Aldon Smith, Come on Down!

My first reaction...who!? My second reaction......who!? 


The 49ers go defensive, despite my man crush Jake Locker sitting there for the taking. From what the "experts" are saying, Aldon Smith appears to be one of those under the radar talents, similar to Amobi Okoye, the Houston Texans draft pick of a few years back. 


There seems to be minimal doubt in the minds of "experts" that Smith is a top ten type of talent at defensive end. The primary reasons he was projected to go later in the first round than 7 to San Francisco are three fold:




1- Smith Is Only 20 years old


He declared for the NFL Draft after only two years at the collegiate level, which means that he is still raw from a technical standpoint.


2- There is very little game film on him


Smith made a lot of noise his first year in college, recording 11.5 sacks. He played his second year however with a broken leg, that forced him to miss three games and hindered his effectiveness.  This means that when coaches breakdown Smith's game, they really only have 10-15 quality games to look at, as opposed to say 30-40 for many of the Seniors and Juniors in the draft.


3- It us unknown wether he can transition to OLB


Aldon's most valuable skill is getting to the quarterback, which he excelled at in college. The primary concern is wether he will be able to get to the quarterback from the standing OLB position, and how well he will learn rush defense and pass coverage.