Now that Super Bowl XLV is complete, mock drafts will likely pick up in pace as people look for any non-lockout football to discuss. With that in mind, SB Nation has released their post-Super Bowl mock and coincidentally enough, Matt Maicco has also released his first mock draft of the 2011 NFL Draft season.
The SB Nation mock draft is now on its third straight week of projecting Nebraska CB Prince Amukamara to the 49ers. They indicate it's hard to tell what the 49ers might do because of the new coaching administration:
San Francisco's pick is rather difficult to project, because no one is quite sure how Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers will attack the draft. As such, we'll stay conservative with Amukamara - a top prospect, a senior, and at a position of need.
At the same time, the guy in charge of the draft Trent Baalke and he ran the 49ers draft last season. Can we infer anything from having that kind of continuity?
The picks ahead of the 49ers in SB Nation's mock draft are as follows:
1. Carolina: Nick Fairley, DT
2. Denver: Patrick Peterson, CB
3. Buffalo: Marcell Dareus, DT
4. Cincinnati: A.J. Green, WR
5. Arizona: Von Miller, OLB
6. Cleveland: Da'Quan Bowers, DE
In Matt Maiocco's first mock draft, he has the 49ers grabbing OLB Von Miller with the seventh pick of the round. I'd imagine this would make some of you very excited. His top six picks are a bit more interesting primarily because of the number one pick:
1. Carolina: Cam Newton, QB
2. Denver: Nick Fairley, DT
3. Buffalo: Patrick Peterson, CB
4. Cincinnati: Da'Quan Bowers, DE
5. Arizona: Blaine Gabbert, QB
6. Cleveland: A.J. Green, WR
Maiocco tweeted that one scout said, "He's able to do things I've never seen before." It's only one scout, but all it takes is one team to fall in love with a player. If one team in the top six falls in love with Cam Newton, that could drop some interesting options down to the 49ers. I'm not on the Cam Newton bandwagon so I would be a big fan of Newton going that high. And if Newton and Gabbert both went top six? Well that would be just fantastic. The 49ers desperately need a quarterback but I have little to no comfort using the seventh pick of the draft on any of the available options. Do you?