One scenario involves the 49ers getting lucky as one of the top draft picks falls into their laps. The other scenario involves trading back
The NFL Combine is right around the corner. The San Francisco 49ers are in a position to come away with a game-changer at pick No. 11. The draft is deep enough that the second and potentially even third-round pick could start in Year 1.
The depth lies at defensive line. The 49ers would be foolish to leave this class without multiple defenders in the trenches. They’d be wise to use one of their first two picks on the defensive line. To me, it’s hardly debatable where the Niners should allocate their draft resources. Replenish the defensive line and watch how quickly your defense returns to prominence.
We will begin breaking down draft prospects over the next week or so as the NFL Combine gets underway. It won’t sound like the echo chamber you read on social media. We’ll provide our own analysis, rank those players accordingly, and attempt to project the prospect based on their tape, not where everybody else ranks them.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah spoke about the Niners and what they should do at No. 11. Jeremiah started with a dream scenario for San Francisco:
Yeah, where they’re picking at 11, they’re going to be able to get a really good player. I’m curious, the one thing — we talked about him as one of the top players in the draft with Mason Graham. I’ll be curious to see how he goes through the spring. As I mentioned, I think his tape is so good, but I’m want sure he’s going to totally ace the spring part of it.
If you are looking for someone who I think would be a home run pick for him, what’s the dream scenario, to me it would be Mason Graham were to fall down to them where they could scoop him up and pick him up.
Graham is the consensus No. 1 defensive tackle looking at big boards. He’s projected to be drafted closer to fifth overall than lasting to the 11th pick. But it does bring up the question of whether a top defender falls, and whether the Niners will move up to draft them.
I do not fall into the groupthink that Graham is this generational player. That’s not to say Graham won’t turn out to be a high-quality starter. He will, but there are far too many stretches when he either doesn’t win, gets moved off his spot, or the lack of physical traits necessary — like arm length or sustained burst — show Graham’s limitations. He’s a first-round talent, just not a top 10 pick, in my opinion.
Jeremiah spoke about Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams as potential options:
Where they’re picking, we’ve talked about Walker from Georgia. That’s probably a good chance that he’s gone at that point in time. Williams is the other one. It’s kind of that same clump of players, that same group of players.
Walker bounced back and forth between edge rusher and off-ball linebacker this season. Any team taking Walker is hoping they can get a star two or three years down the line as he figures out how to play the position full-time. The athleticism is uncanny, but Walker might not be the impact player you want on Day 1.
There are no question marks about where Williams will play. He’s more of a run-stopping defensive lineman who kicks inside on obvious passing downs. Williams at No. 11 is a reach.
The final player Jeremiah mentioned was Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen. Jeremiah believes Nolen would be a great scheme fit in a potential trade down:
The player who is a great scheme fit for them, which I think would be more of a trade back than necessarily taking him right there at 11 would be Walter Nolen, who with their jet front and they like to play up the field. Kris Kocurek. They want to really get off the ball and penetrate and go, and he is really, really twitched up. Walter Nolen to me would be someone if you — maybe if you slid down a little bit just to get more value that would be a defensive tackle that I think would be a fun fit for that group.
Sure, it’d be ideal to trade down, accumulate picks, and draft a player who can make a difference. But it takes two to tango. Maybe if one of the quarterbacks falls and a team trades up, but Nolen is not worth risking.
I do not agree with some of the discussion or reservations about Nolen. He will be the first prospect I write about. For somebody who has a label of not being a finished product, Nolen wins an awful lot. Between his strength, quickness, length, athleticism, and overall havoc he creates, Nolen is the type of player you drop into the 49ers defense and wonder how he fell to No. 11 a couple of years from now.