On Monday, SB Nation posted its latest mock draft, this time a collaboration between Dan Kadar and Adam Stites. They are going in a slightly different direction for the San Francisco 49ers, but not one that we haven’t seen before. The pick s Marcus Davenport, defensive end out of UTSA.
Davenport seems to be getting more and more popular as a pick for the 49ers, who will likely go with a “best player available” pick at No. 9 overall. Davenport or one of the top linebackers could very well be that best player available. Davenport is an interesting player. Here’s the rationalization behind the pick, via Stites:
Ideally, Barkley, Chubb, Fitzpatrick, or Nelson would slide to No. 9. But with those prospects off the board, the 49ers can go a number of different directions. San Francisco was near the bottom of the NFL in sacks in 2017 and Elvis Dumervil was the only player on the team with more than three. Dumervil wasn’t re-signed by the 49ers and Jeremiah Attaochu was the only pass rusher added in free agency.
The 49ers have added a lot of talent to the front seven in recent drafts, but there’s still work to be done and Davenport has the potential to be a special talent.
I personally am not too hot on Attaochu as a pass-rusher, but the 49ers obviously feel like the potential is there. That doesn’t preclude them from drafting one in April, especially in the first round.