The 2015 NFL Draft is less than 12 hours away, and I thought we had the mock draft database wrapped up this morning. Well, Mel Kiper decided to post one more 2015 NFL mock draft that decides to go off the rails a little bit with the San Francisco 49ers pick. It is not that it is necessarily a "bad" pick, but it is certainly a drastic change from what Kiper had been mocking to the 49ers previously.
In his new mock draft, Mel Kiper has the 49ers selecting Georgia running back Todd Gurley ndfd. Our database had one mock with the 49ers grabbing Melvin Gordon, so it's not like Kiper is entirely on his own with a running back pick. Here is what he had to say about the pick:
Why they take him: Because they're taking the best player available and they've been willing to be patient on players with injury concerns before. Gurley and Carlos Hyde is a special backfield.
Why they pass: They could feel it's just too rich for a running back, and WR, CB, and DE are all needs that could be addressed here given what's available. They can add a LB later.
I do think we could see the 49ers grabbing a running back at some point in the draft, but would they invest a first rounder in the position? Trent Baalke and Jim Tomsula have made it clear there will be a while lot of running, so I suppose a running back would not be entirely out of the realm of the possible. And if the 49ers go with a purely BPA approach in first round, maybe Gurley is the guy at the top of their board. Or, maybe that results in them trading down.
Of course, the other slightly bigger question is Gurley's knee. He tore his ACL last season, but all indications are that he is making strong progress. It does not seem as complicated as some of the nasty recent knee injuries, but it is still a knee injury. Would the 49ers move him down their draft board a bit due to being gun shy on that? Or will it matter?