Mel Kiper, Todd McShay mock draft 2013: Coming down the home stretch

The NFL Draft is a little over 24 hours away, which means the "experts" are finalizing their mock drafts. I'll post the final totals from the mock draft database tomorrow, but for now we've got new entries from both Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay. They each put together a new mock draft to reflect the Darrelle Revis trade, and will likely have one more mock before the draft kicks off on Thursday.

In Mel Kiper's latest mock draft, he has the 49ers selecting Southern Methodist defensive end Margus Hunt. In his comments with the pick, Kiper says, "The 49ers have bet on athletes before and succeeded. Hunt provides depth." This would be a bet in the sense that Hunt is a raw prospect who only picked up football in the last few years. He is incredibly talented, but the team has to factor in the issues with a player who is good deal older than the rest of his class.

It's amusing following how mock drafts adjust over the course of the draft season. We start off in January with certain information, and by late April, it is all generally on its ear. In this case, Mel Kiper's first mock draft had the 49ers selecting Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. If you haven't paid much attention to the draft talk, it is worth noting that most see Floyd going to the Raiders with the third pick tomorrow!

Since then he has bounced between John Jenkins, Datone Jones and Margus Hunt. The 49ers have a safety need, but Kiper views the 2013 NFL Draft as deep enough at safety that the 49ers are safe waiting to see what falls to them a little later.

In Todd McShay's latest mock draft, he has the 49ers selecting Stanford tight end Zach Ertz. The 49ers have a need at tight end, but this is another position where the team can potentially find some solid talent late. They do need another tight end, but it seems like a reach if it's not Eifert slipping to them.

McShay has bounced around a fair amount in his mocks. He has had the 49ers looking offense with Ertz here and Justin Hunter in an early mock. He has also gone defensive line and safety. All are various level of need for the 49ers, but there has been no real consistency. In some ways, that's a smarter take than Kiper. The 49ers do have a strong defensive line need, but the 49ers have enough needs that they can go best player available in certain circumstances. This is a fairly fluid draft, opening the door for all sorts of options.