The 49ers have been waiting all offseason to hear from veteran defensive end Justin Smith about his plans for playing in the 2015 season and they insisted in recent days and weeks that the uncertainty would not play a big role in their own plans for the draft.
Then they wound up trading down two spots before selecting defensive end Arik Armstead, which predictably led to questions for General Manager Trent Baalke about whether Smith’s situation played any role in their decision.
“We gave Justin liberty and I said this to many of you the last time we met,” Baalke said. “We gave Justin liberty to make his own decision on his time frame. So we went into the draft not thinking about what decision Justin’s going to make or not going to make. We just went in to find the best football player, the best system fit we could at pick 15. It just so happened we traded back and its pick 17.”
In some instances, it would strain believability to say there was no relation between taking a defensive end while another one considers retirement but Armstead isn’t the most typical prospect. The 6-foot-7, 290-pounder was a basketball player before making the full-time move to football and both Baalke and coach Jim Tomsula talked about the need for him to continue to develop his skills after making an early jump to the NFL.
A perfect world would see him doing that behind a pair of veterans in Smith and Darnell Dockett before moving into a larger role come 2016, but it remains to be seen if the 49ers reside in such a utopia.