SF 49ers 3-round mock NFL Draft with Round 1 trade-down

Round 1, Pick No. 20 Overall (from Bears): SF 49ers select QB Mac Jones, Alabama

It’s not likely San Francisco winds up in the running for one of the top-end quarterbacks in the draft, although putting the team in contention for one of the multiple second-tier signal-callers is certainly a possibility.

Alabama quarterback Mac Jones certainly improved his draft stock with a five-touchdown performance over Ohio State in the 2021 CFB Playoff Championship game, pushing him from a fringe first-rounder into a potential top-20 selection in Round 1. And while Jones is nothing like the dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks earlier in the draft, which have become so common in the NFL in recent years, Jones seems to be the perfect kind of quarterback for Kyle Shanahan’s offense.

And with Jones, not a highly touted first-round selection, the SF 49ers could still afford to hang onto Jimmy Garoppolo for at least one more season.

To increase value for the move, however, the Niners would have to engineer a trade down with the Chicago Bears, who are likely looking for a dynamic quarterback of their own to replace Mitchell Trubisky while saving head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace’s jobs.

In this scenario, North Dakota State’s Trey Lance would be Chicago’s target to revitalize its otherwise stagnant offense, and the Bears would leapfrog other quarterback-needy teams like Washington (No. 19 overall) and the New England Patriots (No. 15 overall).

To swap first-rounders, San Francisco would get the Bears’ Round 3 selection in 2021 and another third-rounder in 2022 in exchange for the SF 49ers’ fifth-round selection next year.

With that pick, the Niners would maximize the investment in Jones while adding to some much-needed draft capital this season and next.