Sims' Pre-Combine Mock Draft

I can't imagine Baalke using all 12 picks this year so I tried to position us in a better position to load up on quality talent. Using the Trade Value Chart, I utilized two trades that are of equal value or within 3-5 points with us taking the hit on the tiny point differential to make it more appealing to the other team. I am still on the fence about trading Kap so I will hold off on that until after the Combine as things may be clearer.

We trade our 4th (102), 5th (134) and DAL 6th (163) to MIN for their 3rd (87). They drop back 15 spots but now have multiple 4th and 5th rounders to add massive depth.

Trade SD 5th (131) and DEN 6th (192) to CIN for their 4th (120). They give up 11 slots, while adding an additional 6th to position themselves for a move up in the 5th or just simply add more depth to a playoff roster.

Free Agency: (I used Spotrac for the market value and comparable players information)

ILB – Danny Trevathan (DEN) 6-1/240: Comparable Players – Jon Beason, Donald Butler, Stephen Tulloch and Bruce Carter.

Market value: 6 years/$36.4 million. I believe in order to get difference makers to play here, we will end up on the high end of the negotiations. Therefore, I see us overpaying in some if not most cases but for Danny T, it is worth it. He will not break us but he is entering his prime in a position of need. I think Malik Jackson will break the bank somewhere so instead of grabbing him to fill that DE need, we grab Trevathan to fill our ILB need. He won't get what Bowman got (5 years/$45.2 million) but he will come close. Proposed contract: 5 years $38 million ($7.6 million a year)

LG – Ramon Foster (PIT) 6-6/325: Baalke refused to pay up on Iupati this past year and I don't quite blame him since he severely struggles in pass protection, however, shoring up that interior line is a must and Foster has been solid for Pittsburgh. According to Pro Football Focus, "Foster has been an above-average pass protector and he earned a career-high run-blocking grade in 2015). The Steelers have to make a choice on he and Beachum and I think they go with Beachum, their LT for obvious pass protection reasons. Foster is 30 years old but can man that position for the next 3-5 years. He is coming off of a 3 years/$5.5 million contract so I'm expecting something along the lines of 4 years/$18 million ($4.5 million a year)

DE - Cedric Thornton (PHI) 6-4/309: Spotrac did not have a market value with comparable players for him but he was part of PHI's fantastic front 7 rotation and is a great run defender. He does not bring much as a pass rusher but he is certainly an upgrade over Tony Jerod-Eddie and will be a nice player to rotate in our base defense. His last contract was only one year $2.3 million so I expect one similar maybe a two-year deal worth $4.4 million ($2.2 million a year)

RT – Anthony Davis returns and originally competes at his RT spot with Brown. May the best man win as Brown was fairly impressive but if Davis can get back to the top of his game, he will have no issues taking that spot.

Re-sign:

NT - Ian Williams – Arguably the 2nd best defensive player on our team last year and will look even better with an upgraded defensive line unit.

RG - Alex Boone: Comparable Players – Andrew Garner, Manuel Ramirez, Ben Grubbs and Allen Barbre.

Market value: 3 years $7.9 million. However, he is versatile and still young and has been a Pro Bowl Alternate twice. With the addition of Ramon Foster, we are able to slide Boone back over to RG and he and Davis can shore up that side again. Ben Grubbs at the age of 30 after being a Two-time Pro Bowler received a 4 year/$24 million contract last year. Boone's versatility will net him more so I'll go 4 year/$28 million ($7 mil a year)

TE - Garrett Celek – Already re-signed

ILB/ST – Ray-Ray Armstrong – Solid Special Teams guy and will be cheap.

Release/Let Walk:

Boldin, Bush, Draughns, Brooks, Pears, Devey, Simpson, Lemonier, Jerod-Eddie, Dawson

**Saw an article on Niner Nation after the Vernon Davis trade that showed the following draft picks**:

1. First round: Own pick (7)
2. Second round: Own pick (37)
3. Third round: Own pick (69)
4. Fourth round: Own pick (102)
5. Fourth round: Comp pick (Mike Iupati)
6. Fifth round: Own pick (134)
7. Fifth round: San Diego Chargers (2015 draft-day trade) (131)
8. Fifth round: Comp pick (Perrish Cox)
9. Sixth round: Dallas Cowboys (2015 draft-day trade) (163)
10. Sixth round: Denver Broncos (Vernon Davis trade) (192)
11. Sixth round: Comp pick (Dan Skuta)
12. Sixth round: Comp pick (Frank Gore)

After the trades we end up with:

1. First round: Own (7)
2. Second round: Own (37)
3. Third round: Own pick (69)
4. Third round: MIN (87)
5. Fourth round: CIN (120)
6. Fourth round: Comp pick (Mike Iupati)
7. Fifth round: Comp pick (Perrish Cox)
8. Sixth round: Comp pick (Dan Skuta)
9. Sixth round: Comp pick (Frank Gore)

I will utilize CBS Sports Prospect Rankings to compile my mock draft:

Mock Draft:

1) OLB – Noah Spence / Eastern Kentucky 6-3/254: He is the best 3-4 pass rusher in this draft and is exactly what we need on defense. He getting banned from the Big 10 is an issue but I think he has grown up and has learned from that experience. If Buckner is gone, Spence should be the pick as he provides the formula that is needed to win a championship, a deadly pass rush.

2) DT/DE – Vernon Butler / LA Tech 6-4/325: Butler has made a name for himself following his Senior Bowl performance and could certainly be gone by the end of the 1st especially if Denver doesn't re-sign Jackson. However, this Dline class is so deep I believe we luck out in the early 2nd round and have a versatile stud drop into our laps. He can start at RE immediately and slide inside on passing downs. If he is gone, I have no issues selecting Austin Johnson or even Chris Jones here. Either way, we address two huge needs with our first two picks.

3) QB – Dak Prescott / Mississippi State 6-2/226: Very athletic, strong enough arm and a playmaker; but more importantly, he has shown great improvement as a passer and could fit very well in Chip's offense. I would expect for him to sit his entire first year while we see what we have in Kap and Gabbert but Prescott could certainly challenge for that starting spot next year or at worst, become a quality back-up. He is projected as a 3rd to 4th rounder but is climbing up the board and could be gone at the end of the 2nd round. However, I'll take the chance of him being here and us snagging one of the best QBs for Chip's offense.

3) WR Kenny Lawler / Cal 6-2/195 – Nice size, long arms, great athleticism, really big and good hands and great after the catch. He was Goff's favorite target for a reason. Although he is pretty slim, he is a very smooth WR that has no issues making plays in a crowd. Chip wants to get quicker on offense and he does that by letting Boldin go in FA and adding Lawler. Between he, Smith, Patton and Ellington, there will be plenty of speed all over the field. Throw in a healthy Smelter and our WR corps looks very formidable, especially in Chip's offense where guys are running open all of the time.

4) OLB – Yannick Ngakoue / Maryland 6-2/250: Following the Broncos blueprint of creating a monstrous pass rush, we grab Ngakoue two rounds before his 6th round projection (although I expect that to climb more the closer we get to the draft). You can never have enough pass rushers and with the expectation being we are going to score more points and a quicker pace this year, we will need a solid rotation of guys who know how to get to the QB and Ngakoue is very familiar with that coming off of a junior year of 13.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss!

4) CB Deiondre' Hall / Northern Iowa 6-2/192: Versatile player who has played all over the defense to include safety and linebacker at some time. Rangy corner with freakishly long arms that comes from a 3-4 system and is not afraid to come up in run support and lay the wood. Despite needing some work on his press coverage skills, when the ball is in the air, he knows how to make a play. 13 INTs with 4 of them returned for TDs. With both Chip and Baalke loving the length at this position, Hall makes perfect sense.

5) RB – Tyler Ervin / San Jose St. 5-10/192: Small school prospect but very explosive. He can serve as the "Darren Sproles" type of back in Chip's offense. Elusive and quick out in space and can challenge Ellington as the kick returner. Despite his size, he was very successful running between the tackles in college. Competition is somewhat of an issue but he will not be an every down back for us, just a change of pace and third down back once he picks up the intricacies of pass protection from a RB.

6) DT – D.J. Reader / Clemson 6-3/340: Big boy to help man the middle in our 3-4 defense. Played on an elite defensive line unit with Clemson and can be a solid back-up in the run game for Williams. I expect a lot of Dline rotation this year so depth here is big.

6) K – Ka'imi Fairbairn / UCLA 6-0/183: Originally had us taking Roberto Aguayo in the 5th round but felt adding to our defense and special teams with Cyrus Jones gave us better value. However, Fairbairn is the 2nd best kicker in this draft and well worth taking at this point.

Depth Chart:

Offense:

QB – Kap/Gabbert/Prescott

RB - Hyde/Harris/Ervin/Davis/Hayne
FB – Miller

LT – Staley/Boone
LG – Foster/Thomas
C – Kilgore/Martin
RG –Boone/Tiller
RT – Davis/Brown


TE – McDonald/Bell/Celek/Anderson

WR –Smith/Lawler/Smelter/Patton/Ellington/Anderson/Rogers

Defense:

RDE – Butler/Dial/Purcell
NT – Williams/Reader
LDE – Armstead/Thornton

ROLB – Spence/Harold/Carradine
ILB – Trevathan/Armstrong
ILB – Bowman/Hodges
LOLB – Lynch/Ngakoue

CB: Brock/Hall
CB: Johnson/Acker
Slot: Ward/Reaser

FS: Reid/Ward/McCray
SS: Bethea/Tartt

Special Teams:

K – Fairbairn
P – Pinion
KR: Ervin/Ellington
PR: Ellington/Ervin/Hayne

💯💯💯👌👌👌👍👍👍👍

Quick question........why wouldn't the Niners keep some of those late round picks to build massive depth? Why give a playoff team in your own conference the ammunition to get better when you are coming off two down seasons?

P.S. Your free agents and draft are excellent.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
Quick question........why wouldn't the Niners keep some of those late round picks to build massive depth? Why give a playoff team in your own conference the ammunition to get better when you are coming off two down seasons?

P.S. Your free agents and draft are excellent.

Great question and in reality, I would prefer we keep all 12 draft picks and completely rebuild this roster. However, I chose to go with gathering more quality players earlier that can make an immediate impact as opposed to grabbing a bunch of guys late when the majority of them may end up landing on the practice squad due to numbers. Even with the draft day trades, the proposed depth chart put us at 59 which means 6 of those will have to be cut and another 7 after that won't even dress. I just don't think Baalke will keep all 12 this year and as hard as it is to predict draft trades, I have a feeling some are coming so I just tried to do something different yet remain realistic.

Why is Spence needing to slide to 15 for us to get him? We draft number 7?

Originally posted by Bobdawg78:
Why is Spence needing to slide to 15 for us to get him? We draft number 7?

I had to edit that. Yesterday I had us trading back to 15 with the Rams so they can grab Wentz and we can get an extra 2nd but I figured it is best to stay put at 7 and take him.

This is pretty strong off season mock homie. Only issue is that you have to draft an o lineman somewhere. Need to develop some youth for depth I think i'd spend one of those 3rd and 4th round picks on the o line. Or one on o line and the other on the d line.

Originally posted by lamontb:
This is pretty strong off season mock homie. Only issue is that you have to draft an o lineman somewhere. Need to develop some youth for depth I think i'd spend one of those 3rd and 4th round picks on the o line. Or one on o line and the other on the d line.

Thanks. I really wanted to throw one in there, possibly Joe Haeg instead of Hall in the 4th round but I think we already have some young talent on the roster with Tiller, Brown and an unknown Thomas. Martin is there as well although I think his best position is G. So we are looking at 4 young OL currently on the roster that are being developed, any more may be overkill. Now if we don't land a Guard in Free Agency or re-sign Boone, we absolutely must take one in the draft.

I wouldn't even be opposed to Driskel or Hogan later in the draft and taking Oline in the 3rd. But I really like Prescott in Chip's offense