NFL exec on 49ers: “I simply do not buy Kyle Shanahan shifting up all the best way to 3 for Mac Jones”
Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers
The Athletic’s Mike Sando made his round of the league asking about the San Francisco 49ers who traded to # 3 overall to pick a quarterback. Even if the two best picks are viewed as bans – Trevor Lawrence for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Zach Wilson for the New York Jets – no one is really sure about the 49ers’ plan.
There is speculation – a lot of it.
Given its history with quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan, many believe that San Francisco was traded in for Mac Jones of Alabama. Two NFL executives who spoke to Sando can see that. Whether or not they agree with the possible choices is a different story.
“I heard you think really seriously about Mac Jones and it would blow my mind,” one of the executives told Sando. “If you’d asked Alabama who their starting quarterback would be a year ago, it wouldn’t have been Mac Jones.”
A third manager isn’t sure Jones is the reason the 49ers dropped multiple first-round picks to jump to the top of the draft regulation.
“I don’t think they rose for Mac Jones,” the nameless person told Sando. “I think it’s North Dakota State (Lance) but it could be Ohio State (Fields). They keep Garoppolo for a year, redshirt the rookie and then if everything goes according to plan they have a Kansas City situation with them Mahomes.
“I suspect Carolina or Denver pull the trigger on Mac Jones or the bears go up, but I’m not buying Kyle Shanahan, who goes up to three for Mac Jones.”
That should come as a relief for 49ers fans who feel that Jones could have been acquired with a lower range – or they didn’t want Jones at all. There seems to be a range in giving so much draft capital to a player whose cap may be lower than Justin Fields or Trey Lance’s.
Obviously, this is a choice that will change the franchise and that Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch will have to make. Failure could be devastating for the organization.
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