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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- For the majority of the 2017 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers seemed to be on the long walk toward a pick in the top two or three of the draft. That journey seemingly had them on a collision course with one of the top quarterback prospects, be it USC's Sam Darnold, UCLA's Josh Rosen, Wyoming's Josh Allen or Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield. Then Jimmy Garoppolo happened. The 49ers not only traded their second-round pick for the New England Patriots' backup quarterback and essentially removed themselves from the mix for one of those prospects, but Garoppolo also spurred a 5-0 finish that took them out of the top five of the draft altogether. Mixed in between the peak of Garoppolo-mania and the 0-9 start, though, was a period in which fans were free to dream of a world where the 49ers could have their cake and eat it, too. Garoppolo would prove himself capable of being the franchise quarterback, while the Niners would lose enough to have a pick in the top three that they could auction off to a team in dire need of a Darnold or Rosen.  Alas, the Garoppolo effect ran so deep that the 49ers finished 6-10 and now will draft at No. 9 or No. 10, pending a coin flip with the Oakland Raiders. The trade-off -- giving up a high overall draft spot for more certainty about Garoppolo and the game's most important position -- was one the Niners were happy to make.
"We're trying to build a winning culture here," general manager John Lynch said. "Anybody who had thoughts of, 'Man, you guys shouldn't be winning these games,' that's why you play. You play to win. That was always our philosophy. Having been through it myself as a player, I had a very similar year in Tampa, 6-10, in Tony Dungy's first year. I think the record might have been actually 1-8, 1-9 at some point. We finished 6-10. I felt what that did for us moving forward. I think that's much more important. "That's why we're happy and proud with the way we finished. I think Kyle [Shanahan] and I have been doing a lot of talking throughout this process, that we love the way we finished, but if our players think just because we finish this way it's just going to roll on over, that doesn't happen in this league. That's one thing I learned over and over, is that you've got to go create it. It's a new year, it's a new team, it's a new year. The way we work, the way we go about our business is going to affect how we play as a team into next year.” But while the 49ers no longer sit in a spot where they can auction off a high pick, that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be able to find a trade partner wanting to pursue a top signal-caller. Last week, ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. revealed his first 2018 mock draft. In it, he had the Niners selecting Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward with the No. 9 overall pick. Instead of diving into that choice at the moment, I was more intrigued by the scenario Kiper laid out as it pertains to the top four quarterback prospects. Kiper has Allen, Rosen and Darnold going Nos. 1, 2 and 5, respectively. He also has Mayfield dropping to the Washington Redskins at No. 13 as he works under the assumption that Kirk Cousins will head elsewhere in free agency. For the sake of this exercise, let's go along with the idea that three of the top four quarterbacks will be gone by the time the 49ers are on the clock. If there's a genuine belief that Mayfield -- or whichever quarterback fell that far -- is worth the No. 13 pick, then there's an easy argument to make that said quarterback would also be worth the No. 9 or 10 pick. In this instance, you could have just the right mix of player availability, positional value and teams in need of quarterback help to make a 49ers trade down more plausible than it might have seemed after they won their way out of the top five. Last year's draft saw teams moving up to Nos. 10 and 12 for quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, with the Kansas City Chiefs leaping from No. 27 and the Houston Texans from No. 25. The Chiefs and Texans both parted with a package of picks that included a 2018 first-round choice. It's not hard to see how a similar situation could play out this year. Whether the 49ers have the ninth or 10th pick, the teams behind them in the first round could have a need for quarterback immediately like the Texans did: Washington (No. 13), the Arizona Cardinals (15) and the Buffalo Bills (21, 22). Other organizations, such as the Miami Dolphins (11), Cincinnati Bengals (12) and Los Angeles Chargers (17), might be in the market for an upgrade, or at least to consider planning for the future of the position. Assuming one of those top four quarterbacks or potentially Louisville's Lamar Jackson are on the board when the 49ers pick, they could be in a prime spot to move back, add draft capital for the future and continue building around Garoppolo. That's not to say the 49ers should look to move down no matter what. They're still in need of as many blue-chip players as possible, but if a trade down would still net them a player of similar value while adding extra picks, it's something Lynch and Shanahan will consider. Obviously, this is just one possible permutation, but it's worth keeping an eye on as the draft stock of the top quarterbacks fluctuates over the next few months. And if all four do well in the pre-draft process and go before the 49ers' pick? Well, that's OK, too, because it would only help push another good player at a different position closer to their grasp.
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