NFL power rankings: Post-2019 NFL Draft breakdown for all 32 teams
By Peter Panacy
Rnd | Player | Pick | Pos | College/Univ |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nick Bosa | 2 | DE | Ohio St. |
2 | Deebo Samuel | 36 | WR | South Carolina |
3 | Jalen Hurd | 67 | WR | Baylor |
4 | Mitch Wishnowsky | 110 | P | Utah |
5 | Dre Greenlaw | 148 | LB | Arkansas |
6 | Kaden Smith | 176 | TE | Stanford |
6 | Justin Skule | 183 | OT | Vanderbilt |
6 | Tim Harris | 198 | CB | Virginia |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/1/2019.
Maybe the 49ers can be somewhat thankful for the swarm of injuries they suffered last season. If quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would have stayed healthy all of 2018, the Niners wouldn’t have had a shot to land Nick Bosa at No. 2 overall.
San Francisco 49ers
Bosa, arguably the top player from this year’s class, certainly gives San Francisco a nice little boost in NFL power rankings. He’ll join a stacked defensive line consisting of four other first-round draftees: Arik Armstead, Solomon Thomas and 2018 Pro Bowlers Dee Ford and DeForest Buckner.
Oh, and Garoppolo is coming back from his ACL tear, too. That changes things.
So should general manager John Lynch’s two picks in Rounds 2 and 3, wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd. While the 6-foot-5 Hurd is more of a project with exceptional potential, Samuel is one of the better route runners and playmakers in this year’s draft class. He should make a serious impact right away, positively affecting a 49ers receiver group that failed to produce a single 500-yard wideout in 2018.
It was a little weird to see the Niners avoid their secondary, for the most part until Virginia’s Tim Harris in Round 7.
Still, landing Bosa and pairing him with arguably a top-five defensive line in 2019 won’t allow opposing quarterbacks a lot of time to pick apart San Francisco’s defensive backfield anyway, and that’s good enough for a modest rise in NFL power rankings.
Good news, too, because it’s now year three of the Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan rebuild.