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NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock is one of a select few people who can justifiably receive the title of draft guru. Although some have been doing it longer, Mayock is as respected as anybody in the business. Although he will have his share of misses to go along with his hits, he gets plenty of respect for his work.
Each year, Mike Mayock will do a host of conference calls and other media events to provide a rundown on a variety of players in the NFL Draft. On Monday, Mayock held a conference call to discuss players as they prepare for the Combine, which starts Wednesday. We will hopefully have a transcript later today or tomorrow, but for now, I did a Twitter search for mayock 49ers to see what specific mentions were made about the 49ers. The transcript will provide better info about players we are seeing mocked to the 49ers, but in this Twitter search, Mayock focused on wide receiver.
According to the tweets, Mayock indicated the 49ers are in need of another playmaking wide receiver to pair with Michael Crabtree. This is not a surprising comment given our extensive discussion of the 49ers wide receiver position. The 49ers decision at the wide receiver position will come in part based on how they view A.J. Jenkins heading into year two. That does not mean they ignore wide receiver early on if they think Jenkins can take a big step forward. After all, if a strong enough player falls, Baalke & Co. have shown they are more than willing to grab a guy who might be buried on the depth chart early on.
However, if the 49ers were to look at a first round wide receiver, he really likes Cal's Keenan Allen, if he slips that far. Mayock also pointed to Baylor's Terrance Williams, whom he described as a "height-weight-speed guy". For those wondering, here is how Mike Mayock ranks the top five wide receivers:
1. Cordarrelle Patterson*, Tennessee
2. Keenan Allen*, California
3. Terrence Williams, Baylor
4. Tavon Austin, West Virginia
5. Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech