Pro Football Focus’ mock-draft simulator tool<\/a>, and there’s no sense for trades since we’re pretty much just considering the potential options at each pick, currently, in every round.<\/p>\nEdge rusher-only mock NFL Draft for 49ers<\/p>\n
There was a choice here between Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell and Auburn’s Keldric Faulk, and the latter makes a bit more sense at No. 27 overall since he’s much more polished as a run defender, and San Francisco needs edge setters against the run just as much as it needs pass-rushers. <\/p>\n
A bigger body than Howell, too, Faulk’s imposing 6-foot-6 and 276-pound frame is matched by a violent motor that’ll make an immediate impact on base downs with the ability to translate into an every-down player once he develops his pass-rush plans. <\/p>\n
That might take a year or two, but at least the 49ers get a starting-caliber defender who can make his presence known right out of the gate.<\/p>\n
Should the Niners wait until Round 2 to grab an edge rusher, UCF’s Malachi Lawrence might be the ideal find. <\/p>\n
At 6-foot-4 and 253 pounds, Lawrence possesses the ideal blend of size and speed to overcome weaker blockers, and he already has a better array of pass-rush moves in contrast to Faulk. <\/p>\n
Unlike Faulk, though, Lawrence is a liability against the run and should only be counted upon in obvious pass-rushing situations at this stage.<\/p>\n
In light of Bryce Huff’s offseason retirement, however, grabbing Lawrence as a third-down specialist wouldn’t be a horrible replacement.<\/p>\n
San Francisco doesn’t pick again until its four Round 4 selections, meaning at this point in the draft, any pass-rusher is likely going to kick off his pro career as a purely rotational option. But that’s fine. The 49ers need those kinds of bodies, too, to beef up their depth chart.<\/p>\n
Florida’s Tyreak Sapp, 6-foot-2 and 273 pounds, seemed to have a knack for coming up with big plays in key moments, and the Niners may appreciate his ability to “close out” games late.<\/p>\n
Already a good run defender, though, San Francisco might look to deploy a player like Sapp strictly as a reservist, hoping to turn his so-so pass-rush plan into something useful while also banking on his ability to be a go-to backup.<\/p>\n
Picking a few spots later in Round 4, the 49ers could theoretically get creative by adding Missouri defensive tackle Chris McClellan.<\/p>\n
At 6-foot-4 and 323 pounds, McClellan looks much more the part of a 1- or 3-technique kind of interior lineman, but bumping him outside to the edge wouldn’t be a wholly unorthodox move in coordinator Raheem Morris’ five-man front, especially with a linebacker walking down to set the edge. <\/p>\n
Plus, McClellan’s bull rush is strong enough to overpower many a blocker, especially when said blocker is busy worrying about a blitzing linebacker. <\/p>\n
McClellan’s first step would eliminate him from being a true edge defender, but the versatility could make for a useful commodity.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it wouldn’t be a shock to see the 49ers use their back-to-back late-Round 4 picks on edge rushers, pitting them against each other in a training camp competition for one true spot on the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n
Western Michigan’s Nadame Tucker, 6-foot-2 and 247 pounds, has a far superior first step than McClellan and also possesses an uncanny ability to force fumbles, boasting four of those last year after transfering from Houston.<\/p>\n
Not a quality run defender, Tucker’s speed and burst certainly stand out in all the right ways.<\/p>\n
But fans will recall those FBS-leading 21 tackles for a loss and 14.5 sacks, hoping that kind of output will somehow translate to the NFL level.<\/p>\n
At 6-foot-6 and 258 pounds, Iowa’s Max Llewellyn possesses many of the same traits as Tucker, including a good first step and burst, and the latter might actually be more polished with his array of pass-rushing moves. <\/p>\n
Similarly, though, neither late-round prospect is projected to be adept against the run. And one might argue Llewellyn is actually worse out of the two.<\/p>\n
That might be fine for Llewellyn, who didn’t put up Tucker-like numbers in any sense but might be the more physically imposing in comparison. And his pass-rush abilities might better translate to the kind of competition he’d face at the NFL level.<\/p>\n
Even if teams like the Niners would be unwise to think about deploying him on anything but obvious passing situation.<\/p>\n
Again, we know… San Francisco won’t solely draft edge rushers. But at least you know some round-by-round possibilities now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let’s make this clear right out of the gate: The San Francisco 49ers aren’t going to use each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-853349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","13":"tag-sanfrancisco","14":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116346976243433318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}