The 2016 season is officially over, and the entire NFL is into the offseason following the New England Patriots thrilling comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons. Every team’s front office has been into offseason mode for much of the past month, but now we can officially say it is “the offseason.”
With that, we have a three-round 2017 NFL mock draft, courtesy of SB Nation’s Dan Kadar. The defense is the strength of this draft, but that does not mean quarterbacks will have to wait. Kadar has the San Francisco 49ers selecting North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky with the second overall pick. Last week he had them selecting DeShone Kizer, and as he put it, it could very well rotate with DeShaun Watson as well moving forward.
Last week it was DeShone Kizer for San Francisco, this week it’s Trubisky and next week it could very well be Deshaun Watson. This one continues to be fully up in the air.
His next two 49ers picks are linebackers. He has them selecting Ohio State inside linebacker Raekwon McMillan in the second round and Youngstown State pass rusher Derek Rivers in the third round. I think Youngstown native Jed York would be a fan of that latter pick!
The 49ers need an overhaul on both sides of the ball, and beefing up the back of that front seven will be critical to taking a step forward. It was not too long ago that it seemed like they were in good position at both ILB and OLB. However, over the past three years, they’ve released Aldon Smith, lost Patrick Willis to retirement, have seen NaVorro Bowman deal with two devastating leg injuries, and seen their OLB draft picks not quite pan out thus far.
At OLB, Tank Carradine is effectively a bust, Aaron Lynch is dealing with weight issues and missed much of the 2016 season, and Eli Harold has been underwhelming thus far. At ILB, NaVorro Bowman will be coming off a torn Achilles on the same leg that dealt with a torn up knee. They re-signed Ray-Ray Armstrong to a two-year extension, but it is more just a prove-it deal than a, “we are ready to pencil you in for the next five years” deal.