5 early contenders for SF 49ers first pick in 2021 NFL Draft

SF 49ers Contender No. 2: Cornerback Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

Alabama has a loaded roster, so it shouldn’t be too surprising to see a number of Crimson Tide names on the list of early SF 49ers NFL Draft contenders.

The next, and perhaps biggest of need for the Niners, is cornerback Patrick Surtain II, who also had himself a good enough championship bout against Ohio State, frustrating Justin Fields’ targets and helping limit the Buckeyes’ passing offense over the course of the contest.

Surtain is neck-and-neck alongside Virginia Tech’s Caleb Farley to be the first cornerback taken on draft day, although Surtain has more recent game tape on him whereas Farley sat out 2020.

Plus, there’s little doubting Surtain’s fit in the current defensive scheme, although that could change pending what happens in the wake of defensive coordinator Robert Saleh’s head-coaching prospects.

Nevertheless, Surtain’s 6-foot-2, 202-pound frame is ideal for a boundary-type player, and he’s shown flashes of greatness in both man- and zone-coverage schemes. With San Francisco poised to lose a number of starting-caliber cornerbacks, namely Richard Sherman, Jason Verrett, Ahkello Witherspoon and Dontae Johnson, to free agency this offseason, stockpiling a number of high-end corners via the draft would be a wise move.

And it wouldn’t be silly at all to make use of the SF 49ers’ top pick on draft day to address this need.