By James Brady

Hello all, I’m James Brady and I’ll be handling the fan voice for the San Francisco 49ers on this great little site Mr. Benoit has going here. What better way to start off then diving right into one of the things I’m seeing more and more these days–what to do with the 10th pick in the NFL Draft? Many would have you believe that we’re after the likes of quarterbacks Matt Stafford, Mark Sanchez or even Josh Freeman. Let me warn you now, do not stray to the dark side. We’re taking a (prepare for Jamie Dukes slang here) non-sexy prospect (the three of them) and turning them into something they’re not: a sexy prospect. I don’t see any of the three approaching something close to being ready to play in the NFL.

So that brings me to my next point, who is worth the tenth pick? Clearly our needs are pass rushing DE, and a good pass-blocking OT. Smaller needs are FS, (possibly filled by Dashon Goldson who I hear is no slouch at picking off QBs Shaun Hill and Alex Smith during practice) CB, a QB for the future and another RB to split the load with Frank Gore. Looking at that list you can go ahead and cross all those “smaller” needs off the list right away because I don’t see any player at those positions worth the tenth pick in the upcoming draft.

Outside of DE Brian Orakpo, we don’t have much to work with for a tenth pick. This draft is very deep as far as pass rushing DE/OLBs are concerned but only one would merit that pick. So here’s my first non-trade pick, if Texas DE Orakpo is available at pick 10, the 49ers take him off the board. If he’s gone and DE Aaron Maybin falls our way, well lets just say I’d much rather be building picks than having this guy on my team. Keep in mind if we did take a DE, it’d most likely be as an OLB, and I’m not too sure I want to write off Parys Haralson and a buffed up Manny Lawson (as per an article I read a few weeks ago from mini camp).

So how about OT? Another incredibly deep class we’ve got Andre Smith, Jason Smith, Michael Oher and Eugene Monroe. For my second non-trade pick, if Andre Smith is available at pick 10, the 49ers will take him off the board. I choose him because without a doubt J. Smith and Monroe are gone by pick nine and I don’t feel Oher is a top ten OT. Without Andre Smith, the 49ers trade their pick away.

So OT Andre Smith and DE Brian Orakpo are off the board–what do we do now? The 49ers quietly consider and abolish the idea of QBs Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman in the span of four seconds, they take a look at Maybin and feel the itch to pull the trigger. Their eyes turn to Michael Oher, a beast who once again tempts them to spend that pick; but they don’t do it. Sanchez is still on the board, they listen to a few other teams. The talk these days are that teams want to trade out of the top ten picks, but other talks suggest that teams like the Jets or the Broncos are eager to get it on top-ten action. We build up that secondary, get a decent tackle, find a DE with high upside, do whatever we want at say, pick fifteen through twenty-five because those guys are just as talented as those we had an option to pick at number ten. The draft is deep and we cant go wrong getting more picks and paying less money.

One last thing to touch up on before I go, WR Michael Crabtree and NT B.J. Raji. I’m not going to lie, I don’t like Raji but I do agree a big NT could be game changing. He seems to be the best prospect in that category, I give it a 50% chance we take this guy if he’s on the board at pick ten. It all depends on if we let the Broncos in at pick ten and move to twelve, we can take him here for considerably less money. As far as Crabtree is concerned, I don’t think you pass up on a guy like that, regardless of glaring needs unless you have a number one receiver for a good, long time.

So there’s my ramblings about what to do with the tenth pick, though I’m not surprised if you don’t know anything more about what you want to do with it than you did before you started reading, as I’m not entirely sure what I myself want. Either way, I hope you enjoyed my first (of many) articles here with NFLTouchdown!