© John Reed | 2019 Nov 30
If one of the top three receivers are available when the 49ers pick at No. 13 in next Thursday’s NFL Draft, the 49ers have to take one, right? Right??
Not so fast according to longtime 49ers beat writer Matt Maiocco. Maiocco put his GM cap on when he joined Murph & Mac on Thursday, and made a compelling argument why San Francisco should wait to select a receiver in this year’s draft.
“It’s so tempting to get the wide receiver, the splashy pick, but the beauty of this draft for teams who need wide receivers, is there is a ton of wide receivers,” Maiocco said. “How often is it that the top three wide receivers on everybody’s draft board end up being the top three wide receivers? It’s very rare.”
Maiocco believes the smarter move would be to grab a cornerback with the No. 13 pick, another position of need with far less depth in the draft. Florida’s C.J. Henderson comes to mind. Maiocco believes the 49ers could still get a quality receiver at No. 31 or later on.
“If you’re dealing with a position like that, where the strength of the draft is day two and maybe even day three, then why not take advantage of that? Get the cornerback now. The thing I like about the cornerback selection, is Richard Sherman is entering the final year of his contract. It’s been 16 years, since 2004, that the 49ers even took a cornerback in the first two rounds of the draft, and that was Shawntae Spencer.
“If you have an opportunity to draft a guy who fits the 49ers mold but is young and explosive and talented, wouldn’t you just think it would set the player up for the rest of his career to be able to spend at least one year learning from Richard Sherman?
“My thought would be get a cornerback at No. 13 and get the wide receiver a little bit later.”
Listen to the full interview below.