49ers 3-Round Mock Draft: A mauler in the middle

It’s draft season, folks. Or, for the Twitter freaks out there, #DraftSZN.

The 49ers have filled out most of their needs, though they are clearly still looking at the safety market. Even with that unresolved, we have a pretty clear picture of what the 49ers will be looking for.

This is a no-trade mock draft, but it will address some potential spots for trades, and other scenarios that could affect the 49ers' draft process. But for now, we're playing it straight.

Round 1, Pick 31: Braden Fiske, DT, FSU

This guy is a mauler. He plays with a better motor than other other player I have seen this season, and it shows up consistently on tape.

After four lackluster seasons at Western Michigan, Fiske transferred to Florida State, where he clearly reaped the benefits of Mike Norvell (and his staff's) coaching. Fiske was a bruiser in the middle of FSU's defensive line and almost singlehandedly won them the ACC title against Lousville.

In that game alone, Fiske stuffed the stat sheet with 9 tackles, 4.5 for a loss and 3.0 sacks. The tape shows a man with outrageous burst off the line of scrimmage, rapid, strong hands, and a motor coupled with elite athleticism to make plays on anyone.

He had outrageous testing numbers at the NFL Combine, running a 4.78-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-3 and 5/8 inches and 292 pounds. His 33.5-inch vertical and 9-foot-9-inch broad jump were similarly insane. He is in the 99th percentile of defensive tackle athletes, ever, per RAS.football.

Even with that said, Fiske has drawbacks. He has short arms and his strength, especially in the run game, could use work. His aggression off the snap can lead him to get moved out of gaps due to him getting too vertical at times, and losing his natural advantage in leverage.

And while Fiske is considered by most to be a second-round selection, he will almost certainly not be there when the 49ers draft at 63, and he seems to keep rising in the process since the Combine. He is a prospect where you would want to evaluate potential trade down options, and maybe take him a few picks into the second round.

This is a player that I feel overwhelming confidence will produce, and be a Day 1 problem. Folks at the Senior Bowl noted his performance as the most dominant on the defensive line. He matches up with anyone, at a position the 49ers still need depth, and youth.

If you're worried about not taking a tackle here, I get that. But I have trouble believing some of the high upside tackle prospects with freak athleticism (most are high pass-protection floor, and need run game work) like Amarius Mims or Tyler Guyton, will be available here.

There are also a handful of promising corners, but few that have me fully convinced they're deserving of this slot. In Round 1, you've either got to get a clear starting-caliber contributor, or someone so gifted you believe they can become a perennial All-Pro.

There's a good chance Fiske can be both, though the former is likelier than the latter. Either way, if the question is, does he make you immediately, appreciably better? With Fiske, it's a clear yes.

Round 2, Pick 63: Renardo Green, CB, FSU

My intention was not to double down on Florida State products, but it's not the worst idea to bet on prospects from a team that went 12-0 until they were thrown into a sad bowl game with Georgia in which many of their starters didn't play.

With Renardo Green, you're getting someone who should win the starting job opposite Mooney Ward. It's a room with Ambry Thomas, Isaac Yiadom and Darrell Luter Jr., with Yiadom perhaps the most compelling candidate, coming off a career year.

Green is a technician. He is fluid in his movements, intelligent in understanding route concepts, and someone who outplays his size. Especially on the last point, he has some similarities to Deommodore Lenoir.

He is a genuinely great press-man corner, which is far better than drafting a zone corner who has to adjust to playing man, like Thomas. Last season, 75 percent of Green's snaps were in press-man coverage. He forced a whopping 17 incompletions, and had a 25.8 percent forced incompletion rate, which is 17th among corners with at least 100 snaps, per Brett Kollman .

Unlike some corners, like Ahkello Witherspoon, who have struggled to track the ball in the air, Green is comfortable tracking the ball in the air, and plays through it excellently. He was great against the possible WR1 in Malik Nabers of LSU early in the season, and played well against a ton of excellent receivers.

His biggest knock might be his slim frame, but he's a very good athlete , and is happy to come downhill and get after it in the run game. While he has been projected as a Round 3 pick, he likely won't be there when the 49ers pick. While corner is perhaps the trickiest position to evaluate, it's hard to find too many knocks on Green's game.

Round 3, Pick 94: Roger Rosengarten, T, Washington

I gave the 49ers an offensive tackle, are you happy now? No? I admit the name Roger Rosengarten sounds like a very classic middle school English teacher, but this guy is very much worth considering.

With offensive tackles, there are roughly six categories I see in this draft:
1. There are the elite of the elites, in Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu, who are top-10 picks, as well as Troy Fautanu and Taliese Fuago, who would be dream fits with the 49ers, but who will not be anywhere near 31.
2. There are stellar athletes and/or stellar college producers with high pass protection floors, who are inexact run game fits for outside zone teams in J.C. Latham, Amarius Mims, Tyler Guyton
3. Pure athletic projects: Kiran Amegadije and Kingsley Suamataia
4. Solid tweeners who make sense in the 49ers' scheme: Jordan Morgan
5. Big BOIS who I'm not sure what to make of, and may not make sense in an outside zone offense: Patrick Paul
6. The legion of mid, or worse

I believe Rosengarten fits into that fourth category, but the tweener lable is only because he's 6-foot-5-inches. He seems like a clear tackle.

If you're the 49ers and you're drafting a tackle in the third, don't you want someone who's an athlete and a road grader in the run game? That's my belief, and Rosengarten is absolutely that.

He has an excellent first step in the run game, and attacks space like an off-brand Mike McGlinchey (cry about McGlinchey if you want, but his issues were never in the run game). He is incredibly physical in space.

Rosengarten's concerns, which are very legitimate, are that he struggles to anchor in pass protection. His legs are skinny. He needs to add weight in his lower half, and probably quite a bit of it.

But his ability to recover, and room for growth with hand placement, makes him a great candidate for Chris Foerster to work with. You're not getting anywhere near a perfect prospect. It's a guy who will need to come in and get stronger.

But after extending Colton McKivitz, the 49ers aren't desperate for a starting right tackle this year, and investing in someone who might take a bit of time to be fully NFL-ready feels like a far more appetizing bet in the third round, than the first.

Other thoughts, on receivers and value

Again, this is just a three-round mock that does not include trades, and as mentioned, Fiske is someone who you would love to trade down and select.

If you're worried about over-drafting guys, don't (for the most part). Draft ranges are especially weird, and teams have better intel on where players are expected to go.

As long as you stay roughly within the expected value of a selection (i.e. not drafting Cole Strange 29th overall ) by about a round, you're alright in my view. Go get your guy, and don't get cute trying to get him at exactly the right time. That's how your guys get got by other teams.

That said, there are spots like 31 where a trade down could make sense, and others, given the glut of late-round picks the 49ers have, where bridging early- or mid-round gaps make sense.

While I mocked Green to the 49ers at pick 63, the other position that is enticing, especially in the second round, is wide receiver. There are a glut of good ones in this class, and in that range, South Carolina's Xavier Legette, Florida's Ricky Pearsall, and UCF's Javon Foster stick out as potential fits.

But if you're the 49ers, do you really make a move for a second-round wide receiver if you extend Brandon Aiyuk and hold onto Deebo Samuel? I would guess not, unless they are strongly considering parting with Samuel next season.

It's nearly impossible to argue that the 49ers are better off without Samuel than with him, but if it's between Samuel or Aiyuk, the Super Bowl (and most of last season) told you it should be Aiyuk. Trading Samuel now would come with a major dead cap hit, but the 49ers would still save nearly $7 million this season. That's not nothing, and it would allow the 49ers to get draft compensation this year, rather than for next year, in a post-June 1 trade.

Either way, you could make a case that San Francisco should draft a wide receiver regardless. They could send off Samuel at a lower dead cap hit next season, and with Jauan Jennings hitting the market, they'd have had a full year to evaluate a young receiver.