Well, if we don’t take a wide out with the 3oth pick, the concensus is of course cornerback.  And there are a lot of good ones in this draft. From top to mid-range to the bottom. With that being said, I hear a hell of a lot of chatter re: the Niners trading up. Mike Evans and Juston Gilbert being the recipients of our largesse.

God, I hope we don’t trade up. We can address a lot of depth issues with our first 6 picks, and we shouldn’t be bundling our early picks together. After round 3, trade back to next year, use late picks to move up, whatever. But don’t lose the 6 picks you have in the first 100. Bird in the hand, and all that. There is enough talent through the first 3 rounds to pick up some major additions. As of now, we are weaker since the tragedy that was the NFC Championship with the loss of 3 defensive backs, Bowman’s injury, and the impending suspension of Aldon Smith, and maybe Chris (Grand Theft Auto) Culliver.

The way to instantly get better is through a good draft. Baakle has been hit or miss in the draft. The 2013 draft is still a work in progress. Reid was the best safety to come out of the draft. V McD was thrust into a role he wasn’t very comfortable with, but he’s still looking like he could shape up to be a solid contributor.  The red shirt guys (Lattimore, Dial, and Carradine) may or may not be all that. They get their chance this year.

2012 was a flat disaster. No 1 pick AJJ was unceremoniously traded for another 1srt round flot in Jon Baldwin. LMJ wants out amid his not being used much or right, depending on your point of view. Looney is nominally fighting for the vacant center spot, Daruis Fleming has yet to survive a training camp, and the rest are gone. Cam Johnson did garner a 4th round (?) conditional pick in a trade with Indy.

2011, police blotter notwithstanding, was a brilliant success. 6 of the 10 draftees are still playing for the Niners, and are big contributors. From Aldon to Kappy to 6th round pick Bruce Miller.

Shit. Got sidetracked. So, who do we draft at 30 if we go CB? Since our biggest hole to fill is Rogers’s, we need a press corner for the slot WR. Best guy for that is Darqueze Dennard. He’s excellent at press coverage. Big enough, strong enough, and fast enough to cover most top college guys, he should translate well. Not likely to be there at 30 though. That being said Justin Gilbert is the best overall guy. He can play press or off coverage, he’s big and fast. Again, he’ll be gone by 30.

So who do we get? The name I keep hearing is Jason Verrett. He’s not a press-cover guy, but is an excellent zone defender. The best zone defender if you believe the clippings. With Brock gone, he could step into his role from the get-go. He’s right on the edge of being there, so the Niners could wait, or watch a team like NO or NE pick him out from under them. Kyle Fuller and Bradly Roby are a couple of other guys who may or may not be there.

Beyond that, I still want the Niners to take a shot on Stanley Jean Baptiste. Very big and tough, and plenty of football speed. He’s my sleeper pick of all the CBs.