The draft starts when? Really? … The general consensus around the NFL these days is that with QBs fully expected to be the selected with the first three picks at next week’s draft that the real starting point of the 2021 draft will be the 4th pick with Atlanta on the clock. Hold on a second though! We do know for sure that Jacksonville will be taking Trevor Lawrence with the first pick and we are pretty sure that the Jets will be grabbing Zack Wilson at #2. However, who San Francisco takes with the 3rd pick is still very much up in the air and how the rest of the top ten evolves could be determined very much by which the 49ers ultimately select.
Of course, the feeling around the league has been that the 49ers were set on taking Alabama’s Mac Jones with the 3rd pick. However, the 49ers are still checking out the other top QBs and there is a growing buzz around the league that North Dakota State’s Trey Lance may actually be their guy. Certainly, Lance seems to be the consensus highest rated prospect of the 3 remaining top QBs and if the 49ers were to pass on him to select Jones, then figure there’d be a lineup of teams looking to get a shot at him at the 4th pick. On the other hand, if the 49ers do take Lance at #3 there may be considerably less demand for Ohio State’s Justin Fields at #4 and beyond, while it’s not clear there’d be much trade up demand for Jones at all meaning he could possibly slip out of the top ten if he’s not taken by the 49ers. So many possibilities, so little time!
And if the 49ers do take Jones at #3, the betting favorite to move up to the 4th pick are still the Denver Broncos. New Broncos G.M. George Paton did little to dispel the notion that the Broncos aren’t totally sold on current starter Drew Lock at his pre-draft presser this week saying that he ‘really likes Lock’ but wants more ‘competition’ at the position. One other thing Paton said at his presser of interest was the fact that because the Broncos had signed veteran free agent CB Kyle Fuller after he was released by the Bears they felt they were set at the position which likely takes CB off the table for the Broncos if they were to stay at #9 and not take a QB.
At the same time, both Detroit and Carolina, which pick 7th and 8th respectively in this year’s opening round, have both made it clear that they are wide open to a trade down and are already getting calls from teams wondering about the price to move up. It appears, though, that neither wants to drop much past the 15th pick area.
