Kyle Shanahan On 49ers Settling On No. 3 Choice -- 'Maybe, Probably, But Maybe Not
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- As is typical of NFL predraft news conferences, the San Francisco 49ers brain trust of GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan was vague and noncommittal Monday when asked who they will be taking with the No.3 pick later this week.
Consensus among the media is that the 49ers will be taking a quarterback after trading away a pair of No.1 picks to move up in Thursday's draft order.
Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence is projected as the top pick and will be off the board. The New York Jets, who also need a quarterback, will be selecting second. Then it will be the 49ers turn to select from a pool that includes BYU QB Zack Wilson, Alabama QB Mac Jones, North Dakota State QB Trey Lance and Ohio State QB Justin Fields.
"I'll say when we made this decision (to move up in the draft), we knew that there were five guys that we thought, we felt that we'd be okay with taking," Shanahan said. "After going through this whole process, I feel good about five guys at three. Yeah, we had a guy probably at first back then, but we knew that wasn't set in stone and we knew the only way we could figure out a little bit more, especially when you can't work out guys, you can't meet with these people."
"There's a lot of things you can't do this year. The only way we could go off that was if we got closer to where we could do a little more in depth thing that we didn't have to hide and we did. In that time, I think every candidate has gotten stronger. Yeah, we probably started with one in mind, but that one's gotten better since and so have all of the other candidates."
"So, do we know exactly who we want? Maybe, probably, but maybe not," he added. "I don't feel like we need to say that, and that's not just for our case, but lots of stuff happens between now and the draft and we don't want the whole league knowing exactly what you're set on four days before the draft."
The 49ers have been to pro workout days for all four of their potential selections. They put on an impressive display of their talents.
"We're going to add a quarterback to our team this year," Shanahan said. "I think the way our years have gone in the past few years, especially when (QB) Jimmy's (Garoppolo) gotten hurt, I think our fan base agrees with that and be happy that we're going to solve that problem this year."
When asked about Garoppolo's future with the team, Shanahan took an odd twist.
"I can't guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can't guarantee who will be on our roster on Sunday," he said. "So, that goes for all of us."
But Shanahan hinted that the team will be keeping Garoppolo on the roster this year and easing the team's pick into life in the NFL.
"I mean, the biggest thing with Jimmy is his injuries that's been very tough for us when he's been hurt," Shanahan said. "It's happened two out of these three years, and that's where it starts and Jimmy knows that. I've been very upfront with him with everything. We've been Zooming these last two weeks. I'm excited to get him in here, coming up, especially when this draft's over, but I feel very fortunate taking a rookie quarterback that we do have a guy like Jimmy."
The NFL Draft starts Thursday, April 29, at 4 p.m. Check your local TV listings.
