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As James mentioned a few days ago, I took a few days off this week to take a cruise and get some time away from everything. It was a nice break as I did not purchase any Internet access, and instead just enjoyed good food, drinks and the Bahamas. Big thanks to James, Dylan and the rest of the front page crew for keeping things up and running while I was gone.
One of the first things I needed to do once I was back online was update our mock draft database. I went in and updated it this morning, but there were not a whole lot of changes to make. This is not particularly surprising. Since launching the new database early last week, there have not been any significant events to impact most draft positioning. The NFL Combine gets going later this week, and that is when we'll start to see more shake-up in players.
When I look at mock drafts, I generally prefer to look almost exclusively at the positions, as opposed to the specific players. You can't miss the players, but I think more value comes from how positions are being sorted out. While there are some moves to be made among released players, the March 12 start of free agency is when we have a chance to see significant changes in positions mocked out.
For the 49ers, one such position will be the secondary, and safety in particular. If the 49ers lock up Dashon Goldson to a multi-year deal, maybe safety comes off most boards. The team will likely need a long-term replacement for Donte Whitner, who is a free agent next year, but we could see safety take a bit more of a backseat.
I mention safety in particular because we have safety showing up a few times in our database. This is led by Mocking the Draft's look at Florida International's Jonathan Cyprien. He shows up three times and has a chance to make some noise this week at the Combine. Dan Kadar included some thoughts about Cyprien:
Cyprien is a fast riser who should be one of the stand out performers at the Combine this week. He's a fluid safety prospect that can run and hit. In other words, he's the kind of player the 49ers could have used in the Super Bowl.
It will be interesting to see how his draft stock adjusts this week. And of course, how the 49ers view him as they figure out their safety position.
Defensive line remains the primary point of emphasis in the database. You can click on the top of each column to sort through players and positions. Doing so shows 22 defensive line appearances, including eight from Jonathan Jenkins, which is the most frequent recurrence in the database.