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The San Francisco 49ers own the second overall selection in this week's NFL Draft, and the general consensus is that they will be taking Ohio State defensive lineman Nick Bosa at that spot.
But could the 49ers go in a different direction?
Could they roll with, say, Alabama defensive lineman Quinnen Williams?
San Francisco general manager John Lynch would not rule out the possibility, and he explained why:
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“Just because he’s an excellent football player,” Lynch told reporters, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “The season he had may have been as good of a college football season that I’ve ever seen. He was just dominant. To think that that was his first year playing nose tackle.”
Williams is coming off of a terrific 2018 campaign in which he racked up 71 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Even if the Niners don't take him at No. 2, he will surely land somewhere else early on in the draft … unless Lynch does decide to take Williams over Bosa:
“It’s a great story,” said Lynch. “He went to [Alabama coach] Nick Saban and basically says, ‘I want to play nose for you.’ He’d never played in there. Nick kind of goes on to tell him what he would have to do to make that happen. It was gaining a lot of weight, doing so in a good fashion, and the kid did. What a season he had. He’s a spectacular player. When you look at how your roster is currently comprised, when you have an opportunity to take a talent like that, you certainly look at every avenue to improve your team.”
Of course, this could just be Lynch pretending he is keeping all of his options open as to not let other teams on to what he is actually going to do, but either Bosa or Williams would be a great pick.
