There comes a point in the preparation for the NFL Draft where the mock drafts begin to overlap. The same potential customers are projected to go to the same teams, either because the experts are all reading each other’s work or because they are receiving identical information (or both). The end result is not always that your projections are accurate, but it usually points to some intel linking certain players to certain franchises.
Anyway, we have not reached that point, but we are getting there. Some of the more recent simulated drafts are offering the same theory, that the San Francisco 49ers will remain in 12th overall position and will have Alabama quarterback Mac Jones on April 29.
Says CBS Sports: “Kyle Shanahan is building an attack that rewards getting the ball out early. Mac Jones can certainly deliver the ball quickly to Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.”
Jones and Crimson Tide have just won a national title and, as a junior, Jones shot for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He is widely considered to be behind a trio of other choices designed for the first round – Trevor Lawrence of Clemson, Zach Wilson of BYU and Justin Fields of Ohio – and a good number of prognosticators consider him inferior to Trey Lance of the state from North Dakota as well.
But Jones’ shares are skyrocketing compared to previous projects, where he was considered to be yet another delayed first-round pick. Some simulated drafts now make it even higher than No. 12. It is likely that at least one of the five quarterbacks mentioned earlier will escape on recruitment day – the question is which one?
The 49ers selecting a quarterback does not prevent them from negotiating or keeps Jimmy Garoppolo, its current owner. A month ago, there seemed to be more smoke surrounding a possible Garoppolo deal, but that has eased a little lately. Still, there are teams that would love to face it, especially the New England Patriots.
In early March, on his “Patriots Press Pass” podcast, Greg Bedard reported that Jimmy G is the Pats “Plan A” option as a defender in this off season. This started a mini-news cycle that continued this week. On Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter participated in WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” and had a more diplomatic, yet intriguing opinion.
“If – and it’s a huge if – if San Francisco decides that it can raise the position of a defender, then I think Jimmy Garoppolo would be completely logical in New England,” he said. “But also, the timing is a problem and New England is not just going to sit and wait and see what San Francisco does. That is why many of these movements are really complicated. It’s not just that simple that you could say, ‘Well, San Francisco is going to have another quarterback’, which they might as well do, but how do we know New England hasn’t made a quarterback move yet? Does New England want to enter the free agency without a quarterback and try to hire wide receivers? “
Meanwhile, ESPN reporter Mike Reiss said on the radio this week that the Patriots “love Jimmy” and acquiring him “makes a lot of sense to me”. He also launched a potential commercial package for the Patriots-49ers. “How committed would the [49ers] would it be if the Patriots, taking a more aggressive approach, launched something like a second round pick (No. 46) or even cornerback Stephon Gilmore to get ahead of what could be a challenging contract situation? “
I imagine that, in this scenario, the 49ers would have to say yes to send Jimmy G. This type of exchange would need to be completed soon, definitely before the draft, so that San Francisco could properly assess its future defender options and acquire a decent veteran. at the free agency as well.