Predicting trades on draft day is damn near impossible, but the speculation that the San Francisco 49ers will be a team looking to move up in round one of the 2014 NFL Draft just won’t seem to go away.
A few days ago, Chris Mortensen of ESPN said on the show “NFL Insiders” that there’s buzz the 49ers are “prepared to make a huge move” in the first round of the upcoming draft. While Mortensen isn’t sure which player the 49ers were interested in moving up in round one for, he suggested that Texas A&M wide receiver Mike Evans could be the target.
Chris Mortensen on NFL Insiders said there’s buzz that the 49ers are “prepared to make a huge move” in the 1st round of the NFL Draft.
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) April 25, 2014
Regardless of who the 49ers may or may not be targeting, they certainly have the ammunition to jump way up in the first round. Of their 11 current picks, six are in the first three rounds with two of those being second round selections.
While moving up for Evans would seem to make sense for the 49ers, the same can be said for UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr. I threw Barr’s name out there as a potential target for the 49ers a few weeks ago based on the problems they’ve had with linebacker Aldon Smith.
Mortensen believes the Oakland Raiders, who currently own the fifth overall selection, could potentially be a trade partner for the 49ers. Keep in mind, however, that a move up that high would be a jump of 25 spots for the 49ers and it would surely cost them at least three picks if not four to make such a jump. Is Evans or Barr really worth that?
The Pittsburgh Steelers currently hold the 15th overall pick and should Barr ultimately be the 49ers target, and fall that far, I suggested the Steelers get the 49ers first round pick and the first of their two second round selections in addition to running back LaMichael James to move down 15 spots. A few of you liked that suggestion, while a few others said they would rather have another draft pick instead of James.
I’m sure the Steelers won’t be the only team willing to move down for the right price in less than two weeks and that the 49ers aren’t the only team willing to move up in round one.
Mortensen’s job is to create buzz and that’s all this is at this point. The 49ers large selection of draft picks in the first three rounds makes them easy targets when it comes to draft day trade predictions. We still have to wait a little more than a week to find out if all of this buzz and speculation was worthy.
