The San Francisco 49ers currently hold the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Their position could easily change, with two very winnable games these next two weeks against the Chicago Bears and New York Jets. But if they remain at No. 2, there are a variety of options at their disposal. They could draft the best player available, which would likely be a defensive player. They could reach a bit for a quarterback. Or they could trade up to No. 1 or back to bring in a haul of picks.
Texas A&M pass rusher Myles Garrett is getting praise as arguably the best player in the 2017 NFL Draft. If the 49ers had a shot at him, it would make sense to go with the BPA pick. They need players in most facets of the game, and the pass rush is a major area of weakness.
A lot of 2017 NFL mock drafts are likely going to have Garrett going to the Cleveland Browns at No. 1, but we have seen some sending Alabama defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to Cleveland. One such mock doing that belongs to friend of the site Matt Miller. The Bleacher Report draft analyst picked Allen to the Browns, and then Garrett to the 49ers.
Here’s what Matt had to say about the Garrett pick.
The San Francisco 49ers may have an entirely new regime (again) by the time the team comes on the board at No. 2 overall. If Trent Baalke and Chip Kelly are still running the show, there will be temptation to draft a young quarterback, but reaching for a passer too soon can be treacherous. On the flip side, not drafting a young quarterback could be the group's ticket out of town.
The smart move—one with no emotion or politics involved—would be to draft Myles Garrett. No draft pick is ever a no-brainer, but this is as close as you'll see to it. Garrett has size, strength, speed and understands how to use his hands to disengage from blockers and how to keep himself away from lockdowns.
He can't throw touchdowns, but he can do a great job preventing them. And right now, the 49ers don't have that Von Miller or J.J. Watt presence on defense—which Garrett could be.
Miller had Allen to the Browns because, “as an edge-rusher [Garrett]’s more in line with the players the Browns drafted last year (Emmanuel Ogbah and Carl Nassib), whereas Allen is more of a natural rusher from the 5-technique in a 3-4 defense with the versatility to play defensive end or defensive tackle in a 4-3 scheme.”
The Browns have needs all over the place, so it would not surprise me at all to see them go with Garrett and just run a BPA draft all the way down. They have quarterback needs, like the 49ers, but none of the quarterbacks is jumping out as a clear No. 1 or No. 2 pick. The pre-draft hype machine could result in quarterbacks climbing to the top, but a combination of Allen and Garrett in some order would make a lot of sense in the top two positions.
If Garrett goes No. 1, would the 49ers draft a defensive lineman for the third straight year? They need all the help they can get, but that could be a position that sets them up to trade down and grab whatever haul of picks they can get.