Warriors forward Kevin Durant is one of the bigger NFL fans you’ll come across in an NBA locker room.
Durant grew up die hard Washington Redskins fan, attended a Raiders game last season and has several old tweets about football. KD follows the sport closely, including college.
In a conversation with Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami, Durant offered some advice for John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan on what to do with the No. 2 overall pick.
Kevin Durant watches more college football than I do. Asked him who he'd take with 49ers' #2 pick: He said Ohio State safety Malik Hooker.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) April 26, 2017
Durant and I are kind of thinking the same thing. My Tuesday column predicted Lynch would take a safety with his first-ever pick. The 49ers not only need someone to play the position, the have a Hall of Fame caliber GM to mentor their new cornerstone piece. My gut tells me Lynch’s first pick is a safety — that could still end up being the selection with a trade down.
Hooker is considered more of a gamble than LSU’s Jamal Adams, but he picked off seven passes last season at Ohio State. Similarly to Mitch Trubisky, though, he played just one season. His sample size is small. But Hooker does have more of those center fielder characteristics the team needs — 6-foot-2, rangy, strong instincts, the ability to read the quarterback’s eye
In KNBR.com’s final mock draft, Larry Krueger has the 49ers trading down to No. 12 with the Browns and San Francisco selecting Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis. I have the 49ers trading down to No. 8 with the Panthers and taking Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey — and then also trading back into the first round to nab Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster. I think a safety is more likely, but if the 49ers can walk away with a building block on both sides of the ball after Day 1, they’ll do everything they can.
Judgement day is finally here tomorrow.
