Vance McDonald Traded to Steelers

Pattersonca65 · Post #1 » by **Pattersonca65** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:41 pm

Stone Hands MCDonald traded to Steelers for a 4th round pick. Not much of a loss. He was a drive killer

wco81 · Post #2 » by **wco81** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:31 pm

They also sent a fifth rounder to Pittsburgh.

There's a good chance there won't be much distance between their fourth and the 49ers fifth round pick.

There better be conditional things like if McDonald gets a certain amount of snaps or catches, the pick they send to the 49ers can be upgraded.

I guess Kyle has better plans for attacking the middle of the field than with a traditional TE.

Bald Bull · Post #3 » by **Bald Bull** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:19 pm

great news, it shouldn't be too hard for Kittle to replace pan hands's productivity.

Read on Twitter

Pattersonca65 · Post #4 » by **Pattersonca65** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:20 pm

wco81 wrote:They also sent a fifth rounder to Pittsburgh.

There's a good chance there won't be much distance between their fourth and the 49ers fifth round pick.

There better be conditional things like if McDonald gets a certain amount of snaps or catches, the pick they send to the 49ers can be upgraded.

I guess Kyle has better plans for attacking the middle of the field than with a traditional TE.

I am ok if they got very little for him. Great athleticism but unreliable catching passes and a drive killer. He also has shown he can't stay healthy for a full season

Bald Bull · Post #5 » by **Bald Bull** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:33 pm

Read on Twitter

Bingo_AlphaMan · Post #6 » by **Bingo_AlphaMan** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:57 pm

Pattersonca65 wrote:Stone Hands MCDonald traded to Steelers for a 4th round pick. Not much of a loss. He was a drive killer

Good trade for both parties. He fits the Steelers scheme to a T.

Post #7 » by **CalamityX12** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 8:18 pm

There goes another 2nd rd pick... lol...

he simply never got it going... blocking was shaping up but unfortunately thats it....

TEs are becoming close to a dime a dozen in these drafts... we'll find a long term prospect if Kittle hasn't solidify that spot yet.

ChrisPozz · Post #8 » by **ChrisPozz** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 6:51 pm

http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/follow-money-tracing-mcdonalds-extension-and-trades

The McDonald trade ties in with the 49ers’ draft-day deal with the Denver Broncos. The 49ers are back in the fourth round of the 2018 draft after sending their pick to the Broncos. Here’s how the two trades fit together:

49ERS RECEIVE
--Running back Kapri Bibbs (from Denver)
--Wide receiver Trent Taylor (in trade with Denver for 2017 fifth-round pick)
--2018 fourth-round pick (from Pittsburgh)

49ERS GIVE UP
--TE Vance McDonald (to Pittsburgh)
--2018 fourth-round pick (to Denver)
--2018 fifth-round pick (to Pittsburgh)

Bingo_AlphaMan · Post #9 » by **Bingo_AlphaMan** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:41 pm

ChrisPozz wrote:http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/follow-money-tracing-mcdonalds-extension-and-trades

The McDonald trade ties in with the 49ers’ draft-day deal with the Denver Broncos. The 49ers are back in the fourth round of the 2018 draft after sending their pick to the Broncos. Here’s how the two trades fit together:

49ERS RECEIVE
--Running back Kapri Bibbs (from Denver)
--Wide receiver Trent Taylor (in trade with Denver for 2017 fifth-round pick)
--2018 fourth-round pick (from Pittsburgh)

49ERS GIVE UP
--TE Vance McDonald (to Pittsburgh)
--2018 fourth-round pick (to Denver)
--2018 fifth-round pick (to Pittsburgh)

I can't believe we gave that much for Bibbs. Urgh!!

NinerSickness · Post #10 » by **NinerSickness** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 4:11 am

John Lynch: Let's draft mediocre players and trade away the good players for picks to use on bad players! 8-)

Dodub · Post #11 » by **Dodub** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 2:04 pm

NinerSickness wrote:John Lynch: Let's draft mediocre players and trade away the good players for picks to use on bad players!

Vance McDonald is still a mediocre player, one highlight play doesn’t change that. Kittle is superior.

More yards, more receptions and essential at moving the sticks.

NinerSickness · Post #12 » by **NinerSickness** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 4:37 pm

Dodub wrote:
NinerSickness wrote:John Lynch: Let's draft mediocre players and trade away the good players for picks to use on bad players!

Vance McDonald is still a mediocre player, one highlight play doesn’t change that. Kittle is superior.

More yards, more receptions and essential at moving the sticks.

I never trashed Kittle. This has nothing to do with him. But Vance is clearly a more valuable asset than Kentavius Street, and Lynch is clearly an amateur.

And Vance has 200 yards in 3 games (2 starts) and a TD. He made several clutch catches the last couple of weeks. He's also the best blocking TE in the NFL (by a decent margin). That's not mediocre.

CrimsonCrew · Post #13 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 5:46 pm

Bingo_AlphaMan wrote:
ChrisPozz wrote:http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/follow-money-tracing-mcdonalds-extension-and-trades

The McDonald trade ties in with the 49ers’ draft-day deal with the Denver Broncos. The 49ers are back in the fourth round of the 2018 draft after sending their pick to the Broncos. Here’s how the two trades fit together:

49ERS RECEIVE
--Running back Kapri Bibbs (from Denver)
--Wide receiver Trent Taylor (in trade with Denver for 2017 fifth-round pick)
--2018 fourth-round pick (from Pittsburgh)

49ERS GIVE UP
--TE Vance McDonald (to Pittsburgh)
--2018 fourth-round pick (to Denver)
--2018 fifth-round pick (to Pittsburgh)

I can't believe we gave that much for Bibbs. Urgh!!

I said this a couple weeks ago, but it bears repeating. I hated - HATED - the Bibbs trade. That said, we basically traded McDonald for Bibbs. McDonald has always had talent, but he's got major injury problems and is very inconsistent. His hands are subpar. Kittle has struggled in that area as well, but on balance, I'd take Kittle without hesitation. Kittle is probably the better blocker, too.

If you want to be upset about something, be upset that we took McDonald eight spots before Kelce went to KC.

CrimsonCrew · Post #14 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 5:48 pm

NinerSickness wrote:
Dodub wrote:
NinerSickness wrote:John Lynch: Let's draft mediocre players and trade away the good players for picks to use on bad players!

Vance McDonald is still a mediocre player, one highlight play doesn’t change that. Kittle is superior.

More yards, more receptions and essential at moving the sticks.

I never trashed Kittle. This has nothing to do with him. But Vance is clearly a more valuable asset than Kentavius Street, and Lynch is clearly an amateur.

And Vance has 200 yards in 3 games (2 starts) and a TD. He made several clutch catches the last couple of weeks. He's also the best blocking TE in the NFL (by a decent margin). That's not mediocre.

Vance McDonald is the best blocking TE in the NFL? Huh? I may need to revisit the tape, but that would be a huge shock to me. Even if we're not considering guys who are primarily blockers and are just looking at the receiver-first types.

NinerSickness · Post #15 » by **NinerSickness** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 7:17 pm

CrimsonCrew wrote:Vance McDonald is the best blocking TE in the NFL? Huh? I may need to revisit the tape, but that would be a huge shock to me. Even if we're not considering guys who are primarily blockers and are just looking at the receiver-first types.

There may be 2nd & 3rd-string TEs who can block better than Vance or converted OL, but Vance is by far the best blocking TE in the NFL among the starters & TEs who have any significant amount of receptions.

ChrisPozz · Post #16 » by **ChrisPozz** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 8:16 pm

CrimsonCrew wrote:
NinerSickness wrote:
Dodub wrote:
Vance McDonald is still a mediocre player, one highlight play doesn’t change that. Kittle is superior.

More yards, more receptions and essential at moving the sticks.

I never trashed Kittle. This has nothing to do with him. But Vance is clearly a more valuable asset than Kentavius Street, and Lynch is clearly an amateur.

And Vance has 200 yards in 3 games (2 starts) and a TD. He made several clutch catches the last couple of weeks. He's also the best blocking TE in the NFL (by a decent margin). That's not mediocre.

Vance McDonald is the best blocking TE in the NFL? Huh? I may need to revisit the tape, but that would be a huge shock to me. Even if we're not considering guys who are primarily blockers and are just looking at the receiver-first types.

Let's not distort some things here.

Vance has been asked to run block 8 times in 108 snaps this season. Eight. I haven't seen accurate pass blocking stats that have been updated yet to use those. He's only averaged 36 snaps a game this season so far.

Someone can use actual starts if they want but I'll use snap counts. Here are the players who've played more than him this season that I'm comfortable saying are better blockers than he is based on my own eye and a compilation of multiple sourced metrics: Rob Gronkowski, Jack Doyle, Trey Burton (this shocks me because he was not built to block and wasn't projected to be anything as a blocker), Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Virgil Green, C.J. Uzomah, and Luke Willson. All have played more than him this season.

Jesse James, his teammate, is another that has more snaps than him and has comfortably graded out better than him, too. To be fair to James and the situation, however, I know for a fact the Steelers have tried to shy away from James as a blocker so I won't lump him into the comfortable category but he's another that has a clean sweep across multiple scales.

Dwayne Allen is another I'd comfortably put ahead of him but is the only one I named that hasn't played more than McDonald this season. He's 9 snaps behind McDonald.

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I'm not sure where the elite tag ever came from? The most kind evaluation I've seen from him as an NFL player had words like "functional" and "physical" attached to it but I have yet to see any metric, or anything with my own two eyes, to suggest he's comfortably ahead of a ton of guys? Certainly not ahead of anyone "by a decent margin" either as far as I'm concerned. And I have a hard time believing there's too many fans out there who have studied TEs blocking the past year-and-a-half to be making THAT big of a claim either.

To each their own. If he emerges as a consistent threat in that passing game AND is asked to actually block more often than he has been then maybe I'll come back to this and look into it again. Right now 1 good or more receiving game and another decent receiving game in back-to-back weeks isn't enough of a sample size for me to want to go there and start debating what little he's shown vs. the top RECEIVING options at TE.

----------

None of this is me diving into any McDonald vs. Shanahan/Lynch pick up or into a McDonald vs. Street debate either. I can dive back into my thoughts on Street as a prospect and how I feel about Shanahan/Lynch's abilities to add to a roster and all that if someone wants me to but I'll save that rant until I'm asked about it.

wco81 · Post #17 » by **wco81** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 10:15 pm

What happened to Streets?

NinerSickness · Post #18 » by **NinerSickness** » Mon Oct 1, 2018 11:44 pm

ChrisPozz wrote:
CrimsonCrew wrote:
NinerSickness wrote:
I never trashed Kittle. This has nothing to do with him. But Vance is clearly a more valuable asset than Kentavius Street, and Lynch is clearly an amateur.

And Vance has 200 yards in 3 games (2 starts) and a TD. He made several clutch catches the last couple of weeks. He's also the best blocking TE in the NFL (by a decent margin). That's not mediocre.

Vance McDonald is the best blocking TE in the NFL? Huh? I may need to revisit the tape, but that would be a huge shock to me. Even if we're not considering guys who are primarily blockers and are just looking at the receiver-first types.

Let's not distort some things here.

Vance has been asked to run block 8 times in 108 snaps this season. Eight. I haven't seen accurate pass blocking stats that have been updated yet to use those. He's only averaged 36 snaps a game this season so far.

Someone can use actual starts if they want but I'll use snap counts. Here are the players who've played more than him this season that I'm comfortable saying are better blockers than he is based on my own eye and a compilation of multiple sourced metrics: Rob Gronkowski, Jack Doyle, Trey Burton (this shocks me because he was not built to block and wasn't projected to be anything as a blocker), Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Virgil Green, C.J. Uzomah, and Luke Willson. All have played more than him this season.

Jesse James, his teammate, is another that has more snaps than him and has comfortably graded out better than him, too. To be fair to James and the situation, however, I know for a fact the Steelers have tried to shy away from James as a blocker so I won't lump him into the comfortable category but he's another that has a clean sweep across multiple scales.

Dwayne Allen is another I'd comfortably put ahead of him but is the only one I named that hasn't played more than McDonald this season. He's 9 snaps behind McDonald.

-------

I'm not sure where the elite tag ever came from? The most kind evaluation I've seen from him as an NFL player had words like "functional" and "physical" attached to it but I have yet to see any metric, or anything with my own two eyes, to suggest he's comfortably ahead of a ton of guys? Certainly not ahead of anyone "by a decent margin" either as far as I'm concerned. And I have a hard time believing there's too many fans out there who have studied TEs blocking the past year-and-a-half to be making THAT big of a claim either.

To each their own. If he emerges as a consistent threat in that passing game AND is asked to actually block more often than he has been then maybe I'll come back to this and look into it again. Right now 1 good or more receiving game and another decent receiving game in back-to-back weeks isn't enough of a sample size for me to want to go there and start debating what little he's shown vs. the top RECEIVING options at TE.

----------

None of this is me diving into any McDonald vs. Shanahan/Lynch pick up or into a McDonald vs. Street debate either. I can dive back into my thoughts on Street as a prospect and how I feel about Shanahan/Lynch's abilities to add to a roster and all that if someone wants me to but I'll save that rant until I'm asked about it.

The number of times he's been used as a run blocker is a reflection of his role in the offense, not how good of a run blocker he is. And when Vance run blocks, the dude is like an OL. At least he was when he was in SF.

I would be very surprised to see any of the TEs you mentioned block (both run & pass) like Vance does. JMO; maybe I'm wrong...

CrimsonCrew · Post #19 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Tue Oct 2, 2018 5:15 am

wco81 wrote:What happened to Streets?

He;s on IR.

Pattersonca65 · Post #20 » by **Pattersonca65** » Tue Oct 2, 2018 3:44 pm

Stone hands McDonald had years to get it together in SF and never did. I can't blame the FO for getting rid of him. When he wasn't dropping passes he was nursing injuries in the training room. Could never make it through a season. Based on the McDonald, Kittle has a couple of more years to see what he can become.