The 49ers had an outstanding first round last April as it got two building blocks for the foundation of their future, but the rest of the picks didn’t show much at all.  Inside linebacker Patrick Willis was arguably the best player in the entire draft last season.  He played in 16 games (all starts) for the 49ers and he made 174 tackles, had 4 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and defensed 5 passes.  Willis is already one of the best players in the NFL so the sky is the limit for him.  The 49ers traded back into the 1st round to select OT Joe Staley last year and it proved to be a smart pick.  He played in 16 games (all starts) for the 49ers last season.  Staley will be one of the foundation pieces for the O-Line of the future for the Niners.  WR Jason Hill was the first of the third round picks for the 49ers and he didn’t do much.  He played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Niners and he caught 1 pass for 6 yards.  DE/DT Ray McDonald was the second of the 3rd round picks for the Niners last April.  He played in 9 games (0 starts) and he made 3 whole tackles.  LB/DE Jay Moore and DT/DE Joe Cohen both spent their rookie seasons’ on the Injured Reserve List after being drafted in the 4th round by the Niners.  Safety Dashon Gordon was the Niners’ other 4th round pick last season and he played in 10 games (0 starts) and he finished with 16 tackles and 2 passes defensed.  The 5th round pick of the Niners last season was CB Tarell Brown.  Brown played in 9 games (0 starts) last season and he made only 2 tackles.  RB Thomas Clayton was the last pick the 49ers made last season (6th round) and he spent his rookie season on the practice squad.

GRADE FOR THE 2007 SEASON:  B

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B+

The San Francisco 49ers have signed offensive guard Jeb Terry.  Terry has nice size at 6′5″, 311 pounds but he is nothing more than a backup.  He didn’t play at all last season and he has played in 30 games (1 start) in his three-year NFL career to date.

The 49ers have signed 27-year old WR Bryant Johnson to a 1-year contract.  Johnson played in 16 games with the Cardinals last season and he caught 46 passes for 528 yards (11.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has now played in 77 games in his NFL career and he has caught 210 passes for 2,675 yards (12.7 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  Adding Johnson and Isaac Bruce to the WR corps should help Alex Smith and the passing game next season.

The 49ers have signed 28-year old DE Justin Smith to a 6-year, $45 million dollar contract.  Smith played in all 16 games last season for the Bengals and he made 78 tackles, defensed 3 passes and he had 2 sacks.  Smith has now played in 111 games in his NFL career and he has made 470 tackles, has 43.5 sacks, defensed 21 passes, forced 7 fumbles and has 2 interceptions.  Don’t expect monster sack numbers from Smith but he’s an excellent defender against the run.  This was a solid move for the 49ers as Smith should improve the defense.

The 49ers have signed WR Isaac Bruce to a 2-year contract.  Bruce might be old (35) but he’s still got game left.  He played in 14 games for the Rams last season and he caught 55 passes for 733 yards (13.3 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  Bruce has now played in 197 games in his NFL career and he has caught 942 passes for 14,109 yards (15.0 avg) with 84 TD grabs.  Bruce will likely be the #1 WR for the Niners this season as he knows Mike Martz’ offense well from their days in St. Louis.