5 college players the 49ers should watch for the 2020 NFL Draft
If there’s one prospect who is going to be on a roller-coaster ride for the 2020 NFL Draft, it’s going to be Tennessee’s Trey Smith.
If we were judging merely on talent alone, Smith may be the top prospect on draft boards. A prospect, who played equally well at guard before moving outside for Tennessee, Smith excelled at all facets of blocking for the Volunteers.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers recently extended left tackle Joe Staley through to 2021, but even he can’t play forever. Mike McGlinchey played exceptionally well as a rookie, but his strengths may leave him more suited to remain at right tackle.
There’s frankly no depth behind these two fans would entrust the health of Jimmy Garoppolo with.
The 49ers need to find a left tackle of the future. Maybe that’s McGlinchey, or maybe it’s someone new.
For Smith, the question mark will be his health. He had blood clots in his lungs, which cut his season short, and his status is in question for this year.
In recent years, we’ve seen health scares drop prospects. Defensive tackle Maurice Hurst was a possible first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft before heart concerns dropped him all the way down into the fifth round.
The Oakland Raiders stopped his fall, and they were rewarded with a very promising rookie season from Hurst.
This year, we saw a similar story with EDGE Montez Sweat. Sweat enjoyed a ridiculously good wave of momentum before the draft, before a more minor heart condition was discovered in a NFL Scouting Combine medical (later found to be possibly erroneous), which dropped him from a possible selection in the top five picks all the way down to No. 25, where the Washington Redskins were all too happy to take him.
To be clear, the news that the heart condition was a possible misdiagnosis happened before the NFL Draft took place. The mere idea that he could have had health problems still caused him to drop.
Smith doesn’t have a possibly erroneous health report, as the clots are indeed there. Could the 49ers take a similar risk and take someone of prestigious talent? Some may scoff, but the value even in the middle of the first round would be immense.
People will be watching Smith very closely this season. The Niners no doubt among them.