Earlier this week, Mike Mayock posted his first positional rankings of the 2016 NFL Draft season. On Thursday, we took a look at quarterbacks, on Friday we took a look at inside linebackers, and then interior offensive linemen, on Saturday we looked at tight ends, on Sunday we looked at safeties, on Monday we looked at wide receivers, and yesterday we looked at edge rushers.
We're going to continue moving through these position-by-position, and for this post we move back to the offensive line. Mayock split up the line between tackles, guards, and centers. We looked at interior linemen last week, and today we move to the offensive tackles.
Here's how Mayock ranked out the top five offensive tackles in the 2016 NFL Draft:
1. Laremy Tunsil, Ole Miss
2. Ronnie Stanley, Notre Dame
3. Jack Conklin, Michigan State
4. Taylor Decker, Ohio State
5. Willie Beavers, Western Michigan
The San Francisco 49ers currently have Joe Staley at left tackle, and some questions at right tackle. Erik Pears spent most of the year at the position, but eventually moved to right guard when Trenton Brown was moved into the right tackle role. Anthony Davis has said he will return to the 49ers this offseason, but until it actually happens, we should probably not count on it. And even if he does return, his role is still to be determined after walking away for a season.
I don't expect the 49ers to go offensive tackle in the first round, but given how bad things went for the line last year, I probably cannot rule it out completely. Quarterback is a frequent mention, and wide receiver is a problem, but I could see some kind of immediate impact defensive player added to the mix with that first pick.