I made it home late last night from the NFL Scouting Combine in
The workouts this morning were of considerable interest to the 49ers. By my count, 29 of the 66 defensive linemen invited to the combine were paced through outside linebacker drills so scouts could gauge their prospects of making the conversion.
The 49ers get an up-close look, as outside linebackers coach Jason Tarver leads those drills. (By the way, Tarver might be the 49ers’ best assistant coach. You ask, based on what? He has accomplished something unheard of in the NFL: He has remained with the 49ers with four different head coaches, working his way up from offensive quality control to assistant running backs/offensive assistant to defensive assistant to his current role of outside linebackers coach.)
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Because the 49ers play a 3-4 scheme, this position will always rank as a need. It come at No. 13, No. 17 or at any point later in the draft. With Manny Lawson’s contract set to expire after the 2010 season, the 49ers simply cannot afford to ignore this position.
Here is a rough guestimate of where those 29 athletes might project in the draft:
First round possibilies
Derrick Morgan (Georgia Tech)
Jason Pierre-Paul (
Sergio Kindle (
Everson Griffen (USC)
Brandon Graham (
Ricky Sapp (Clemson)
Jerry Hughes (TCU)
Second-third round
Jason Worilds (Virginia Tech)
Koa Misi (
Jermaine Cunningham (
Thaddeus Gibson (
Greg Hardy (Mississipp)
Fourth-sixth round
Brandon Lang (
George Selvie (
Willie Young (
Rahim Alem (LSU)
Cameron Sheffield (
Lindsey
Kevin Basped (
Adrian Tracy (William & Mary)
Late round-free agent
Junior Galette (Stillman)
Jammie Kirlew (
Albert McClellan (
Daniel Te’o-Nesheim (
Dexter Davis (
Antonio Coleman (
Greg Middleton (
Arthur Moats (James Madison)
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