2014 NFL draft thread (no longer too early)

I don't think you and I are far apart on this. I liked your post and I don't disagree with much of anything you wrote. The point I made (and this is not directed at you, but just in general) was not that the 49ers should cut Kaepernick. That would, of course, be dumb. A good QB on a first contract is the most valuable asset you can have in the NFL right now. My point was to have a backup plan for when Kaepernick's contract runs out. The cost, as you correctly pointed out, would be high. (one first round pick). But I said in my original post if the guy who the 49ers took at pick 30 (Jimmie Ward) can help you win now, then take him. But if he is a project, or someone who is going to need a couple of years to contribute, then I would have rolled the dice. Most of what I've seen says he will play a little in the nickel and then maybe be a starting safety in a few years. Seattle, with pick 32, traded down, as they have done more than anyone in the last few years. It's worked out pretty well for them. Pick 30 (or 32) is often not a guy who is going to make a big impact right away.

Whether I'm right or not on Kaepernick, it is interesting to me to see teams go young at QB in part to reap the benefit of spending that money elsewhere. Seattle had (going from memory, I don't remember which statistical ranking this was) the #1 defense in football two years running. The last team to do that was the 1985-1986 Chicago Bears. Having Russell Wilson (or Colin Kaepernick, or Teddy Bridgewater) at $900,000 a year can get you that.

 

USC's Morgan Breslin could have hit the jackpot by not getting drafted -- he bought a "loss of value" insurance policy a couple years ago, when he was a hot prospect, and now stands to make a million bucks after two injury-plagued seasons left him on the outside.

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/niners-rookie-morgan-breslin-could-be-first-college-football-player-to-collect-big-on-insurance-after-slipping-out-of-nfl-draft--182229439-nfl.html

Story says Marquise Lee took out a policy with a maximum payout of $10 million, and he stands to make $4 million if he can prove he dropped because of a sprained knee that caused him to miss three games. (Sounds unlikely.)