The 2018 NFL regular season is officially a wrap, and the top of the draft board is in place. The Arizona Cardinals lost a close on to the Seattle Seahawks to secure the No. 1 overall pick. The San Francisco 49ers locked up the No. 2 pick thanks to their loss to the Los Angeles Rams, and wins by the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys to secure the strength of schedule tiebreaker over the New York Jets.
The 49ers will pick No. 2 overall, but then each round after that they will rotate with the Jets and Oakland Raiders. The 49ers will pick fourth in the second round, third in the third round, second in the fourth round and third in the sixth round. They traded away their fifth and seventh round picks.
Ohio State edge rusher Nick Bosa is the early favorite to go No. 1 overall, but with four months remaining until the draft, plenty can change. Quarterbacks in particular can rise up the rankings and convince a team to make a stupid trade up the draft board. The Cardinals, 49ers, Jets, and others could be in position to benefit in a big way.
In the meantime, SB Nation’s Dan Kadar is back with his first 2019 NFL mock draft of the offseason (for non-playoff teams). For the time being, it’s formulaic for the first two picks. He has the Cardinals selecting Bosa and the 49ers selecting Kentucky edge rusher Josh Allen.
Allen going this high will be dependent on him having a great showing at the NFL Scouting Combine in a couple months. If his timing numbers are off, the 49ers will have a tough decision to make. Would they really Alabama’s Quinnen Williams after taking DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead recently?
If Bosa is gone and they decide Allen isn’t worth it, where do they go? A trade down would make a ton of sense if they could find somebody willing to pay a ransom of picks to move up for a quarterback. They could decide to go with a cornerback if they think Greedy Williams is a shutdown option. Is there anything else that could jump out at No. 2?