith
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Alabama football's Andre Smith works out during pro
day at the Hank Crisp Indoor Practice Facility on the
UA campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Wednesday, March
11, 2009. (AP Photo/Tuscaloosa News, Dan Lopez)
Would you make your first round draft pick on a guy that didn't play in the biggest game of his life? How about drafting a guy that decided not to participate in the NFL Combine? What about someone who is supposedly too big for his position?
Apparently, the 49ers see him and want him. I'm talking about Alabama tackle Andre Smith.
In a report in the Chronicle, the 49ers were "impressed" with Smith in his pro day workout earlier this week. And even though his shirtless 40-yard dash was something that wasn't pleasant to the eyes, the 49ers see a potential of drafting Smith at #10 if he was to be available.
At Mining the Gold Rush, I had looked at the right tackle position and how it would be approached with other potential tackles. Drafting a right tackle at such a high pick is an interesting approach. One of the readers of the site, SCOTT, had this interesting statistic about drafting a right tackle so early in the Draft.
"It would be nearly unprecedented for a team to use a Top-10 pick on a RIGHT Tackle. Only 8 starting RIGHT tackles in the NFL were even drafted in the first round. Of those, nearly all of them play RIGHT Tackle now because they either struggled at LEFT Tackle (Alex Barron, Levi Brown), played LEFT Tackle in the past (Vernon Carey, John Tait) moved to the RIGHT side due to injury (Marc Colombo), or were converted interior linemen (Damien Woody). The others (Gosder Cherilus and Jeff Otah) were drafted last season and seem to be "Future" LEFT Tackles for their respective franchises."
The 49ers are in a clear need to upgrade at the right tackle position. Jonas Jennings has been a failure at the position. Adam Snyder and Barry Sims just aren't cutting it. I doubt the team will use the free agent market to try to get a new tackle. There are rumors of the 49ers and Orlando Pace meeting up for talks, but that's not going to happen. The team said they have no interest in the left tackle.
For Smith, he adds a lot of great potential to the team. His size and his ability to stop the rushers is something the team has struggled with. However, should the 49ers draft a right tackle so early? Is he Smith the real deal? The 49ers seem to think so.
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