The Niners hope the draft doesn’t play out this way

We are exactly one week away from the NFL Draft. The San Francisco 49ers have their fare share of needs. I said yesterday that there are five big needs the team needs to address in the draft, or at some point before the season starts. Because of the amount of holes on the roster, the 49ers could trade back and still select a position of need. The problem becomes value. Here are three scenarios that the team hopes they don’t run into.

Yay, trade back!

The idea of trading back is smart from a team building standpoint. Accumulate extra picks and give yourself a better chance to hit on players. Let’s say the 49ers trade down and get an extra first round pick. A scenario where the team trades down and none of the best pass rushers are available is one that they likely want to avoid. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you are now reaching for talent, when you are currently in a position to selection premium players.

You go from having all the pool of players available to now either reaching for a pass rusher, or staring at the fact that the best player available might be an offensive lineman. You don’t want to miss out on one of the top pass rushers.

Trading back into the 1st round for a wide receiver

This is a very deep wide receiver class. D.K. Metcalf has the highest ceiling, but the majority of the wide receivers are lumped together talent wise. While plenty offer various skillsets, this class doesn’t have a sure-fire number one receiver in my eyes. There are guys that have the potential to be there—like Hakeem Butler—but as of now, they’re not there yet.

Giving away an extra pick when you can just sit there in the second or third round and likely get somebody that can contribute just as much doesn’t make sense at all. This is where valuation comes into play. Is trading up for N’Keal Harry worth two picks? You better really like that player. This is eerily similar to last year.

The 49ers moved up for Dante Pettis, and selected D.J. Reed in the fifth round after giving swapping second round picks and giving them their third rounder. Pettis is a far superior player to any other receiver that was available, but was losing a third-round pick worth it? That’s something the team will have to ask themselves. In a year where the receiver class is much stronger, I lean no.

Get to day 3 without addressing the secondary

While the 49ers have brought free agency help, and brought back Jimmie Ward, they still have some work to do. Younger players got some much needed experience last year due to injuries, but they looked out of depth. Looking at the injury history, it’d be short-sided to assume that the current starters at safety will make it through the season.

This is a very deep safety and corner class. There will be too much talent available on day two for the 49ers to pass up. This is also a catch-22 in a way. Trading down and getting an extra pick allows you to bring in better talent at multiple positions. That’s what makes the draft such a crapshoot, though. Is missing out on a top pass rusher worth being able to add more talent at the skill positions on both sides of the ball?