We're one week away from the start of the 2020 NFL Draft, and the 49ers' plans still are a mystery. They have two first-round picks, but it remains to be seen if they'll use both to select prospects, or possibly trade one or both to accumulate additional picks.
While San Francisco could trade back from either selection to accomplish that goal, NBC Sports Bay Area's Donte Whitner believes the 49ers should go the complete opposite direction.
That being: Trade up.
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Whitner, an alumnus of Ohio State University, believes the 49ers should go back to the same well that resulted in the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year this past season. In a recent discussion centering on the draft, he advocated for San Francisco trading its No. 13 and No. 31 overall picks to Washington for the No. 2 overall selection in order to get Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young.
"The best player in the draft after Joe Burrow," Whitner said. "Now you have the Buckeye connection. Now you move Dee Ford into a third-down player. You can move him inside on first and second downs, and now you continue to have the most dominant defensive line in the National Football League.
"I called it last year with [Nick] Bosa, and this is what the San Francisco 49ers should do. They should trade up and get Chase Young, a dominant player for a decade to come. He'll have double-digit sacks in his rookie year."
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There's no question that Young is an elite prospect, and if a team wants him, it might have to move into the top two picks to get him. He surely will be in high demand, and it's easy to dream about the havoc he and Bosa would create coming off both edges of the 49ers' defensive line.
That's exactly what it is, though. A dream.
As deadly a combination Bosa and Young would be together, it's simply not going to happen -- or at least not according to the trade that Whitner proposed. The combined value of the No. 13 and 31 overall picks doesn't come close to that of No. 2.
According to the NFL's draft pick trade value chart, the No. 2 selection carries a value of +2600. Meanwhile, No. 13 (+1150) and No. 31 (+600) combine for just over half of that. There's simply no way Washington would accept that loss of value in the transaction, not to mention other teams are better equipped to offer an attractive package. It can't hurt to try, but if the 49ers offer what Whitner suggests, they should expect to be laughed off the phone.
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San Francisco could go any number of different directions in the draft. Up to the No. 2 pick, though, does not appear to be in the cards.