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With the 13th pick of the NFL Draft, the New England Patriots select Tua Tagavailoa. That’s how NBC Sports Peter King’s sees the first round of the NFL Draft playing out on Thursday. The 49ers, still in need of Day 2 and more Day 3 picks, trade with Bill Belichick to move from No. 13 to No. 23.
Why do they drop that far? In King’s mind, it’s not for a wide receiver, it’s to find the long-term replacement for Joe Staley in University of Houston standout Josh Jones, along with the Patriots’ 2021 first-round pick.
Via King:
“In this projection, I’d have the Niners moving to 23 and getting New England’s first-round pick in 2021,” King writes. “Good value, but it won’t help John Lynch trying to get a pick or two in the two-day gulf between picks 31 and 156. So I think the Niners look to trade one of their two first-rounders again, so they can add an extra pick in round two or three. If they stay here, tackle’s the right call. With Joe Staley having either one year or zero years left, it’s a good time to pick a long-term tackle. Jones started for four years at left tackle—45 games—and that’s not something you can say for many collegiate tackles these days.”
Then King has the 49ers trading down again at No. 31 for the Cowboy’s No. 51 and No. 82 picks.
“I said at pick 18 that the Cowboys wanted to replace Travis Frederick with a solid rock in this draft, and it could well be that he’d be on the board midway through the second round with the 51st overall pick. But the Cowboys surrender their third-round pick (82 overall) to move up for a long-term center. The Niners wanted two picks—possibly one for a big-body plugger in the middle of the defensive line, one for a receiver—and this deal does the trick.”
