As I wrote in the previous post, the position of wide receiver ranks low (lowest?) on the 49ers’ list of positional possibilities with their first-round picks.
Then why are the 49ers interested in speaking with receiver Dez Bryant, who is projected to be the first wideout selected during the NFL draft on April 22?
They’re doing their homework. This is an opportunity every year for teams to find out as much about players around the league (or soon to be around the league) as possible. When a player becomes a free agent – or available in a trade – teams can look back at their draft notes and reflect on their one-on-one sessions.
Peter King wrote earlier today that Bryant will visit the 49ers today. We’ve confirmed through a league source that Bryant is scheduled to arrive in the Bay Area this evening and spend Tuesday morning meeting with coaches and club officials. Certainly, there are a lot of questions about Bryant. That would explain why 10 teams want to spend extra time interviewing him.
Does this mean the 49ers are interested in selecting Bryant in the draft? Not at all. The 49ers have much greater needs than to select a wide receiver in the first round of two consecutive drafts. But it does not hurt for them to learn about the player.
The 49ers will also meet tomorrow with tackle Vladimir Ducasse of
Trent Williams, Russell Okung, Bryan Bulaga and Anthony Davis are widely considered the top four tackles in the draft. There is a possibility all of them will be off the board when it’s the 49ers’ turn to select at No. 13.
So the 49ers could trade back to grab an offensive tackle later in the first round or trade up from their pick at No. 49 overall to select a player in the next tier of offensive tackles. That group includes Ducasse, Charles Brown, Rodger Saffold and Bruce Campbell.
* * *
Comments are closed.