One of the players most linked to the San Francisco 49ers with the 27th overall pick is Texas A&M wide receiver KC Concepcion. 49ers fans have been quite taken with the idea of drafting Concepcion at 27 for some time now, but the Buffalo Bills, who own the 26th pick, have him in their crosshairs too.
In FanSided's new interactive draft board, Niner Noise's own Peter Panacy listed Concepcion as the Niners' second-most ideal draft target at 27 (behind offensive tackle Caleb Lomu) as a long-term solution in the receiver room, but BuffaLowDown's Brandon Ray had him as Buffalo's top draft target.
This wouldn't be an issue if it was a team like the New England Patriots or Atlanta Falcons (who also listed Concepcion in their top five), since they pick behind the 49ers, but this is not the case with the Bills. They pick at 26, meaning one pick could be the difference between landing Concepcion or not.
The San Francisco 49ers may miss out on KC Concepcion by just one pick
As Ray noted, the 21-year-old has been linked to Buffalo for basically the entire pre-draft process. He would be the perfect weapon for Josh Allen. Concepcion is a good separator, but that's more because of his speed and explosiveness, which make him the best YAC threat in this entire draft.
The things that Concepcion can do with the ball in his hands or just a sliver of space are elite, so nobody should be surprised that he's garnering all this love in league circles. He's been a first-round lock for quite some time now, so it was always going to take a miracle for him to end up in San Fran.
Even though the Bills traded for DJ Moore, he's not the type of player that will deter them from drafting a receiver in the first round, just like the Mike Evans signing is for the Niners. Panacy noted that San Francisco has too many short-term fixes at WR and no long-term, which the NC State transfer would provide.-- while the Bills have more incentive to go all-in around Allen.
However, he said that Concepcion would not assume an immediate role from Day 1, and that's a bold-faced lie. I'm sure he would be starting over Christian Kirk by Week 10, but the issue is with drafting a WR at 27 is that someone on the offensive or defensive line would have more of an instant impact.
Thankfully, in a loaded WR class, there are guys like Cooper for the 49ers to fall back on, but they also have other needs that guys like Lomu or Keldric Faulk coud fill. It's all a matter of how the board looks at 27, so you just know John Lynch will be holding his breath all night hoping Concepcion drops-- but the Bills are the major roadblock.
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