Who should San Francisco take with the third overall pick?

Earlier this offseason the San Francisco 49ers traded up to the third overall pick with the Miami Dolphins. This trade sent waves throughout the NFL, mainly in terms of rumors regarding who the niners will choose with this pick, considering they’ve given up so much just to move up nine spots. So who will San Francisco select with this pick, and how will it affect the team, the division and the league?

The most prominent name that has been circulating with this third overall selection has been former Alabama quarterback, Mac Jones. Jones showed out last season at Alabama, winning the national championship in 2021. However, Jones has not been highly touted by scouts this offseason, noting his weight, accuracy and consistency. So, with all these “ifs” regarding Jones, why are so many teams expecting him to be taken third? It could potentially be because the Niners are so invested in Jimmy Garoppolo, and keeping him around, that the expectation is that Jones would sit behind Jimmy for a year or two before taking the team over. The Niners could potentially be viewing Mac Jones as a player that has a high reward hidden behind him, will be this prove to be true? Only time will tell. Some other names that have been going around include Trey Lance from NDSU and Justin Fields from Ohio State. With Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson expected to go one and two, respectively, it is going to be between these three men. Here at National Football Rant, we think the Niners should take Justin Fields. Fields has much better tape than Jones, he’s been a starter for longer, thus more experience and he’s the type of quarterback that the Niners would need for the long term. There are, of course, other possibilities that the Niners could look into, one being the option of taking the second best player in the draft this year in Kyle Pitts. San Francisco doesn’t necessarily need another tight end as they already have an all pro at the position in George Kittle, but just imagine, a one-two punch of Pitts and Kittle, there’s no way you can cover both of them, let alone Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Again, only time will tell.

So now that we’ve gone through the possibilities of who will be selected, how will this trade and consequential selection affect the team, its division and the league as a whole? Two years ago the Niners made it all the way to the Super Bowl behind Jimmy Garoppolo, and now, two years later, after an injury plagued season that had the Niners picking 12th, the team is possibly looking to draft his replacement, why? Could it be because of his injuries and the questions surrounding his health, or could it be because of his production? We may never know. What we can deduce, though, is that the locker room may take a hit if the team is looking to move on from Jimmy, which can never be good. As for the division, if San Francisco is looking to be in a state of transition, then it is fair to expect them to not be as competitive as other team with locked in starters. However, the team may not be looking to be in this sort of situation, as it seems that the team wants to keep Jimmy Garoppolo as their starter if they were to draft a quarterback, and just have that player learn behind Jimmy and be ready if/when he goes out with injury. We would just say that it is fair to expect other teams in that division to capitalize on the Niners if they do trot a rookie quarterback out to try and win a divisional game, especially against those defenses that he would be facing. And lastly, for the rest of the league, it would just be another quarterback taken, another quarterback that wouldn’t be available for other teams that are in need of a fresh face at that position. A selection of Mac Jones or Justin Fields could potentially force some teams like Washington, New England or Chicago to try and trade up into the top ten to take the guy they want. Some teams to watch that could potentially trade down are Atlanta, Miami and Carolina.

To conclude, San Francisco has certainly made some impressions this offseason. In just eight days we’ll see just what the front office down in the bay is really planning on doing, as they are the ones who are really holding all the cards. No matter their selection there will be absurd amounts of madness flowing throughout the football world, whether it be Mac Jones, Justin Fields, Trey Lance or even Kyle Pitts, we’ll just have to wait and see.