2018 NFL Draft: 3 scenarios for the 49ers trading down in Round 1
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers own the No. 9 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Assuming they trade down from this spot, what are some plausible scenarios? Here are three of them.
If there aren’t any changes when the 2018 NFL Draft commences on Apr. 26, the San Francisco 49ers will be picking at No. 9 overall on day one.
A year ago, general manager John Lynch traded down from the No. 2 spot in a move with the Chicago Bears, landing three additional picks and still grabbing defensive end Solomon Thomas in the process.
The landscape entering 2018 if a bit different, of course. It always is.
More than a handful of teams are in the market for a quarterback. Teams like the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, New York Jets and Denver Broncos — all picking ahead of San Francisco — could be looking for a signal-caller first. Some, like the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals, are also on the QB hunt but have selections after No. 9.
What if Lynch and Co. want to take advantage of the hot quarterback market and trade down, acquiring extra picks in the process? Here’s a list of what the Niners have already.
There’s no exact science to this. It’s a market-value thing, after all. But according to Pro Football Talk’s draft-pick value chart, we can get an idea what each selection is worth in return:
Here is the draft pick value chart I am talking about (via @ProFootballTalk ) pic.twitter.com/WSbBSMynyl
— 49ers HUB (@49ersHub) February 8, 2017
Let’s have some fun with trade-down scenarios, shall we?