So ... this morning I'm reading Nick and Trevor's Niners Nation Mock Draft 2.0 article and mazonmafia asks the question what would it take to trade up from #31 to #24 to beat Pete Carroll (Seattle has Pick #25) to Nick/Trevor's mock of UCLA DE Datone Jones to Seattle at #25 ... understand that Jones is the first round pick in my "Ideal Draft". So ... I look at my Trades Value Chart to determine and post an answer to the question. When I look at my trade chart I notice that the Indianapolis Colts only have FOUR draft choices in this year's draft. Let's see here ... Indy has needs everywhere but only has four picks; we have few needs but have 15 picks; and, Indy picks right in front of Seattle at #24. BINGO!! This starts me thinking at Mach 2! (Sorry ... as a retired business executive, that's the way my mind works.)

Can I get to my "dream draft" from here? And frustrate Pete Carroll at the same time? Let's try. I've got all the detail behind this but I don't want to bore you to death; so ... I'll just give you the outcome:

The Trades

1. IF Datone Jones is still available at #24 (as Nick & Trevor suggest), I pull the trigger on trade #1 with the Indianapolis Colts:

We acquire Pick #24 from Indy in exchange for Pick #31 + Pick #93 + Pick #212 + Pick #221. With Pick #24 we select DE Datone Jones (UCLA). Sorry Pete! Not! (If you're wanting to check my math, value of #24 is 740 and value of the picks that we give is 738).

2. No problem trading away the 7th round picks but we need that 3rd round pick back. So I pull the trigger on trade #2 with the Indianapolis Colts:

We reacquire Pick #93 ... value 128. Indy gets Picks #150, #157, #172 and a 4th round pick in 2014 ... total value of 127/128, depending upon whether we win or lose the 2014 Super Bowl. Thus, after these two trades, Indy ends up with eight 2013 picks and a 4th rounder in 2014. Our selections are reduced from 15 to 11.

Positional Needs Assumptions

For purposes of this post, I will assume that our positional needs in this draft are:

Defense: NT DE S CB

Offense: TE WR C RB

Special Teams: K

Resulting Niners Mock Draft (NFLDraftScout's overall ranking # in parenthesis after School)

Round 1 / Pick #24 (Indy): DE Datone Jones (UCLA) 19

Round 2 / Pick #34 (KC): TE Zach Ertz (Stanford) 43

Round 2 / Pick #61: CB Darius Slay (Mississippi State) 66

Round 3 / Pick #74 (Caro): NT Brandon Williams (Missouri Southern State) 74

Round 3 / Pick #93 (Indy): S D.J. Swearinger (South Carolina) 114

Round 3 / Pick#1XX (Comp): DE Devin Taylor (South Carolina) 119

Round 4 / Pick #125: RB Marcus Lattimore (South Carolina) 143

Round 6 / Pick #189: K Dustin Hopkins (Florida State) 225

Round 7 / Pick #2XX (Comp): WR Rodney Smith (Florida State) 197

Round 7 / Pick #2XX (Comp): WR Brandon Kaufman (Eastern Washington) 236

Round 7 / Pick #2XX (Comp): SS/ST Cooper Taylor (Richmond) 238 OR QB Brad Sorensen (Southern Utah) 279

There you have it ... what say you?