SF 49ers: Post-Senior Bowl 3-round mock 2021 NFL Draft

Round 1, Pick No. 12 Overall: SF 49ers select CB Patrick Surtain II, Alabama

In this mock, the SF 49ers miss out on some of the top quarterbacking names and ultimately decide to see how things roll with Jimmy Garoppolo in 2020.

It’s not a terrible route to take, especially considering some of the other massive needs the team could have.

Few are more pressing than at cornerback where the Niners are poised to lose Richard Sherman, K’Waun Williams, Jason Verrett, Ahkello Witherspoon, Jamar Taylor and Dontae Johnson to free agency. Even if San Francisco retains one or two of those names somehow, going after a younger and potentially cheaper option in the NFL Draft would be a wise, wise move.

If there’s one cornerback to target early in this year’s draft, it’s Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II.

While it’s not overly clear whether or not newly minted defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans will stick to targeting long, lanky boundary cornerbacks, Surtain still fits the mold for what the SF 49ers have preferred as of late. Surtain’s 6-foot-2, 202-pound build is precisely what is now defining the position. And Surtain has both excellent prowess as a press-man corner and a zone-cover defender, registering four interceptions and an impressive 24 pass breakups over his three-year tenure with the Crimson Tide.

Surtain is about as safe a plug-and-play option for the secondary there is in this year’s NFL Draft, and the Niners would be more than wise to make him a top target early.