S.F. brings in projects and a punter
In the fourth round Saturday, the 49ers selected a tight end who was mostly a quarterback at Oklahoma and an injured wide receiver who might have played more baseball than football at Georgia Tech.
Those projects were followed by the fifth-round selection of a punter, a surprise pick given the presence of an All-Pro at that position on the 49ers’ roster.
Odd? Perhaps, but general manager Trent Baalke met the media after making his last pick, and his message was clear: Mission accomplished.
The 49ers, who finished 8-8 last season, made 10 picks over the three-day event and it appears they didn’t draft a player who will start as a rookie. Baalke insisted that they met their pre-draft goal to collect fast, durable, industrialsize players free of character concerns.
“We felt like we addressed all of that,” Baalke said. “And they’re good guys.”
The first man elected Saturday was Oklahoma’s Blake Bell (6-foot-6, 252 pounds), who was a five-star high school quarterback and played the position for his first three college seasons before shifting to tight end.
Bell’s huge frame allowed him to rush for 24 touchdowns in short-yardage situations in his first two seasons at Oklahoma. His nickname: the Belldozer. In his eight starts at quarterback, all in 2013, Bell completed 140 of 233 passes for 1,648 yards and 12 touchdowns with six interceptions.
Baalke said Bell can be the emergency quarterback, but the 49ers drafted him to play tight end. In 2014, Bell had 16 catches for 214 yards.
“I’m feeling really comfortable,” said Bell, who played wide receiver for one year in high school. “It became a lot easier as the season went on. That’s what was nice. It’s just repetition. When you haven’t done something that long, it’s all about just getting reps and getting used to the switch.”
Another fourth-round pick, Georgia Tech wide receiver DeAndre Smelter (6-2, 226) possesses the size Baalke was seeking, but he also tore an anterior cruciate ligament in November and has scant football experience.
A 14th-round pick of the Minnesota Twins in 2010, Smelter was a pitcher who played only baseball in his first two college seasons. A series of arm issues led him back to football, which he hadn’t played since his junior year in high school.
In Georgia Tech’s run-heavy, triple-option offense, Smelter had 35 catches for 717 yards and seven touchdowns last season before missing the final two games. In 2013, he had 21 catches for 345 yards and four scores.
Smelter pointed to his improved production as evidence of his potential.
He referred to 2013 as “kind of like a warm-up year. In 2014, I had a full year under my belt to actually train and work at it. I think that production jump shows that I have a lot more room to grow.”
Despite employing threetime Pro Bowler Andy Lee, the 49ers selected Clemson punter Bradley Pinion in the fifth round.
Lee has ranked among the NFL’s top five in punting average for the past five seasons and is ranked fifth all-time (46.2 yards). Lee, who turns 33 in August, signed a six-year, $20.5 million contract extension in 2012 and is scheduled to earn $2.05 million in base salary this season.
“They told me it’s going to be an open competition,” Pinion said. “Nothing is given to anybody. I’m confident in my ability, but Andy has been in the league for a long time. He’s a great punter … but they said it’s an open competition and let the best person win.”
Said Baalke: “It’s not Bradley’s job. It’s Andy’s job. It’s Brad’s job to come in and win that job.”