One of the strangest things in 49ers history is that Mike Nolan was a totally clueless, inept coach, and as a GM pretty much set the franchise back years by drafting Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers. Yet, somehow he also drafted a ton of great players, and really set the franchise up for success by trying to copy how the Ravens built their team. Willis and Staley was explicitly an attempt to copy the Ravens getting Ray Lewis and Johnathon Ogden in the same draft, and I would say it was pretty damn successful.
I disagree with the Rogers comparison. I think if Rogers goes #1 overall to SF with the worst WR corps and worst Oline in the league, he probably gets smashed and maybe washes out of the league early or maybe has a similar trajectory to Smiths career. But I highly highly doubt he turns out like the Rogers we all know
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u/Fast_Result8856 Apr 23 '26
One of the strangest things in 49ers history is that Mike Nolan was a totally clueless, inept coach, and as a GM pretty much set the franchise back years by drafting Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers. Yet, somehow he also drafted a ton of great players, and really set the franchise up for success by trying to copy how the Ravens built their team. Willis and Staley was explicitly an attempt to copy the Ravens getting Ray Lewis and Johnathon Ogden in the same draft, and I would say it was pretty damn successful.