More signs point to Jones to 49ers; other buzz notes … There were also media reports earlier in the day that San Francisco’s choice for the 3rd pick overall at this week’s draft was ‘down’ to QBs Mac Jones of Alabama and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance. However, San Francisco G.M. John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan held their pre-draft presser on Monday and did nothing to dispel the notion that the 49ers will be selecting Jones with the pick, although Lynch noted that the 49ers still haven’t made a final decision. What Lynch did say was that when it came to making a final decision on the team’s QB of the future that he would ‘always defer’ to the coach. And deferring to Shanahan could signal that the 49ers are indeed leaning toward Jones, as he is the one believed to strongly favor the former Tide QB. At the same time, more than one observer of the presser described the proceedings as ‘defensive’ as Lynch and Shanahan tried to defend the process in which they had traded up to get a player that wasn’t going to be very popular with the 49ers’ fan base. Again, that’s more likely to be Jones who generally isn’t as highly rated as either Lance or Ohio State’s Justin Fields, the other top-rated passers expected to be still on the board when the 49ers get on the clock. At the same time, Shanahan couldn’t guarantee that incumbent starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo would be on the roster on Sunday fueling speculation that the 49ers could move him sometime during or immediately after the draft.
On other hand, there still isn’t much out of Atlanta where the Falcons have the next pick after the 49ers, and with QBs expected to go 1-2-3, at least in some order on Thursday night, where the ‘real draft is expected to start.’ The Falcons, in fact, appear to have three primary choices with the pick: take their choice of the QBs still on the board; take Florida TE Kyle Pitts, the top-rated non-QB prospect; or trade the pick to another team that wants either a QB or Pitts. And each of the Falcons’ potential options would send the draft in a somewhat different direction, especially if they did trade. Certainly, there are multiple teams out there that likely would love to move up to get – presumably – either Fields and/or Lance. The question is whether there is another team out there willing to pay the price to get that high, particularly now that San Francisco has set the market to move at two future first rounders to move up 9 spots! At the same time, though, Atlanta is reportedly talking with teams about a possible trade for star WR Julio Jones. Not that the Falcons are all that keen to move Jones per se, but he’s already past thirty and is a salary cap liability. And they’d reportedly like a first-round pick in exchange, but may be forced to accept a secon-rounder as the market for veteran WRs could be a little soft this year with so many talented receivers in this year’s draft class.
One team that does appear to be serious about moving up to get a QB is New England. The feeling is that Bill Belichek really likes Ohio State’s Fields, but isn’t prepared to give up the store to get him. Belichek, though, is believed to be interested enough to make some calls if Fields gets a little closer to the 15th pick.
Nobody is quite sure what it all meant, but earlier today the LA Chargers’ twitter account briefly announced what appeared to be a trade with the NY Giants in which the Chargers would move up two spots to the #11 pick with the Giants getting the 13th and 77th picks from LA. Presumably the Chargers would be moving up to get closer to being a position to select an offensive lineman like Oregon’s Penei Sewell or Rashawn Slater of Northwestern. Alas, the report was fake and was quickly moved, but not before twitter had a field day in reaction!
Such a trade actually makes sense for both teams, but almost assuredly wouldn’t happen until the Giants got on the clock and everyone knew who was available. Certainly one shouldn’t discount the possibility of the Chargers attempting to move up if Sewell, LA QB Justin Herbert’s former teammate at Oregon as teams like Detroit at #7 and Carolina at #8 have let it be known that they are willing to trade down. And the Chargers also likely wouldn’t be the only team to be in the market for a player like Sewell if he did start to slip. There have been some whispers, for example, about some conversations between Minnesota, which has a huge hole at LT after releasing Riley Reiff this off-season, and Denver, which picks 9th. For the record, the Broncos are another team looking to move down and already have an in with Minnesota as new Denver G.M. George Paton was a long-time Vikings senior personnel exec before joining the Broncos this off-season.
And speaking of the possible availability of Ducks’ OT Sewell, word out of Miami is that the Dolphins have their fingers crossed that one of TE Kyle Pitts and/or LSU Ja’Marr Chase is still on the board when they get on the clock with the 6th pick; however, if they are both gone, and that’s not totally out of the question, the Dolphins are reportedly ready to trade back down the board. For those that have lost count, that would be a third first-round move for Miami which originally had the 3rd pick, but traded that to the 49ers for the 12th selection, but then moved back up to #6 in a deal with Philadelphia.
