NFL Mock Draft Round-Up: Nick Bosa To 49ers Seems To Be Lock At No. 2
SANTA CLARA (KPIX)- The 2019 NFL Draft begins Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, and the San Francisco 49ers will be on the clock in short order. They hold the second overall pick in the first round. Over the last several weeks, things at the top of the draft seem to have solidified, with the Cardinals expected to take Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray before the Niners take Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa.
The experts at CBSSports.com and NFL.com largely agree. Of the nine mock drafts listed on the two sites, just one has the Niners ending up with a different prospect than Bosa, and that is because they're projecting a trade between the team and their Bay Area neighbors, the Oakland Raiders. So, with that in mind, let's look at Bosa and what he brings to town.
Bosa's junior season with the Buckeyes was cut short by a core muscle injury that caused him to miss all but the first three games. Still, there's a reason he's considered one of the top defensive linemen in the class, and that work was done in his freshman and sophomore years. Across those two seasons, in mostly a platoon role within the Buckeyes stacked defensive line rotation, Bosa tallied 23 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. A disruptive force along the line, standing at 6'4" and weighing in at 266 pounds at the Combine, Bosa would fill in nicely alongside Arik Armstead, Solomon Thomas and DeForest Buckner.
The core injury and his recovery from it would seem to be largely complete after he fully participated in the Combine and looked good doing so. There doesn't seem to be much concern about any lingering effects there. The only other controversy that has come up recently is when he deleted most of his old tweets. He told ESPN he "had to" because there is a chance of him ending up in San Francisco. His political commentary and Twitter account aside, it would appear that Bosa is correct in assuming he'll end up in the Bay Area, as all reports point that way.
