Decisions await 49ers as draft day approaches

SANTA CLARA - The 49ers are open to trading the No. 2 pick in Thursday’s draft. General manager John Lynch made this clear Monday during his pre-draft press conference in the 49ers’ “war room.”

“By the nature of having the No. 2 pick and the players available in this draft, I would imagine there will be some interest,” Lynch said. “We will certainly listen.”

Lynch said he would feel comfortable trading down all the way to the middle of Round 1, if necessary. “We’ve done our due diligence there as well,” he said.

Lynch was speaking to local reporters, but also sending a message to the rest of the NFL, and the message was something along the lines of, “Call me. I’m open for business.” The 49ers currently have just six draft picks. It would make sense for them to trade down and acquire more picks to fill lots of needs.

Lynch hasn’t received many offers yet, though. “So far, a couple calls, but nothing of substance. I imagine if there is interest, those things will heat up,” he said. “We’ll listen. We also feel extremely comfortable that we could get some game-changing players (with the second pick). That’s a good feeling.”

If the 49ers do not trade down, they could spend the second pick on Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, or Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa - two game-changers, according to Lynch.

“Nick’s a heck of a player,” Lynch said, “one we really enjoyed studying throughout this process.”

Not only did the 49ers study Bosa’s game tape, they also studied his social-media activity. The past few years, Bosa has written many pro-Donald Trump and anti-Colin Kaepernick tweets, and “liked” Instagram posts that disparaged the city of San Francisco and used a racial slur. Bosa recently deleted lots of his Instagram and Twitter activity because, as he told ESPN, “There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco.”

“That is something we look at,” Lynch said. “But, we also look at what kind of teammate is he? What do his teammates think about him?”

Lynch added: “I think he’s a great teammate.”

Bosa would fill a need for the 49ers, because they could use another defensive end to complement Dee Ford, whom they signed this offseason.

Quinnen Williams would not fill a need - the 49ers have drafted defensive tackles in the first round three of the past four years - Arik Armstead in 2015, DeForest Buckner in 2016 and Solomon Thomas in 2017. They clearly do not have a need at that position.

Why would Lynch consider drafting Williams?

“Just because he’s an excellent football player,” Lynch explained. “The season he had may have been as good of a college football season as I’ve ever seen. He was just dominant, and to think that was his first year playing nose tackle. Gosh, what a season he had. He’s a spectacular player.”

Lynch gushed over Williams much more than he praised Bosa.

Williams became a starter in 2018. During that season, he recorded eight sacks, 19.5 tackles for loss and was voted first-team All American. He’s relatively small (303 pounds) to play nose tackle in the NFL, but Lynch is not concerned.

“He can play anything,” Lynch said. “He’s special.”

On the 49ers, Williams would rush from the interior of the defensive line next to DeForest Buckner. Meanwhile, former first-round picks Armstead and Thomas would be backup pass rushers on third down.

“If (Williams) ends up here, there’s room for all of those guys,” Lynch insisted. “We really feel like that. Philosophically, we want to come at people in waves. We like having strength in numbers and the quality of those numbers.”

A few minutes after Lynch wrapped up his press conference, former 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan spoke on 95.7 The Game about which player he thinks Lynch should draft between Bosa and Williams.

Williams all the way.

“I’ll take the defensive tackle,” McCloughan said, “the interior guy who can get pass pressure, because they’re so hard to find. So hard to find. You can find an end from 240 pounds to 280 pounds. You find a 300-pound guy inside who can cause damage, not just with sacks, but stopping the run and getting the quarterback out of the pocket, they’re so hard to find. I think Williams is a really, really good prospect.”

But would he be redundant on the 49ers?

McCloughan doesn’t think so. “You can trade (Armstead and/or Thomas) anytime you want. Williams will come in and be a Day-One starter. The guy is legit. I’ve been doing this a long time, and he’s one of the more impressive interior guys I’ve seen. I understand the (49ers) think they have what they want (at defensive tackle), but they don’t have this guy. This guy is going to come in and light it up.”

Perhaps, but not if the 49ers trade down first.