As the draft approaches, the 49ers’ blueprint is coming into focus with new details. Reporters are hearing from sources that the Niners want to draft a guard in the first or second round. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch backed that up with remarks at the recent NFL Annual Meeting in Scottsdale. Lynch saying they will look to do more at guard, Shanahan indicating that will be in the draft.<\/p>\n
Lynch has said for months that edge is the team\u2019s biggest need. Given that the edge talent drops significantly by the 4th round, I expect that it will be one of the picks in the first two rounds.<\/p>\n
27. Malachi Lawrence (UCF) 6-4\/253 Edge<\/p>\n
58. Keylan Rutledge (Georgia Tech) 6-4\/316 OG<\/p>\n
127. Dallen Bentley (Utah) 6-4\/262 TE<\/p>\n
133. Kendrick Law (Kentucky) 5-11\/203 WR<\/p>\n
138. Eli Heidenreich (Navy) 6-0\/202 RB<\/p>\n
139. Michael Taaffe (Texas) 6-0\/193 S<\/p>\n
The debate at edge may be Malachi Lawrence vs. Cashius Howell. Lawrence: +3 arms, +7 wingspan, .07 faster 40, +8 vert, +15 jump, +8% true pass rush win rate. Howell: +1 pressures, +5 sacks, 12% lower missed tackle rate, 2x coverage snaps.<\/p>\n
Howell gets the nod on sacks, tackling, and playmaking in coverage. However, Lawrence, with coaching to clean up the missed tackles, would surpass Howell. I would give Lawrence the nod on traits and upside.<\/p>\n
Rutledge is their likely preference at guard, a mauler in the run game and the best in class 4.54 20 shuttle that Shanahan uses as a metric for movement skills and wide zone success. A 99% pass pro win rate, with eight pressures against and no sacks. He has a violent playing style and a nonstop motor.<\/p>\n
If Rutledge is gone, then Kentucky\u2019s 6-5\/322 Jalen Farmer is a solid fallback option, long and fast with 17 mph on the GPS, a 4.93 40 and a 1.75 10 split. He has a 95.5% win rate, 13 pressures, and three sacks against.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve talked with Bentley; he has the power for inline blocking, no drops, and YAC ability.<\/p>\n
Shanahan is rumored to like Law, a YAC slot receiver with excellent contact balance (13 forced missed tackles) and hands (1.9% drop rate). 53 catches for 540 yards and 3 TDs. 4.45 speed with a 42 vert and 128 jump, 21 bench press reps show good power as well. He\u2019s also a capable returner.<\/p>\n
At running back, the Niners are looking for a receiving back in the McCaffrey mold. Heidenreich had 500 yards rushing and 940 yards receiving as a RB\/WR this year. He has great hands and acceleration with two catches for 80 yards or more. He ran a 4.43 40 at Indy and was best in class at the short shuttle.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve also met with Taaffe, one of the best coverage safeties in this draft with seven career interceptions.<\/p>\n
Trade ideas<\/p>\n
Using the draft trade value chart that assigns weighted point values per pick, I\u2019ve come up with a few potential trades.<\/p>\n
If the Niners want to trade out of the first, 27 and 133 to Cincinnati for 41 and 72. The Bengals have needs at IOL, DT, and secondary; late first is a sweet spot for all of that. The Niners can assure themselves of getting one of the 2nd round guards of Rutledge, Oregon\u2019s Emmanuel Pregnon or Texas A&M\u2019s Chase Bisontis, and add a high 3rd rounder at 72.<\/p>\n
Moving up using a pair of 4ths doesn\u2019t get into the 3rd. 127 and 133 can only get to the early 4th. Moving up this year doesn\u2019t seem to be in the cards from any spot. 2027 draft picks need to be off-limits in trade, that draft is loaded, arguably the best since 2018.<\/p>\n
One of the 4ths can be used to deal back and add a pick. That depends on whether they have targets remaining in the later rounds. Draft analysts indicate the talent falls off after the 4th, so the Niners may be content to stay put.<\/p>\n
If they want to deal back, 133 to Minnesota for 163 (mid-5th) and 196 (10th pick in the 6th) or 139 to Jacksonville for 166 and 204.<\/p>\n
Sleepers<\/p>\n
Some under the radar players I like:<\/p>\n
Charles Demmings (Stephen F. Austin) 6-1\/194 DB (may not fall to 127)
47% completion rate against, 6 pbu\/4 int (17\/9 career). 4.41 40, #2 vert at 42, aggressive.<\/p>\n
Trey Moore (Texas) 6-1\/243 Edge\/OLB
Explosive athlete, 4.54\/1.60, 38.5 vert. 27 pressures, 3 sacks, great get-off and bend, has a pass rush bag, smart hand usage, high motor, and a lot of special teams experience. He\u2019s #2 in the class in pass coverage snaps at 181, a hybrid OLB\/Edge that needs to add power.<\/p>\n
Cameron Dorner (North Texas) 6-1\/195 WR
The Niners have met with Dorner, the small school version of Omar Cooper, a YAC Z receiver. 56 catches for 911 yards and 8 TDs. He averaged 5.8 YAC per reception with a 26.8% missed tackle rate, a QB rating of 155.1 when targeted, 2.7 yards per route run against zone and 3 yards man. 63% of his targets went for first downs, and he only had one drop.<\/p>\n
Dorner made one of the catches of the year against Charlotte. He\u2019s facing the ball, falling in the end zone, and makes a one-handed grab with his left hand. I want this guy; I take him over Kendrick Law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the draft approaches, the 49ers’ blueprint is coming into focus with new details. Reporters are hearing from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853430,"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-853429","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\/116347156850738782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853429","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=853429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}