SF 49ers NFL Draft: Patrick Surtain II an option at No. 12

With the need for quarterbacks being extremely high, it may lead to the SF 49ers landing a top cornerback prospect like Patrick Surtain II.

The 2021 NFL Draft is loaded at the top with quarterbacks, and there are teams early on in the draft who could use one. Due to this fact, it will cause players at other positions to fall further than they should, giving teams an opportunity to get some positive return on investment.

One of the teams that could benefit from this is the SF 49ers.

The Niners have some questions to answer at the quarterback position, but it appears they may elect to ride with Jimmy Garoppolo for at least one more season on his contract.

With that in mind, San Francisco will look to boost its talent at another position, and the SF 49ers are going to be in dire need of a cornerback with eight of them scheduled to hit free agency.

In Dane Brugler’s most recent mock draft with The Athletic, he had the Niners selecting cornerback Patrick Surtain II from the University of Alabama:

"The 49ers don’t have any cornerbacks under contract for next season so saying cornerback is a need is an understatement. And in this scenario, need matches talent with Surtain, who might not have elite speed or twitch but has NFL-ready cover skills and instincts."

As Brugler alluded to in his article, Surtain may not the be most freakish athlete, but he may remind San Francisco fans of a certain corner they will likely be losing in free agency this year, Richard Sherman. This is not to say that Surtain will reach Sherman’s level, but both are bigger corners who rely on their instincts to win as opposed to athleticism.

Surtain could be the top corner taken in this year’s draft, and he’d likely be a top-10 pick if it weren’t for a probable early run on quarterbacks.

It still somewhat of a dream for the SF 49ers to land Surtain, especially if they elect to sit at the No. 12 overall pick in this April’s draft.  But with Brugler being as connected as he is and actually projecting him there himself it certainly gives fans more hope to land one of better corners in the draft.

If this was two months ago, there wouldn’t be a shot. But this is the NFL Draft, and things change every day.