The San Francisco 49ers are going to hold a high pick in the 2019 NFL Draft in a quarterback-thin class, which could draw interest from these five QB-needy teams.
As it stands now, the San Francisco 49ers will hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
With a 2-8 record and a worse strength of schedule than the remaining crop of two-win teams this deep into the 2018 season, the Niners’ still stand an excellent chance of landing a top-three pick even if they reel off another win or two over their final six contests.
General manager John Lynch knows his team has a plethora of needs but only five picks with which to use in April’s draft. This has prompted notions the 49ers decide to trade down from their top spot, acquiring much-needed draft capital and still cashing in on a defense-heavy 2019 draft class — easily the team’s biggest area of need heading into next season.
And no other position commands more trade-up value than quarterback.
Earlier this year, the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals executed lucrative moves to grab their franchise guys, Josh Rosen and Josh Allen, respectively. That was in a quarterback-heavy class too.
This year, not so much by the way of a QB-deep class.
Fortunately for teams like San Francisco, quarterback isn’t a position of need. Given the number of teams likely in the hunt for a quarterback this offseason, Lynch is in excellent position to try one of these lucrative trade-down deals.
There are five squads out there likely on the hunt for a franchise signal-caller. We’ll get to those in a moment, although it’s important to note only one quarterbacks showed up on The MMQB’s Albert Breer’s 2019 NFL Draft top-20 big board, Oregon’s Justin Herbert at No. 13.
A pending scramble to outmaneuver the other teams on the hunt for a QB is brewing, isn’t it.
So let’s take a look at which teams out there could be gunning for a quarterback like Herbert, opening up the possibility the 49ers trade down out of their top spot.