Here's Albert Breer confirming that the 49ers like Foster and Fournette; cue the vomiting emoticon from Heroism and a spamming of Fournette vids from Rascal.
• WHO'S FALLING?
From a talent standpoint, Alabama pass rusher Tim Williams is a Top 10 pick. I've heard him called a more explosive Bruce Irvin, and Irvin went 15th overall in 2013. But there's the drug issue (Williams admitted at the combine to failing tests in college), and the gun charge, and a real question as to whether or not he'll be able to grow past his problems. "He's up there with the top pure pass rushers," said one area scout assigned to the Tide. "The real question is his personality, and the trust factor with teams. The problems aren't rare, it's more whether the team can trust the person. Can he work through the problems? Is he smart enough to work through the problems?" Worth noting: Past personality issues with pass-rushers (Randy Gregory, Aldon Smith, Greg Hardy, Dion Jordan) aren't helping Williams. I'd be surprised if he goes in the first round. And he may fall further than that.
• WHAT'S SAN FRANCISCO DOING?
It's the most asked question I'm hearing from teams, and Stanford pass-rusher Solomon Thomas has long appeared to be the leader in the clubhouse to go No. 2 after Cleveland takes Texas A&M freak Myles Garrett off the board. But I'd be surprised if GM John Lynch doesn't make an effort to try and deal down and accumulate more draft capital. I've heard from a number of people that the Niners like Alabama LB Reuben Foster and LSU RB Leonard Fournette.
• WILL THE BEARS TAKE A SAFETY?
Word is the Bears like both LSU's Jamal Adams and Ohio State's Malik Hooker, who are widely considered two of the best safety prospects to come out of the college ranks in years. The problem? It's the idea of drafting a safety that high, and whether the impact will meet the price of the third pick in the draft. That would naturally make the Bears another candidate to at least explore trading down.
• IS ANYONE LOOKING TO TRADE UP?
As of right now, the ranks are thin, and for a couple reasons. First, the quarterbacks haven't built the momentum that Jared Goff and Carson Wentz did in 2016, and that position is usually a driver in major moves at the top of the first round. Second, as strong as this draft is, where it's strong it's also deep (receiver, tight end, corner, safety, edge rusher), so plenty of teams are thinking that the difference between, say, 5 and 15 or 10 and 20 isn't huge.
• HOW WILL THE BACKS SHAKE OUT?
I know a couple teams that like Dalvin Cook over Leonard Fournette, because of the 21st-century style of back Cook is. (It's similar to why the Colts took Edgerrin James over Ricky Williams a generation ago.) And there are teams that like Joe Mixon, as a player, more than Cook. Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said to me last week he wants a team that can run it when the opponent knows what's coming. So would Fournette be in play at 4? I'm hearing Mixon is likely to go in round two or three. Whenever he goes, it's a big and complex story. Add in Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara, and this historic class of backs will be pretty compelling to watch when we get to Philly.
• AND THE QUARTERBACKS?
Remember, everyone believed the Jaguars were not taking a quarterback with the third pick in 2014. And then they did. So take that into account when I say that there's very little buzz for the quarterbacks inside the top few picks, with Buffalo at 10 (yes, even with Tyrod Taylor under contract) being the earliest selecting team being connected to the group. This one, of course, will evolve in the coming weeks.
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ttp://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/06/richard-sherman-trade-talk-seattle-seahawks-nflpicks
More to come. Others are free to add to the thread.
[ Edited by FL9er on Apr 7, 2017 at 4:11 PM ]