2019 NFL Draft: Ranking the San Francisco 49ers’ top 5 NFL mock drafts
By Chris Wilson
2019 NFL Draft: 49ers mock draft option No. 1
Nick Bosa. 1. player. 42. . EDGE. Ohio State
Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa is the crown jewel of the 2019 NFL Draft, and he happens to play the one position the San Francisco 49ers are desperate to fill.
Nick Bosa’s obvious comp is his older brother Joey, the Pro Bowl edge rusher for the San Diego Chargers who was the first non-quarterback to go off the board in 2016. The two defenders aren’t identical college prospects but they share a number of common traits and characteristics, aside from being brothers who played the same position at the same University.
The two players have similar playing styles, and although Joey left college as a more refined edge defender due to his extra playing time at Ohio State, many analysts believe Nick has the higher NFL ceiling.
Nick Bosa’s game film and expected measurables compare favorably to those of his brother and other top EDGE prospects from prior drafts, as detailed in a December article by Jon Ledyard of The Draft Network.
Last weekend, Bosa told reporters he plans to fully participate in the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine next month, which will give the league a clearer indication of how the edge rusher stacks up against both his 2019 competition and the elite pass rushers drafted in prior years.
At this point in the draft process, Bosa’s biggest red flag is his 2018 core muscle injury and subsequent decision to withdraw from school in order to focus on the draft. With Bosa’s lack of playing time comes a lack of experience and productivity, although his statistics are impressive on a per-game basis:
| Tackles | Def Int | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF |
| *2016 | Ohio St. | Big Ten | FR | DE | 12 | 17 | 12 | 29 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| *2017 | Ohio St. | Big Ten | SO | DL | 14 | 19 | 15 | 34 | 16.0 | 8.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |||
| *2018 | Ohio St. | Big Ten | JR | DE | 3 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 6.0 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Career | Ohio St. | 47 | 30 | 77 | 29.0 | 17.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
If Bosa slips past the Cardinals and falls into San Francisco’s lap, Lynch and Shanahan should pounce at the chance to address the team’s most pressing need with the top overall prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft.
49ers top 4 cap casualties for 2019. dark. Next
How would you rank the San Francisco 49ers’ top 5 mock draft options? Sound off in the comments section, or on Twitter @cgawilson.