The Nick Bosa question is beginning solidify more and more as the days after the Senior Bowl roll on. We already looked at a mock draft the folks at CBS Sports put together, one where Josh Allen went first to the Arizona Cardinals after that change to a 3-4 defense. Now, none other than Matt Maiocco has mocked Bosa to the 49ers.
Maiocco teamed up with fellow NBC Sports Bay Area report Scott Blair and the two put together a post-Senior Bowl mock draft. This means the mock was made with the good (and bad) Senior Bowls in mind. Players like Montez Sweat have jumped up to 16th (going to the Carolina Panthers) but other players like Nick Bosa still go in the top-three, and the 49ers land him. They summed everything we like up in one sentence (well, two if you want to get technical):
The No. 1 item on John Lynch’s to-do list is to get a game-changing edge rusher. Check.
The Cardinals took Quinnen Williams in this mock, which if he has a good Combine, is a very likely possibility as we discussed Monday. Not the possibility of Williams, but the Cardinals looking for someone other than Bosa for that 3-4 defense they want to return to. Bosa is better suited for a 4-3 and attempting to plug him into a 3-4 is risky, just look at the 49ers attempts to put Tank Carradine into a 3-4.
We still have the NFL Combine to look at before we can start locking Bosa to the 49ers, but it may start becoming the norm that Bosa goes to the 49ers and Williams goes to the Cardinals. Both are the best players for each team’s current need. If the Cardinals do take Bosa, it wouldn’t be to keep him away from the 49ers (that would be asinine) it would be because they see him fitting in a 3-4 defense.
If so, good luck.