An edge rusher before the fourth round would be nice.
There’s always the big trade question for the San Francisco 49ers. If they trade out of No. 2, who with, how much, and who do they take instead? Today’s mock draft from NFL.com’s Chad Reuter has a trade between the 49ers and the more-dysfunctional-than-thought Oakland Raiders. The 49ers go from second to fourth and find a way to take Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams a No. 4. The 49ers then turn around and trade back into the first round for the third time in four years and grab Ole Miss wide receiver A.J. Brown via a deal with the New England Patriots at for the 32nd pick.
So far so good. with a second rounder acquired from the Raiders, the 49ers grab Maryland safety Darnell Savage. For the rest of the draft the 49ers use their original picks with no more trades. Here’s the full rundown from Reuter’s mock:
Round 1, No. 4 overall (from Raiders in projected trade): Quinnen Williams, DT, Alabama
Round 1, No. 32 (from Patriots in projected trade): A.J. Brown, WR, Mississippi
Round 2, No. 35 (from Raiders in projected trade): Darnell Savage, S, Maryland
Round 3, No. 67: Justin Layne, CB, Michigan State
Round 4, No. 104: Jachai Polite, edge, Florida
Round 6, No. 176: Vosean Joseph, LB, Florida
Round 6, No. 212: Dennis Daley, OT, South Carolina
The only thing concerning me with this is the neglect of an edge rusher. I get why they go BPA with Williams to start, but the 49ers don’t get an edge until Jachai Polite in the fourth round. Polite isn’t exactly the person I’d put on the 49ers, especially after his comments in his post-Combine interview where he had choice remarks of the process. I also am tired of the late round pass-rushers. They just haven’t worked out. It seems like this is simply the way this draft goes, but I still wonder as great as Williams is if it’s worth not reaching for a first-round edge rusher instead of closing the book on Solomon Thomas. It also seems like a wasted pick on Kentavius Street in 2018 if you’re going to go and get Williams in 2019. At first I wasn’t a fan of Williams coming to the 49ers, but now after really thinking of the possibilities, it’s hard to defend that stance.
I do like the trade though since it gets the 49ers A.J. Brown, whom I’ve begun to really like as of late. He solves the wide receiver “problem” the 49ers have (though I don’t find it as bad as some do). If the 49ers reach for an edge rusher in round one to accommodate this trade and then can grab Brown in that later trade, this mock would be high in my books even if we didn’t look at the later picks.
I do like the sixth-round pick on Dennis Daley, or at least the thinking process behind it. Will he work? Who knows. It will be nice to see how he performs with a year of development. Maybe he could replace Mike McGlinchey when McGlinchey moves to left tackle? Or maybe he becomes the left tackle in a year?
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