RB Saquon Barkley’s post-combine NFL Draft-stock rise is good news for 49ers

Running back Saquon Barkley was one of the winners of the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine after putting on a show in Indianapolis. Thanks to his performance, Barkley’s draft stock is rising to the top, which is great news for the San Francisco 49ers.

Penn State running back Saquon Barkley’s domination at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine cemented his position at the top of the 2018 NFL Draft, and this is great news for a team that won’t be drafting him: the San Francisco 49ers.

Barkley’s performance was impressive — perhaps unprecedented — as he excelled at each event at the combine:

Barkley is strong, quick, fast and explosive. Unfortunately, Barkley is a running back. And running backs just aren’t that important in today’s NFL.

Barkley does possess a trait that’s perhaps most important for today’s running backs: the ability to catch the football out of the backfield. But he still doesn’t warrant consideration at the top of the draft.

San Francisco 49ers

The popular theme among post-draft mocks is Barkley’s selection by the Cleveland Browns — and not at No. 4, but with the first overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.

This would be a monumental blunder by the Browns, a team that consistently passes on early quarterbacks and consistently loses most (or all) of their games, yet consistently fails to realize the correlation.

As the Browns have just two winning seasons this century, they’ve nearly always owned a top pick, yet they’ve failed to select a quarterback before pick No. 22. Coming off the worst two-year stretch in the history of the NFL — and with two selections in the top four of the upcoming draft — this is the year Cleveland has to draft a quarterback.

With the top selection, the Browns have their pick of this year’s quarterbacks. If they find their man, they need to draft him first overall, because there’s a good chance he won’t be available three picks later.

If the Browns lead off with Barkley, and cross their fingers that their quarterback falls to pick No. 4, they will be prioritizing a low-value position over the highest-value position in football. However, this would be the best possible scenario for the 49ers, who aren’t in the market for a quarterback, and shouldn’t be in the market for a running back, at pick No. 9.

With each low-value player off the board — regardless of whether the player is an athletic freak — the 49ers’ pick becomes more valuable, because another high-value player remains on the board. The more high-value players on the board, the more likely the 49ers will be able to either use their pick to draft a high-value player in a position of need, or trade that pick to a team for added compensation.

Even years ago, when running backs held more value, those drafted first overall weren’t worth the draft capital spent:

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Barkley may be the shiny new toy that everybody wants. And while he may soon belong in your fantasy football lineup, he doesn’t belong at the top of the 2018 NFL Draft, or on the San Francisco 49ers’ roster.