Mel Kiper Jr. over at espn just put together a piece looking at every teams top draft needs if the draft were to occur tomorrow. For our beloved 49ers, Kiper has listed DL, TE and S (I'm assuming FS) as the teams top needs. He goes on to say that the team doesn't have very many needs. He believes DL is the teams most pressing need since Justin Smith isn't getting any younger. I get the sense that most people around here would agree on this as being the top need. Next he list S but caveats this in saying it's only a need if the team cannot reach an agreement with Goldson. I am under the opinion that after seeing Goldson's play steadily improve the last 3 seasons the team would like to bring him back but will probably be unable to afford him. He's earned himself a nice pay day on the open market. Finally, he list TE as another need. Again this probably depends a lot on whether or not Delanie Walker resigns. I believe that the team could do better than Walker at the number 2 TE and with the number of 2 TE sets the team runs improving that positions would help the team immensely. That is not to say that I'm not a fan of Delanie, he does wonderful things in the running game, but I still think the team could use an upgrade their. Both Vernon and Delanie are great blockers which leads me to believe that whoever coaches the TEs does a great job at teaching blocking so whoever was brought in to replace him would probably turn into an above average blocking TE, hopefully with better hands than Delanie.

I would also add OLB to the needs list as a team can never have too many pass rushers. And the team has been extremely thin at the position in recent years, especially for a 3-4.

Kiper has the team selecting DT Sheldon Richardson out of Missouri in the first round

Here's the link to the espn article, which is insider protected but if you have insider you might as well check it out.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8593649/2013-nfl-draft-first-look-top-needs-possible-selections

Also Kiper states that this is not based off of what would be good value in the draft but rather based what a teams tops needs are.

What do you guys think are the teams top needs? Feel Free to comment on need or specific players you would like to see the team draft. I generally wait until after the combine and some pro days to start listing specific plays because so much can change between now and then but it can still be a fun exercise.