CrimsonCrew wrote:Niners' picks from Dane Brugler's seven-round mock:
San Francisco 49ers
1 (31). Jer’Zhan Newton, DT, Illinois
2 (63). Andru Phillips, CB, Kentucky
3 (94). Jared Wiley, TE, TCU
4 (124). Christian Jones, OT, Texas
4 (132). Zak Zinter, G, Michigan
4 (135). Luke McCaffery, WR, Rice
5 (176). Jordan Magee, LB, Temple
6 (211). Blake Watson, RB, Memphis
6 (215). Khalid Duke, Edge, Kansas State
7 (251). Kamal Hadden, CB, Tennessee
I could live with this draft. Newton would be a very solid first-round pick. Of the available options at that point, he would be my guy (Adonai Mitchell probably second; no OL left worth the pick unless we went with project Suamataia).
I'd prefer Phillips in the third to the second, but there's a good chance he doesn't fall to 94 and he's a good fit for what we need/want.
He has us taking Jared Wiley in the 3rd over Ben Sinnott and Cade Stover, which is a departure from most rankings I've seen and higher than I'd like for a guy like Wiley. Wiley is interesting, as a huge TE with upside, but he doesn't have very good change-of-direction. I'd be tempted to go with another position there, though those other two TEs go before pick 124.
If we haven't addressed the OL earlier, Jones and Zinter seem like solid later-round picks. I like Jones as a later-round guy who could at least challenge McKivitz and maybe slide into LT at some point. I'm not sure Zinter is a great fit for our scheme. He's a good value at that pick, but I don't know that he's mobile enough to do the pulling our system calls for.
Fine with McCaffrey there. He's pretty interesting as a guy with really good measurables and pedigree who just hasn't played the position very long. Well worth the pick there to see what we can unlock, especially training next to big bro.
I have absolutely no feelings about the other four guys on first sight. I thought I was pretty up on this draft class, but I don't even really recognize those names. Briefly reading up, Watson is almost 25, but he's fast and has over 100 college receptions, so not a bad late-round fit. Duke is an undersized speed rusher, but that's kind of what's left at this point. I would be pretty surprised if we wait this late to draft a DE, but we did add some guys in FA.
These mocks are mostly meaningless as no one knows what the 49ers will do in the first round, let alone every round. Basically it is all of us playing Fantasy Football. That being said, another DL in the first round? Might as well start handing out 49er hats to all the projected DL in the first round of the draft as that seems like the only position the team takes in the first round.