To start off with: I believe that McCloughan, and to a lesser extent, Singletary's job will be riding on the outcome of this season. Scott had the excuse before that it was Nolan's team; however, after several potential busts in previous drafts, he needs to pull out a good one, and the Niners need to make the playoffs for his job to be totally safe.
For this reason, I believe Scott will take advantage of the fact that this is the deepest draft in a while since a lot of juniors are coming out early due to the concern about the CBA. Therefore, I expect him to aggressively look for and pursue players who have the potential to make an impact this year or the next.
1(13): TRADE with the Chargers for their 1st(28), 2nd(60) and 4th(123) picks. SD feels it is just one or two pieces away from a championship run, and they want CJ Spiller to compliment Sproles. Spiller could alleviate some of the stress on return duties from Sproles, and give SD an explosive 1-2 punch to compete with almost any other in the NFL.
1(16/17): Trent Williams (OT) - McCloughan loves seniors who have shown production, as well as big bodies. Williams fits both those requirements, and the top 4 tackles (Okung, Davis, Bulaga and Campbell) will likely be gone by this point due to the Bills now also needing a tackle. This pick will not be BPA, however, Williams will be ready to start and contribute from year one, and that's what McCloughan wants.
1(28): Jahvid Best (RB/KR) - Singletary and McCloughan will fall in love with Best during the interviews, the kid is extremely humble, and has a great passion for the game. Sing will also love his moral compass as Best was considered a lock to come back for his Senior season since he and his family valued his education so highly. Also, every time I watch the tape, Best is just a better RB than Spiller, his evasiveness and run style is very reminiscent of Barry Sanders, and he also did some KR in college and put up impressive numbers.
Had it not been for the injury, Best would've easily been the 1st RB off the board, and the niners will seize the opportunity and take a phenomenal RB later than he should've gone due to injury concerns (Gore). This also works because McCloughan believes he can find a lot of gems in players who had been injured and fell, and has not been shy using draft picks on those players (Crabtree, McDonald, Gore).
2(39): Brandon Spikes (ILB) - There has been a lot of talk about McClain, but I don't think the niners will spend another 1st on an ILB. However, as evidencied by last years draft, the 49ers were hoping that Maualuga would drop to them, and when he didn't they traded their 2nd rounder away. Once again, McCloughan will go and draft a senior in the hopes of some instant production, as well an excellent opportunity to learn behind his cousin Takeo, and take over the TED spot in a year.
2(49): TRADE with the Raiders, niners give up their 2nd(49) and next years 3rd for Oakland's 2nd(39). Raiders have no 1st round pick next year, and they'd love to get an extra pick in that draft. After watching Maualuga not make it to their position last year, the niners will not risk it and will move up to grab their guy this time around.
2(60): Jordan Shipley (WR/KR/PR) - Once again, McCloughan goes with another senior. I don't think many WR in this draft will offer the kind of instant production and understanding Shipley will as a redshirt senior. From everything I've read, he has excellent hands, could run a decently fast 40 time, and put up great return numbers to boot. With Josh Morgan regressing last year, the niners will look for some sort of a spark as a 3rd receiver, and Shipley is the closest thing to Wes Welker in this draft.
3(79): Akwasi Owusu-Ansah(CB/KR/PR) - It's well established that McCloughan loves bigger players in the secondary. Owusu-Ansah is one of the bigger CBs in the draft at 6-1, but more importantly shows flashes of being a shutdown corner. He should run a pretty fast 40, and that combined with his return abilities is something the niners will not look past. With injury and age concerns in our secondary, he should see some play time right away, and will be given the opportunity to compete for a spot as a returner as well.
4(110): Myron Rolle (S) - I think both McCloughan and Sing will be blown away by Rolle in the interview portion. McCloughan loves players who are overly smart, and no one is smarter than Rolle. Also, Rolle had an impressive week at the senior bowl, and provides relief for our safeties, with Lewis dealing with injuries and Roman being ... Roman.
4(123): Jimmy Graham (TE) - I think Graham has the potential to be the best TE to come out of this draft, however, his lack of Production and technique will cause him to drop in the draft. He is the splitting image of a prototypical TE, with height/weight/speed, and McCloughan will fall in love with him because of that. The niners drafted Pascoe last year who didn't work out, and they will take Graham in the hope that he will evolve into a player capable of teaming up with Davis for years to come.
I haven't really done enough research to think about who we'd go after the 4th round. Also, I'm not sure if Graham will actually fall that far in the 4th round, my gut feeling is that he'd be taken somewhere in the 3rd, in which case I wouldn't mind trading next years 2nd to grab graham in the 3rd this year. I realize that a lot of people hate using the following years draft picks, but I just feel that McCloughan is on the hot seat now more than ever before, and he will see the depth of this years draft, and consequently, the lack of depth in next years, and move to get the players he wants.
Phew, that was a lot of typing, anyways, tell me what you guys think!
