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After many hours, two trades, and zero actual 49ers draft picks, Kyle Shanahan walked into the auditorium with a Cheshire smile and, of course, a wisecrack.
“You wait all day for this?” Shanahan joked.
Well, yeah. But it was not for nothing — at least that was the very clear message from Shanahan and John Lynch on Thursday, both wearing very nice suits and looking quite relaxed.
General conclusion: I don’t think they liked the talent at the top of this draft very much. At least not from about Pick 25 on. So let’s see what they do with seven picks from No. 33 on.
Instead of holding onto the 27th selection, the 49ers traded back (with Miami) to the 30th slot when all of their top-rated guys were taken then traded back (with the Jets) to the first pick of the second round when they realized that almost everybody they would’ve considered at 30 would be there at 33.
They picked up third-round pick (No. 90) in a flip for a fourth-rounder and also added a fifth-rounder (No. 179).
“At 27, we were hoping for a couple things and we missed those,” Shanahan said. “But we kinda had the idea we might. …
“The guys that we would’ve had to take at 30 are still there. So I look at it as a huge success to move back to 33 when we would’ve still taken those guys at 30.”
It was hard to read their expressions when I asked Lynch and Shanahan specifically if they were hoping Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion would get to them and bailed when he was taken 24th by Cleveland. The timing does work — that’s right about when the trade was announced.
My best guess is that their last remaining favorites probably came from this group: Concepcion and edges Akheem Mesidor (Miami) and Malachi Lawrence (UCF), who went 22nd and 23rd, respectively.
“I could make something up — I could say we had 22 of ‘em (valued as first-rounders),” Shanahan said.
Here’s what Lynch said about Concepcion: “We liked KC a lot. KC came out here for a visit, we met with him at the combine. Tremendous young man. Really has a great ability with the ball in his hands. Fun player to scout, fun player to watch, fun player to be around. Kyle and I, we tag-team a lot of these visits when we’re with the kids. Really just can’t say enough about that young man. Think he’s going to have a nice future ahead of him.”
Meanwhile, the 49ers flat-out passed on highly regarded offensive tackle Caleb Lomu (Utah) and receivers Omar Cooper Jr. (Indiana) and Denzel Boston (Washington). Lomu went 28th to the Patriots, Cooper went 30th to the Jets, and Boston is still on the board for the 49ers at the top of the second round Friday evening.
The 49ers could take Boston. They could take Texas A&M edge Cashius Howell. They could take somebody else. Or they could spend all day Friday auctioning off the selection.
“The cool thing about the 33rd pick, it puts you in a really nice … we can kind of reconvene, reset our board, reset our thoughts, and I think it’s also a coveted pick as a lot of teams are doing that themselves,” Lynch said.
Do they have a guy they’re ready to pick at 33 or could they trade down again?
“We’ve got a good idea of some names,” Lynch said. “We’re always open for business. Would be foolish not to listen.”
In another piece of business, Shanahan shrugged when I asked if it’s now pretty certain that backup quarterback Mac Jones won’t be traded — that he will be with the team at the start of training.
“I’d be real surprised if he’s not,” Shanahan said. “It also really surprised me that no one came and offered something, like, today. … And his value has probably already passed, anyway.”
The 49ers were happy to play things out on Thursday — wait out actually drafting anybody until the right moment, pick up draft position by being patient, and hold onto QB2 if nobody will meet their price.
It didn’t make for an eventful night, but Shanahan and Lynch made it clear that they didn’t need anything like that. Maybe they’re right about the guys they passed on and the guys they’ll end up with later in this draft. Maybe they’re wrong. But they’re sure not too anxious about it.
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