Bill Walsh had confidence in Trent Edwards

[major]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

[Brand J]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent TrINT Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

 

I fixed your typo for you. You can thank me later...

[PromoTheRobot]

Bill Walsh wasn't some web jamoke touting a player. The guy knew QB talent. That said, QB's have to be molded. It's easy to believe that bad coaching can waste potential.

 

Chan Gailey has the reputation of being an offensive wiz who can get the best out of limited talent. If Trent still possesses what Bill Walsh saw, if two years of Dick(less) and a concussion haven't completely ruined him, then I think Chan can turn him around.

 

PTR

[Bart]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

 

Everyone is entitled to a mistake!

[Koufax]

Bill Walsh wasn't some web jamoke touting a player. The guy knew QB talent. That said, QB's have to be molded. It's easy to believe that bad coaching can waste potential.

 

Chan Gailey has the reputation of being an offensive wiz who can get the best out of limited talent. If Trent still possesses what Bill Walsh saw, if two years of Dick(less) and a concussion haven't completely ruined him, then I think Chan can turn him around.

 

PTR

 

+1.

 

Dick and concussions create a big if, but I wholeheartedly believe he has the talent and brains to be successful in this league. Not sure if too much damage is done already, but I'm sure hoping not, and that Chan can work some magic.

[Peace Frog]

I can't believe Edwards hasn't been more successful than he has, considering all the talent he's been surrounded with.

[BigDaddy12]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

 

 

 

Bill Walsh also drafted Jim Druckenmiller

[mpl6876]

IMHO, Bill Walsh's opinions have to be respected. However, we have had ample opportunity to see Trent perform. I think it is safe to say his performance or lack of should by now trump anything that Bill Walsh had said.

[reddogblitz]

Bill Walsh also drafted Jim Druckenmiller

Bill Walsh wanted to draft Steve Fuller over Joe Montana but couldn't because Marv beat him to it.

 

What did Steve Fuller ever do in the NFL? Oh yeah, he was awarded a gold record and a platinum video award for the 1985 "Super Bowl Shuffle", for which he was the sixth of the ten solo singers. So I guess Bill was onto something here.

[Alphadawg7]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

 

He also drafted Jim Drunkenmiller to be the future of the 49ers who was a career 3rd stringer, called Rick Mirer the next Joe Montana, and traded up to get JJ Stokes while calling him the next Jerry Rice...along with dozens of other complete miffs...

 

This guy has been wrong a lot, just like all the greats. He was one of the best, but he wasnt even right half the time...no one is. People need to calm down about his "endorsement" on Trent when he was nearing the end of his life many years removed from football.

[Steely Dan]

Bill Walsh wasn't some web jamoke touting a player. The guy knew QB talent. That said, QB's have to be molded. It's easy to believe that bad coaching can waste potential.

 

Chan Gailey has the reputation of being an offensive wiz who can get the best out of limited talent. If Trent still possesses what Bill Walsh saw, if two years of Dick(less) and a concussion haven't completely ruined him, then I think Chan can turn him around.

 

PTR

 

What he said.

[Thurman#1]

There is plenty of Edwards bashing that goes on daily on this board. However, I go back to Bill Walsh. Walsh drafted some of the greatest players this league has ever known and he endorsed our very own Trent Edwards. In the end, I feel Bill Walsh will be right once again. Go Edwards and Go BILLS!

 

 

 

Just for the hell of it, thinking that it would help dispel the "Bill Walsh is perfect in every way" feeling that is so prevalent among Trentites, I went back and looked at his first two drafts with the 49ers. What I found isn't surprising.

 

1979

 

#29 2nd (his first ever) James Owens WR

#82 3rd Joe Montana QB

#111 5th Tom Seabron LB

#138 6th Ruben Vaughan DT

#166 7th Phil Francis RB

#221 9th Steve Hamilton DT

#249 10th Dwight Clark WR

#252 10th Howard Ballage DB

#276 11th Billy McBride DB

 

1980

 

#13 1st Earl Cooper RB

#20 1st Jim Stuckey DT

#39 2nd Keena Turner LB

#65 3rd Jim Miller P

#77 3rd Craig Puki LB

#84 4th Ricky Churchman DB

#98 4th David Hodge LB

#112 5th Kenneth Times DT

#139 6th Herb Williams DB

#210 8th Bobby Leopold LB

#237 9th Dan Hartwig QB

 

For those who don't remember, the draft was 12 rounds back then.

 

What I found was not surprising. A few hits and lots of misses, including a QB who couldn't even make the roster, Dan Hartwig. Walsh was a terrific coach, but was far from perfect in personnel choices. In each draft, his first choice was a dud, WR James Owens and RB Earl Cooper.

 

Walsh was not a personnel God. Don't pretend that he was.

[Thurman#1]

Bill Walsh also drafted Jim Druckenmiller

 

 

That's a rather persistent legend here. Don't know why, as it's completely false.

 

Walsh was asked by the 49ers to evaluate the QB class that year. He recommended that the 49ers pick Jake Plummer. The 49ers ignored him and picked Druckenmiller instead.

 

http://sportsthenandnow.com/2010/03/07/san...st-round-picks/

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...05/strong.arms/

[BuffFromBuffalo]

Bill Walsh also drafted Jim Druckenmiller

And compared him to Joe Montana

[Steely Dan]

And compared him to Joe Montana

 

Did you read the post above yours?

[Mister Defense]

That's a rather persistent legend here. Don't know why, as it's completely false.

 

Walsh was asked by the 49ers to evaluate the QB class that year. He recommended that the 49ers pick Jake Plummer. The 49ers ignored him and picked Druckenmiller instead.

 

http://sportsthenandnow.com/2010/03/07/san...st-round-picks/

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...05/strong.arms/

 

Thanks. This great 2007 Sports Illustrated article states clearly that Walsh wanted Plummer and also has excellent analysis of Jamrcus Russel that, if accepted by the Raiders, could have saved them millions of dollars and avery high draft pick:

 

"Beware of the big arm

Russell's cannon doesn't guarantee he'll be great QB"

 

It was written April 7. It makes you realize how ridiculous some aspects of those pro days are, that the feats quarterbacks are asked to perform are almost comical, such as "'the butt throw' -- a pass delivered while sitting at the opponent's 40-yard-line...through the uprights of the goalpost."

 

Silver pulls no punches in the article, which is pretty rare today. He compares Russel to Druckenmeyer, someone who wowed them at the pro day with a huge arm. He makes this comparison to scouts and they discount it. Funny how this writer was able to see something that most of the NFL scouts could not.

[Pondslider]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/2002dra...2-04-18-qbs.htm

 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Bill Walsh is sitting in the back of a players meeting room, clicker in hand. Before him is a stack of tapes of games played last season by the two top-rated quarterbacks in this weekend's NFL draft, Fresno State's David Carr and Oregon's Joey Harrington.

 

The goal is to examine the difficulty of choosing a quarterback in the draft, even for this Hall of Fame guru who now is a San Francisco 49ers executive. In this case, Walsh likes Carr and Harrington, although he tends to rave more about Harrington than Carr, who will be taken No. 1 overall by the expansion Houston Texans.

 

"From what I've seen, these guys are good," Walsh says. "But I'd give them in the mid-range of outstanding college quarterbacks. There isn't anything that really stands out, other than they're good athletes: good feet, well coached, accurate balls, quick delivery. It's a good package. They'll both be very, very successful."

 

***

Even Walsh, who acquired Joe Montana and Steve Young for the 49ers, needed to be pushed into selecting Montana in the third round in 1979. Walsh nearly chose Steve Dils.

 

Carr and Harrington are considered franchise quarterbacks. But similar to 1998, when the Indianapolis Colts did not decide to pick Peyton Manning rather than Ryan Leaf until a few nights before the draft, the league is somewhat divided about them.

 

Some worry Carr's low delivery will result in his passes getting deflected. Others say Harrington might be a bit too cocky. And now that Harrington may slip out of the top-five selections — which Walsh thinks would be a huge mistake — some are comparing the situation to others in which future stars fell in the first round.

***

Asked what he is looking for as he stops, starts and rewinds the tapes, Walsh says, "Quickness. His feet. How quick his feet are. How quick his delivery is. How much agility he has. Feet, agility, quickness, then instincts."

 

Of the two before him, Walsh says, "The Texans must really had done their homework, whatever it was. And came to that conclusion. But I'm sure they spent all kinds of time. And I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision between (Carr) and Harrington. It wasn't, 'So, OK, there's only one quarterback.' There were two."

 

At one point, Walsh says of Carr, "He's well coached. He finds a second receiver real quick. Very smooth."

 

And of Harrington: "Oh, yeah, look at that. See, these are really good feet. Really nice, mechanically sound, well coached. It's like Montana in his movement."

 

***

 

"Take Marino," Walsh says in summation of Carr and Harrington. "He had a quicker delivery than both. A sharper pass. But he wasn't nearly as quick on his feet. And Joe Montana would have won games on his sheer instinctive, inherent ability — but without the arm that these guys may have. But, of course, Joe timed everything perfectly. Steve Young was a better athlete than both of them but wasn't as disciplined as a player until later in his career."

 

Huh!

[ieatcrayonz]

Walsh and Marv were buds from back in the day.

 

Walsh was a notorious practical joker.

 

Walsh told Marv to draft a particular Glove Wearing Mary from Los Gatos.

 

Said Glove Wearing Mary from Los Gatos has spent 3 years stinking up the joint and blaming everyone else.

 

You do the math.

[Aplusfool]

Regardless who Bill wanted, He stilled called Druckenmiller a can't miss prospect and compared him to Bledsoe at the time.

 

"He has good size, about 6-5, 235, and a strong arm. He has such great potential and athletic ability, a la Drew Bledsoe, that he is a can't-miss"

 

"He is a take-charge type of guy you want to be your leader at quarterback. In terms of throwing and leadership ability, he has been compared to Jim Kelly, who is one of the most dynamic quarterbacks ever to play the game."

 

He also liked Pat Barnes

 

"Another can't-miss guy with superb skills and instincts. He is about 6-3, 212 and his arm is very good. Not as strong as Druckenmiller, but that is sometimes overrated by those evaluating players for the NFL. "

 

http://www.sportsxchange.com/DS97/WALSH/walsh4.htm

 

 

If you read the clip about Druckenmiller, it kinda reads like his endorsement of Edwards.

[Rockinon]

IMHO, Bill Walsh's opinions have to be respected. However, we have had ample opportunity to see Trent perform. I think it is safe to say his performance or lack of should by now trump anything that Bill Walsh had said.

Darth???