I was just reading Eric Branch's blog and noticed several tweets regarding TAIWAN JONES.

Today is his pro day in Pittsburg (CA).  Representatives of 26 NFL teams in attendance.  Niners represented by Tom Gamble and Tom Rathman.

Remember, this guy is 6'0" and 195.  Early results:

First 40-yard time ... 4.32!!!  Probably hand timed; but, THAT is faster than ANY 40 time for ANY of the TOP 50 running back prospects in this years draft!!

Broad jump ... 11'0"!!  The all-time NFL Combine broad jump record is 11'5". 

Fooch asked for some additional assessment, so here you go:

Because we have a lot of positional needs in this draft I have been trying, in my mock, to satisfy as many of those as possible.  Obviously you have to prioritize for greatest needs first.  Accordingly, since RB is not one of our biggest needs, I have deferred the selection of a RB until round five of six.  Using Pro Football Weekly's draft value chart (which is a combined concensus among NFL scouts as to where various prospects will be selected), in the fifth round you could expect to get Todman, Evans or White.  If you wait until the sixth round your looking at Ridley, Locke or Scott.  In the seventh Fannin, Harper or Allen.  Since my belief is that the Niners should wait until next year's draft to select Frank's future replacement (in the first three rounds where they can get a really good prospect), my thought is to add a COPRB in the lower rounds this year ... somebody who would be different from Frank / Dixon as a third-down guy.  In the fifth through seventh rounds the guy I like best is Derrick Locke from Kentucky; accordingly, I have been mocking him at pick #190 in the sixth round.

Now, along comes Jones' performance today.  Should I rethink my strategy?  Is Jones a guy, even though from a small college program, who could become Frank's replacement?  If we decided to make a run at him (especially given the amount of attention he's getting at today's pro day), how high would we have to go?  If we did that, how would it impact my mock?  Who would we have to forego?  Those were my thoughts when I saw Branch's tweets.

So, where does Jones rank in the RB prospects?  Here's the joke ... Draft Tek has him ranked as #334 overall!!  That's not within 150 picks from where he will be selected ... but then we all know the DT's staff and computers aren't, shall we say, the sharpest knives in the drawer.  PFW's chart has Jones being selected in the mid-fourth-round; that could change after today's performance.  NFLDraftScout (CBS' Rob Rang) has Jones as the 108th ranked prospect.  So, just for the hell of it, let's say that if we want Jones we have to select him in the fourth round ... we have two picks, #108 (just coincidence??) and #115. 

So, in my mock, what do we give up if we go for Jones in the fourth?  I've got us taking OLB Dontay Moch (Nevada) at 108 and either WR Tandon Doss (Indiana) or WR Terrance Toliver (LSU) at 115.  I'm not willing to trade Moch for Jones.  (I have us taking Peterson/Amukamara, Dalton/Kaepernick, and NT Kendrick Ellis in the first three rounds.)  Doss will not slip out of the fourth round, but Toliver might slip even as far as the sixth.

So, here's my decision:  Let's go for Moch at 108, Jones (instead of Locke) as our RB prospect at 115, then try to get WR Toliver in the sixth (instead of Locke).  If Toliver doesn't slip that far, we find another big red-zone WR.  What do YOU think?