With the speculation around Deebo Samuel arising, there's no certainty about the San Francisco 49ers' draft strategy, however; the current indication is that they'll end up selecting first at their current spot, #61.
If that ends up being the case, who should the 49ers select with their first draft pick?
NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah, a well-respected draft analyst, shared some insight regarding the pick on his pre-draft conference call Thursday, providing a variety of options.
Jeremiah noted that if the 49ers remain at their spot, edge rusher would be a hot commodity, especially as San Francisco looks to pair a young option with star pass-rusher Nick Bosa.
"If they stay where they are you kind of look at those edge rushers. 61, there's some interesting names still out there. I think you kind of look at their big, collapse-the-pocket edge rusher types, Alex Wright from UAB is intriguing at 6'5", 271 pounds. They kind of used him a little bit inside and outside, but he's real, real explosive. He plays a little bit high but he's an intriguing, intriguing player. That one would be kind of interesting to me."
In addition to the imposing Wright, Jeremiah believes that Kentucky's Josh Paschal could be a good option, primarily because of the value at the pick.
"A little bit shorter version of [Wright], I have rated higher is Josh Paschal from Kentucky. He's a three-time captain, first of all. He's a great kid. He was a phenomenal leader and worker, all those things are off the charts, and he's got heavy, heavy hands. He can collapse the pocket, as well. Doesn't have big-time, bigtime burst and get off, which they usually like a lot there, but he'd be a good option there in terms of the value of that pick."
Should the 49ers look to draft a wide receiver at the pick, which isn't out of the question with the Samuel situation, Jeremiah believes there should be multiple options that would fit the 49ers.
"If they were picking there at 61, you start looking at -- if you wanted big-time speed, Danny Gray I think could be a little bit early for him out of SMU, but he's real explosive. We've talked about George Pickens, we've talked about John Metchie. Those guys are really good players."
Additionally, should a player fall, or should the 49ers have an earlier selection, Jeremiah presents Western Michigan's Skyy Moore, North Dakota State's Christian Watson, and potentially even Arkansas's Treylon Burks as good weapons in Shanahan's offense.
"I would love Skyy Moore for them, but I think he'll be long gone from Western Michigan. Same with Christian Watson. Those are some of the names there. If they went up, I just think it would be fun to watch Treylon Burks in their offense. It would be fun to see how Kyle would use him creatively just because he's big. He kind of has kind of a unique quality to him with how big and strong he is, and he can really get going once he builds up his speed."
Wide receiver has been a hot commodity yearly, especially because of how expensive players have gotten since there are numerous receivers that could make an immediate impact in the draft.
