Who should the 49ers target 3rd overall?
The 49ers and Dolphins shook up the 2021 NFL Draft with a blockbuster trade that sent the 3rd overall pick to San Francisco. Andy Behrens and Dalton Del Don project what John Lynch and company will do come April on the latest Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
[CROWD CHEERING]
ANDY BEHRENS: They have a totally ready-to-win roster. They've had a very nice offseason, they have, obviously, still an elite defense, they have great skill players. Everything is in place. Some questions at quarterback. The division is loaded-- loaded. So it is difficult to ask a rookie quarterback-- I would think-- to learn on the job, but you also don't trade all that draft capital to pick anything other than a quarterback at number three. And generally speaking, when a quarterback is taken that high, they play. So my questions to you. Who do you want the team to pick? Who are you expecting them to pick? And what does it-- what does this all mean for Jimmy G?
DALTON DEL DON: It's such an interesting situation because the team's in win-now mode but they just lost a season due to injuries and it's such a short window in the NFL. But at the same time, they have a quarterback-- Jimmy G-- whom I love, his teammates love, but he's appeared in fewer than half the games available. It's just an injury thing as much as it also is, you know, how good is. We all remember him missing the throw to Emmanuel Sanders in the Super Bowl. But the availability is a major question mark. Yeah, I want Fields. If they-- I mean, first of all-- with one caveat-- I don't watch a ton of college football and I was very upset at the Warriors if they didn't take James Wiseman, and LaMelo Ball might have been the right pick. So with those two caveats--
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
DALTON DEL DON: --I might look into getting rid of my season tickets if they take Mac Jones over Justin Fields with this draft capital they gave up. You have to have a dual threat. Tim Kawakami, one of the best local beat writers, laid out a plan a whole month ago saying let's do the Alex Smith-- you know, the plan in Kansas City with Pat Mahomes. Draft Fields, let him sit a year. And Jimmy G, $25 million for one year sounds like a lot, but it's doable in today's day for one year for a quarterback.
But, I don't know if that's just posturing and the truth is, of course, Garoppolo's gone and you don't trade up to number three and it would be too weird in the locker room. Normally, I'm not, like, I don't care about a locker room thing, but these teammates love Garoppolo. Like, Kittle's devastated. Like, there's an issue here, so I don't know how it's going to play out. I'm not entirely sure Shanahan knows how it's going to play out.
ANDY BEHRENS: One thing I'll say is that you can-- and, in particular, I've seen a ton of Justin Fields. I watch a lot of Big Ten everything, right? So I've seen more Justin Fields than I've seen of anybody else here. Obviously, you can't avoid Mac Jones, so I've seen Mac Jones. Very different players, clearly. And Justin Fields is much more of the type that we really like in fantasy and that I think the NFL is obviously embracing, right? Not just-- not just mobile, but a serious running threat. Like, a gifted runner. And obviously, it's such an arms race in your division. Like, the team that comes in, like, fourth in the NFC West is still going to be a really good team.
[LAUGHS]
Right? And-- like, and Justin Fields just fits the mold of all of the most exciting quarterbacks in the game right now. I'm super impressed by him. And another thing that I put a lot of weight on is what did you do when you were facing-- if you had the opportunity to face defenses that are loaded with pros, what did you do. And he was phenomenal, right? He was-- like, he shredded Clemson. The playoff semifinal was-- I mean, that was as good as it gets. That was as good a performance as any college quarterback had this year.
DALTON DEL DON: Took a huge hit.
ANDY BEHRENS: I mean--
DALTON DEL DON: Took a huge hit early in that game, too.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yes.
DALTON DEL DON: Massive. Guy was ejected for the targeting. A brutal hit and then went off for six touchdown passes-- yes-- against Clemson. Right.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah. So that-- I mean, I'm sold after that, right? And he'd had a ton of other great games against really high quality Big Ten opponents prior to that. So I'm pretty sold on Fields. I guess I would push back-- again, you know, who am I to judge this, really? And, obviously, I should defer to NFL scouts. I guess I'd push back a little bit on his processing ability and his, you know, work through the progression ability and his second read ability.
Like, number one, the receivers at Ohio State just win so often that-- yeah, I don't know how often you really have to worry about the second read there. But I think he did it. Like, I think there's a bunch of ordinary plays on his film where you can see him go to non-primary options and they get big plays out of it. So, I don't know. Some of that is also, Ohio State is so much more talented than every team they play at virtually every position and it becomes hard to-- it becomes hard to gauge. It's like watching Big 12 quarterbacks to a certain extent.
But Fields would be my guy. I would be really excited for that. And I think-- honestly, I think Fields can play this year, is the other thing. Like, I get that you can't give away games in the Niners division, so maybe that's part of it and you've got to begin the season with Jimmy G and maybe they're almost planning for a Jimmy G injury at some point and then Fields takes over. But I think Fields is pretty ready to go, because he's-- I don't even know what's working against him. Maybe it's Dwayne Haskins-related doubts working against him because Haskins was such a faceplant out of the same program, but they're very different players. I mean, I think Fields is ready go. I think he's ready to play and I think he could come into a system and win right away.
