The San Francisco 49ers have a lot of options at their disposal at No. 2 in the 2017 NFL Draft. We’ve heard Solomon Thomas and Malik Hooker mentioned extensively, but plenty of other names are in the mix in a draft that has no clear-cut No. 2 player.
Friend of the site and Bleacher Report draft analyst Matt Miller has been high on a pair of players in his mock drafts. He has had the 49ers regularly selecting either linebacker Reuben Foster or running back Leonard Fournette. They’ve been curious selections, but in his Friday scouting notebook, he offered some reasoning for them.
The San Francisco 49ers are, according to a scouting source with the team, in love with Reuben Foster and Leonard Fournette if Garrett is gone.
This is one scout source, and it could mean several things. We don’t know for certain that John Lynch and/or Kyle Shanahan are as high on either man as some scouts might be. And of course, it is also possible the 49ers want to lure someone in to trade for the No. 2 pick. There’s a rumor circulating that the Carolina Panthers would be interested in the pick. They could use another running back, so if they think the 49ers might have interest in Fournette, maybe they are prepared to leap up for him.
This is a particularly deep class for running backs, so in some ways it would be odd to move for a running back that high. It comes down to whether or not the 49ers love Fournette that much more than the other running backs, and that much more in comparison to the defensive talent on the board.
This draft is deeper for defensive talent, so one possibility is the team figures it can depth later, so go for a premium offensive player earlier. I doubt they go running back early, but if they value Fournette that much more, then I guess maybe I oughta add his name to the list of pre-writes I’ll be doing for draft day!