49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh took the job in 2011 after a successful stint at Stanford. And he seems to have a soft spot for the guys who helped him be successful in his prior gig.
Which could put the 49ers in prime position to take tight end Coby Fleener late in round one of the 2012 draft.
“Coby Fleener won us games,” Harbaugh said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “I probably tend to be -- I mean, I love these guys. Maybe I am the over-evaluator. My point was it probably takes us some checks and balances with those guys that I know so well.”
Harbaugh acknowledged that, in his first draft with the 49ers, an effort was made to land former Stanford running back Owen Marecic, who went to the Browns in round four.
“We did everything we could to get him here and we came up short on that one,” Harbaugh said. “I texted him and said we tried. It didn’t happen. That was one that we didn’t get that is a 49er kind of guy.”
Though the 49ers have Vernon Davis, Harbaugh likes using multiple tight ends. And teams like the Patriots have shown that having two tight ends running pass patterns can be very effective.
“The Jimmy Grahams, the Gronkowskis of the world have really done our class of tight ends a favor this year,” Fleener said. “I can’t say enough about the guys that have already played, and I hope to one day go play just like that.”
With not many tight ends in the pool and teams fascinated with the prospect of having their own large, lanky, and fast football vacuum, Harbaugh will have to worry about getting leap-frogged by a team that sits below the 49ers, if Harbaugh hopes to add Fleener to the roster.