DeSean Jackson and the 2008 Draft

The NFL draft is where great teams are made and bad teams fail. The 2008 NFL draft was when my favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, failed and I saw it all happen live.

The NFL draft is my favorite time of the year. I take days off from work to watch every second of it and spend months going over mock drafts, hearing what the experts have to say, going over every possible trade that makes sense (so many teams make trades that do not make sense) and creating my very own mock drafts. It's like Christmas. Every team gets some presents and some get way better presents than others. Leading up to the 2008 draft I had a wish list of players I hoped the 49ers would be able to draft.

After the 2007 season the biggest need the 49ers had was an explosive, play-making wide receiver. Their best receiver was a tight end named Vernon Davis. Davis is still on the team and is one of the best tight ends in the league, but when a tight end is your best offensive weapon, you need help. The player I was coveting was DeSean Jackson, a wide receiver from Cal. He had blazing speed, and he electrified the field whenever he had the ball in his hands, either as a receiver or a kick returner. My dream draft pick was DeSean.

The Niners weren't picking until 29th, at the end of the first round, and I assumed he would be long gone before they could nab him. I expected him to go right in the middle of the first round, with many receiver-needy teams picking ahead of the 49ers and him being the best receiver in the draft (according to me). I was watching each pick with my best friend, Tony, who is a big-time Cal and Raiders fan. The Raiders were picking fourth overall, and DeSean was not good enough to go so high, so Tony hoped he stayed in the Bay Area and was selected by the Niners. As pick by pick went by, I expected to hear "DeSean Jackson, wide receiver from California" every time Roger Goodell stepped up to the podium to announce a team's pick.

Pick 20 goes by and I start to get a faint glimmer of hope that he will fall to pick 29 and be a 49er. Pick 26 is made and it's an offensive lineman. Pick 27 is made and it's a corner. Pick 28 comes and I swear I hold my breath for the entire 15 minutes before it's announced that the Seahawks select a defensive end. I start jumping up and down with excitement. The Niners are going to select DeSean Jackson!

I was visualizing DeSean wearing a 49ers jersey, breaking a punt return 80 yards for a touchdown as fans scream. I saw him getting past a corner and catching the ball in the end zone. It was going to be magnificent. Even Tony was excited and gave me a hug. As Goodell approaches the podium, I grin with anticipation. He opens the card and reads "Kentwan Balmer, defensive tackle, North Carolina."

The world crashes around me. I feel like I am going to throw up. I get dizzy and keep thinking it's a joke. My Raider-fan friend laughs as a Raider fan should when the Niners do something horrifically stupid. Everything I had read and studied suggested Kentwan Balmer should be a second- or third-round pick. He wasn't even a player at a position of great need. I was devastated.

My Raider-fan friend, being the good friend he truly was, suggested maybe the Niners would be able to draft DeSean in the second round. The Niners were picking eighth in that round and I just didn't believe it was possible. The first round ends and DeSean is still on the board. Oddly enough, not a single wide receiver has been picked in the first round. I couldn't remember the last time that happened. There was no way he'd last to the eighth pick. No way, no how.

Pick by pick continued to go by. Three wide receivers were selected before the Niners got to pick, and none were DeSean. I got excited again as the Seahawks picked a tight end with DeSean still on the board. Is this really possible? Are the Niners going to get the player I covet the most in the second round? How awesome is that? A dream scenario is unfolding. Hallelujah! This is going to be an epic draft. I can't believe it. Then, as if the world went dark and life no longer existed, the name Chilo Rachal is called. A guard from USC. This time my Raider-fan friend didn't laugh. He was at a loss for words and even emotion. He was in as big a state of shock as I was.

The rest of the draft is a blur. The Eagles drafted DeSean Jackson a few picks after the Niners passed on him. The Niners picked a few players that made little to no impact. DeSean was a playmaker the second he stepped on the field for the Eagles. He is flashy and he scores. He beats the New York Giants by picking up a punted ball no one thought he should have picked up and returns it to the house as time expires and wins the game. Amazing talent.

The 49ers would not have another winning season until 2011, when Jim Harbaugh was named head coach. None of the players from that draft remained on the team long enough to be coached by Jim. Even now the team lacks a player with DeSean's explosiveness, and they are still seeking it.

With so many draft choices and a loaded roster with few needs, this should be the year we finally get a receiver that DeSean was supposed to be. Christmas is less than a month away for me and I hope to get lots and lots of great presents instead of several lumps of coal. Hope springs eternal.

Daniel Geary, exuberant 49ers fan

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