San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Top receivers await 49ers in draft
Options aplenty in first round after Sanders departs for Saints
John Lynch is an AllPro optimist, but the 49ers’ general manager didn’t provide an overly rosy assessment of his team’s wide receivers at last month’s combine.
“I like our group,” Lynch said. “I think we like the core of our group.”
It now can be said with confidence that Lynch thinks this: He likes that core a lot less after Emmanuel Sanders signed with the Saints on Friday night.
The 49ers’ topheavy position group lost its most established member when Sanders, 33, a twotime Pro Bowl selection, signed a reported twoyear, $16 million deal with New Orleans.
His exit leaves the 49ers with Deebo Samuel, Kendrick Bourne and a host of question marks that include the injured (Trent Taylor, Jalen Hurd), the unproductive (Dante Pettis) and the injured and unproductive (Marquise Goodwin).
Sanders’ departure also increases the chances the 49ers will take a wide receiver early in next month’s draft, which is teeming with talent at the position.
At the combine, which was held less than a month after the 49ers’ Super Bowl loss, head coach Kyle Shanahan said he’d yet to start studying the loaded class. But he’s now probably neckdeep in video of the draft’s top wideouts, particularly given the events of the past week.
On Monday, before they lost Sanders, the 49ers received the No. 13 pick in the draft when they traded AllPro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Colts.
If they don’t trade the selection, they figure to be in position to select one of the players who is widely regarded to be among the draft’s top three wide receivers: Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb or Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy or Henry Ruggs.
Lamb (6foot2, 198 pounds) is hailed for his runafterthecatch ability, Jeudy (61, 193) is known as a brilliant routerunner and Ruggs (511, 188) possesses elite speed. Ruggs ran the fastest 40yard dash (4.27 seconds) at the combine and fell just short of breaking the record (4.22) at the event.
Last year, 28 wide receivers were drafted. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout, recently said he had 27 wideouts with at least a thirdround grade this year.
“The depth of it — the topend players — it’s a really good class,” Lynch said at the combine of the draft’s wideouts. “You kind of get whatever flavor you like. If you like a smaller, quicker guy, those guys are there. If you like the big guys that can move, those guys are there.
“If you like speed, that’s there. If you like separators. And so I think the whole league is smiling about that.”
The 49ers aren’t smiling about losing Sanders, a partialyear rental who ranked third on the team in catches (36) and receiving yards (502) despite playing just 10 regularseason games. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a 90.8 passer rating in his six starts without Sanders. He had a 108.1 passer rating after the trade with Denver in October.
The 49ers dealt thirdand fourthround picks for Sanders and received a fifthrounder in return.
“He did everything we hoped for and more,” Shanahan said last month. “I do not
think we would have gotten to where we got to without Emmanuel. I would love for anything to have Emmanuel back — bad. But we’ve got to see how that plays out, too.”
The 49ers were likely more willing to part with Sanders after securing their second firstround pick (they also have No. 31 overall).
However, their finances were going to make retaining him tough, regardless. After signing defensive lineman Arik Armstead and free safety Jimmie Ward to bigmoney extensions Monday, and making other minor moves, they have about $13 million in cap space.
The 49ers still need to sign AllPro tight end George Kittle to a lucrative extension and they need to keep money to sign their draft class.
As far as how they’ll invest their draft capital?
It appears increasingly likely their first pick will be used on a position of need that got weaker when Sanders signed with the Saints.