Every year, the NFL Draft features some kind of run on quarterbacks. It does not always happen in the first round, but at some point, a group of teams all decides at the same time, hey, maybe we should draft a developmental prospect or something!
Bleacher Report draft analyst Matt Miller put together his latest 2017 NFL mock draft, and after Mitchell Trubisky goes fifth to the Cleveland Browns at No. 5 (a trade with the Tennessee Titans), he has three quarterbacks come off the board between picks 23 and 27. They include DeShaun Watson to the New York Giants, Patrick Mahomes to the Houston Texans, and DeShone Kizer to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Miller’s mock draft comes as part of his weekly scouting notebook, and this week he discussed the QB position with a personnel executive. That person said he doesn’t think the run on quarterbacks happens until the 20s. We see that reflected in Miller’s mock, although he then follows up with back-to-back quarterbacks in round two, with the Bills (44) and Cardinals (45) drafting Davis Webb and Nathan Peterman, respectively.
Miller put together two-rounds in his mock draft, and he has the 49ers selecting Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and USC cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. While Jackson has been extremely productive in college, his size is a question mark. He stands 5’10 and weighs 186 pounds. He can be plenty productive in the NFL, but will the 49ers be looking for more length at the cornerback position?
And if the 49ers do not get a quarterback with one of their first two picks in this kind of mock draft, they’ll be left with a highly speculative pick later in the draft. There has been speculation Kyle Shanahan is not particularly enamored with this year’s quarterback class, so that would not be entirely surprising. But all these QBs come off the board this early, who do you see the 49ers snagging later in the draft?