More photos » by Scott Walstrom - AP

Northern Illinois defensive end Larry English could get his name called by the 49ers this weekend. (AP Photo/Northern Illinois University Imaging Services, Scott Walstrom, File)

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As acting draft dude here at Niners Nation I should probably go on record with my official predictions on what the 49ers will come away with this weekend. Keep in mind, any resemblance to the actual outcome of the draft is purely coincidence. We (as in anybody who thinks they have the foggiest idea what might happen) are most likely all about to get our collective minds blown by what transpires for real.

1. Michael Oher, OT, Ole Miss - OT is the most likely position here due mostly to the fact that there are 4 highly rated OTs and they can't all go in the first 9 picks. Mix that with the (F)ysical style of team Singletary is trying to put together and OT makes the most sense. Raji, Orakpo will most likely be gone while other defensive players like Brown and Jenkins seem to have fallen out of consideration at 10. So, OT it is, could be Oher or Smith, but I'll take the higher character/work ethic guy every time. And the 49ers were reportedly very impressed with Oher in a private visit. Crossing your fingers for Crabtree isn't completely insane.

Three teams drafting in the top-ten picks tell the National Football Post that Ole Miss OT Michael Oher will not fall past the 49ers at No. 10.

The 49ers reportedly "love" Oher and Mike Lombardi says he may go as high as Oakland at No. 7. The Packers would certainly give Oher a look at No. 9.

2. Larry English, OLB, Northern Illinois - I have finally talked myself into being okay with not taking a pass rusher at #10. If enough teams follow suit we could still get a good one in round 2. English is a beast at 6-2, 255 with a good burst, good strength for an OLB and great motor. Could become a Lamar Woodley type player with ten sack per year potential. Other possibilties are Connor Barwin and Michael Johnson or moving back into the 1st to get a falling Everette Brown (yes, please). DB, RB, OT (if we pass on one at #10) and a WR like Harvin, Britt, Nicks or Robiske are all possibilities as well.

3. Ramses Barden, WR, Cal Poly - I like Barden, but he is not without faults. It's possible that some team is in love with him and snatches him up in round 2, but I don't think it's very likely. We've discussed Barden many times, so enough about him. Today McCloughan mentioned he'd like to add a WR with speed, so maybe Barden doesn't fit the bill. This also might be the last chance to grab a starting caliber OT if someone like Phil Loadholt falls. CB, RB are again considerations.

4. Coye Francies, CB, San Jose State - I've been on the Francies bandwagon for a while now. Unfortunately for him, he only ran a 4.63 on the slow combine track. He still matches up well with size and quickness and had a good showing at the Senior Bowl. Can replace Donal Strickland on special teams and has potential for more. Again RB has to be considered, but there are just too many available to pass on these other positions.

5a. James Davis, RB, Clemson - Okay, here's your running back. Happy? This might be the best pick, value wise, to strike on a RB. I agree with the Scouts, Inc. mock draft and select Davis here. His stock has been falling, but he fits nicely with the description of what McSing is looking for in Gore's backup.

5b. Devin Moore, RB/WR/KR, Wyoming - The extra compensatory picks allow the 49ers to get creative. Moore certainly doesn't fit McCloughan's big man criteria at 5-10, 187, but he does give the 49ers a potential big play threat and return man. Wyoming's all-time leading rusher was snubbed for a combine invite, but threw down a 4.33 at his pro day.

6. Mike Reilly, QB, Central Washington - Another hold over from my mock in January. I liked him already and thought he would be a good developmental QB, but then came this little nugget from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, so you know McCloughan likes him too....second-tier?

"One of the coaches asked me that -- 'Coming from Division II, how is it coming to this combine?' " Reilly said this week. "I told him straight up, 'Hey, I think I'm the best quarterback in this year's draft.'

"I think I caught him off guard, because he looked at me kind of funny. Then I said, 'Hey, I'm not projected as a first-rounder. I'm coming from a small school. But if I don't have that kind of confidence, I'm never going to be able to compete at this level.' "

Score one for the big-armed quarterback from the little school in Ellensburg.

"You've got to love a kid with an attitude like that," said Scot McCloughan, general manager for the San Francisco 49ers.

But the 49ers rank players in three tiers, and they consider Reilly a second-tier player -- which puts him into the late third- to fifth-round category.

"I hear a lot of positive things about him," McCloughan said. "Our scouts think he's a pretty good prospect. Not a high-round guy, but a middle-round guy that's got some upside."

7a. Bear Pascoe, TE, Fresno State - Pascoe is your basic blue-collar type tight end. He won't do much in the passing game, but he can catch it if thrown his way. His calling card will be as a blocker. Solid replacement for former 7th rounder Billy Bajema.

7b. Michael Mitchell, S, Ohio - Mitchell is a sleeper safety from Ohio University. He's got great size (6-0, 221) and speed (4.45) and is a big hitter. Mitchell is unranked on a lot of draft websites. He's a guy who could impact special teams right away and has considerable upside.

Don't like it? Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably have a different opinion.

"The one thing about the NFL that is not going to change is, it's a big man's game. Over a 16-game schedule, the bigger team, the more physical team is going to pan out most of the time, especially in the cold-weather games."

-Scot McCloughan, 2006

"The “big back” would be someone who, if Frank were to get hurt, could come in and carry the load for two, four or six weeks. I don’t see a smaller back being that type of guy. We’re going to be a good team this year because we’re able to establish the run and come downhill between the tackles. With a smaller back, that is tough to do, especially for a longer period of time. We always look for good football players and that’s what we’ll continue to do, but you have to understand that this is a big man’s game. The big backs are going to survive in this league."

-Scot McCloughan, 2009

It's not that McCloughan has completely avoided assets like speed, as we've seen with players such as Vernon Davis, Manny Lawson, Patrick Willis, Josh Morgan, and Nate Clements. Size, however, did acompany speed in those cases. On the other hand, Kentwan Balmer, Chilo Rachal, Reggie Smith, Michael Lewis, Justin Smith and Tully Banta-Cain were never considered among the best athletes at their positions. What the later group did posses is, you guessed it, size. When Scot McCloughan must spend resources on a player, you can bet he'll err on the side of the big man.

Off the top of my head it's hard to come up many names drafted during the McCloughan era who did not matchup closely with the positional size prototype. Frank Gore was short, but certainly not undersized with his powerful frame. Brandon Williams, a 3rd round wide reciever out of Wisconsin in 2006, was listed as 5-11, 183. And there's my list. Yet I spent hours last April wondering how the 49ers could pass on DeSean Jackson, not once, but twice in favor of big uglies. I won't make that mistake again.

So, that should narrow down the shopping list a bit. You can throw away that mock with Jeremy Maclin or Percy Harvin penciled in. Who does that leave us with?

Big Man Mock Draft:
1. BJ Raji, DT (6-1, 337) ... Andre Smith, OT (6-4, 332) or Brian Orakpo, OLB (6-3, 263)
2. Sean Smith, CB (6-4, 214) ... Ron Brace, DT (6-3, 330) or Phil Loadholt, OT (6-8, 332)
3. Ramses Barden, WR (6-6, 229) ... Andre Brown, RB (6-0, 224) or Rashad Jennings, RB (6-1, 231)
4. Fenuki Tupou, OT (6-6, 314) ... Jasper Brinkley, MLB (6-2, 252) or Sebastian Vollmer, OT (6-8, 312)
5. Matt Shaughnessy, OLB (6-5, 266) ... Patrick Turner, WR (6-5, 223) or Jason Watkins, OT (6-6, 318)
6. Arian Foster, RB (6-1, 226) ... Alex Boone, OT (6-7, 328) or Javarris Williams, RB (5-10, 223)
7. Jamarko Simmons, WR (6-2, 231) ... Gartrell Johnson, RB (5-10, 219) or Marko Mitchell, WR (6-4, 218)

And that doesn't even include the future 1st rounder traded away to get Kansas State QB Josh Freeman (6-6, 248).

By now you've probably got an idea of who you'd like the 49ers to draft in two weeks. And you can bet the 49ers have their draft board pretty well pegged. It's time to go shopping. Don't like where you sit? No worries, the NFL Draft is a veritable flee market. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Let the games begin.

Here's a link to the full 2009 draft order. Below is a list of the 49ers pick with values in parenthesis. Those values are determined by the trade value chart made famous by Jimmy Johnson. It must be stated that this chart isn't a rule, but merely a tool. But the chart tends to be pretty accurate. For example, in 2008 the Saints traded #10 (1300 points) and  #78 (200) to move up to the Patriots #7 (1500) plus a 6th round throw-in at #164 (26.8). So, that's pretty darn close at 1500 for 1527 points. Later in the 1st round the Jaguars moved up to grab Derrick Harvey with the Ravens at pick #8 (1400) using their 1st #26 (700), two 3rds #71 (235), 89 (145) and a 4th #125 (47). That looks like a deal for Jacksonville, spending a total of 1127. The Ravens then moved back up with #26 (700) and #89 (145) to #18 (900) to draft Joe Flacco. Again, a slight edge in points goes to the team moving up, but somewhat close.

*Compensatory picks cannot be traded.

So you want to move up, do you? If you're looking at the top 3, that's gonna cost you a future 1st rounder along with #10 and maybe more if you're trying to get up to #2 or #1. When you add in the cost of signing a top pick, the idea gets even uglier. Picks # 10 and #43 add up to 1770, which gets you pretty close to the value of #4 at 1800. Depending on how the board falls, Seattle might be willing to play ball--but who would be the target there? I don't a match. If you want to dangle a 3rd rounder, you might be able to get up to #6 or #7, but again, for who?

The idea of trading down in the 1st round tends to be a more popular idea amongst 49ers fans (and fans of most other teams). San Francisco would obviously have to find a partner who wants to dance. Denver just traded Pro-Bowler Jay Cutler and could certainly  be in the mix for a QB, but I just don't see the Broncos as a match. Think about it, if you're Denver and a player like Mark Sanchez falls to Jacksonville at #8, why wouldn't they deal with them at #8 or Green Bay at #9? It wouldn't take much more, if any, to move up to #9 rather than #10. And SF is one of the teams Denver would actually want to get in front of to take Sanchez. If the 49ers are on the clock and Sanchez/Freeman is still available and McSing is willing to deal, then you know they aren't into that player enough to draft him, so why make a deal if he's not likely to be picked before #12? The only way they do business with San Francisco is if they believe another team is ready to strike a deal for #10 and Denver feels like they need to block it.

I'll dive into more trade scenarios after the jump. How does two 1st rounders sound?

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More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

Boston College defensive lineman B.J. Raji runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis. Raji, who is considered the top defensive tackle eligible for this month's NFL draft, reportedly failed a drug test at the combine. The report, which did not identify the drug, was published on SI.com and attributed to unidentified NFL team sources.

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This is the time of year when you can't really believe anything you read. NFL GMs have set their draft boards and it stands to reason they would want to assure themselves a potential investment is of sound mind before sinking millions of dollars into him. So, you have to believe there is some level of interest in these players by the 49ers. There are a number of other reasons a team may bring certain prospects in for a private look, which I will get into in moment. 

After scouring every source I could find (here, here, and here are a few) there are about 20 names reportedly meeting one-on-one with the 49ers...so far.

QB: Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman, Mike Reilly

RB: Chris "Beanie" Wells, Knowshon Moreno, Andre Brown, Donald Brown

WR: Michael Crabtree 

OL: Michael Oher, Andre Smith

DL:  BJ Raji, Jarron Gilbert, Tyson Jackson, Ziggy Hood, Pierre Walters

LB:  Rey Maualuga

DB: William Moore, Patrick Chung, Greg Toler

Looking at this list of prospects, three things jump out at me.

One...character concerns. Of the five players that have been projected at the #10 pick, four have questions about their mental make-up (Andre Smith, Michael Crabtree, Michael Oher and BJ Raji). Andre Smith's offseason has been well chronicled. People have questioned whether or Michael Oher can grasp intricate schemes. B.J. Raji failed a drug test and then there's this. And now we're hearing about off-field issues with Michael Crabtree. The fifth player, Mark Sanchez, would certainly warrant the same psychological examination as the 49ers gave Matthew Stafford. And, of course, you have to maintain that QB interest for potential suitors in trade.

Two...sleepers. Mike Reilly (like this guy and had Niners taking him in my first NN mock in January), Pierre Walters and Greg Toler might have a lot of people saying, "who's that?". This is the 49ers being thorough, getting a chance to see small school players who might get late round consideration and may not have been tracked closely during the college football season or have campus pro days.

Three...smokescreen! Where are the pass rushers and cornerbacks? Suspiciously absent from this list are names like Brian Orakpo and Everette Brown. Even names like Malcolm Jenkins, Aaron Maybin, Connor Barwin, Vontae Davis, Darius Butler and Larry English. It may not mean much. It may mean the 49ers really aren't thinking about a CB or OLB in the draft, but we all know that isn't the case. Or do we?

The 49ers are being sneaky...very sneaky.

Lets examine the first nine teams and who they might be interested in taking to better understand where the 49ers stand. What are the odds your favorite guy will be there when San Francisco is on the clock? And where can we expect heavy trade activity?

1. Detroit Lions - I've learned my lesson concerning what NFL teams will do with the #1 overall pick. I personally feel having the leagues worst record entitles you to drafting the best player. Some NFL GMs don't feel that way. They draft quarterbacks. A look around the Bay Area shows us Al Davis and the Raiders opted for the QB (Jamarcus Russell) over the best prospect in the 2007 draft and maybe best WR prospect ever (Calvin Johnson). With our own 49ers in 2005, as much as I wanted otherwise, McNolan wanted a face for the franchise. Lions do the same here, passing on the best player (Aaron Curry) for a QB. Stafford is the soup du jour.

The pick: Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia

2. St. Louis Rams - There's a few ways this pick could go. Most people tend to feel Aaron Curry is the #1 player in the draft, so he could certainly be the pick. This is also where Michael Crabtree starts to enter the discussion, but there are too many question marks for him here. QB is also a darkhorse here, but with Orlando Pace at the end of a great career, OT has to be the pick.

The pick: Jason Smith, OT, Baylor

3. Kansas City - This is a no-brainer pick, if they keep it. You have to be pleased when the best player in the draft falls to you at #3. Curry becomes the Chiefs version of Patrick Willis. There could be some interest in this pick from other teams.

The pick: Aaron Curry, LB, Wake Forest

4. Seattle Seahawks - This is a tough pick to project. The Seahawks hold a lot of cards here. There are a handful of players that are worth taking here, but none really perfectly meet up with their most pressing needs. I wouldn't be surprised if Seattle is a hotspot for some trade activity. They could move up to get at Aaron Curry to replace Julian Peterson, or move down and get a target that fits need/value better. If they swap with KC, who could add the 2nd rounder they lack, the Chiefs could take Orakpo to fill their need for a pass rush (and transition to 3-4). Again, Michael Crabtree would have to be a consideration if the Seahawks keep the #4 pick, although they look fine with T.J., Burleson and Branch healthy. Charley Casserly has RB Chris Wells going here due to a conversation with Mora about wanting a strong running game. I'm going to take that "running game" comment from Mora to mean he wants to remain strong up front. Walter Jones is still with the team, but his days are numbered.

The pick: Eugene Monroe, OT, Virginia

5. Cleveland Browns - Michael Crabtree is a consideration again with the rumors of the Browns shopping Braylon Edwards. I can't see that happening unless a deal for Edwards actually goes down prior to draft day. To me, the Browns have to grab a piece for their 3-4 defense. Need meets value here.

The pick: Brian Orakpo, OLB, Texas

Find out who the 49ers are left with after the jump...

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Do you remember when one of your buddies would hold three fingers up, like this, and say, "Read between the lines..."? That's what I feel like the 49ers are doing to me this offseason. It's hard to grasp exactly what McSing is up to. They've been interested in a lot of free agents, at a number of positions, but only landed a couple of reserves. I never really considered DE much of a draft need in the first place, so the addition of Demetric Evans just solidified that. Brandon Jones is more of a #3, like Jason Hill, so finding another talented starting WR is still a need.

So, I'll try now to read between the lines.

1. Offensive Tackle:  Upgrading the RT position seems to be priority number one. There has been some contradicting information this week, though. After Andre Smith's debacle of an offseason, his stock is all over the place. Most people seem to think he'll be available at #10. Matt Maiocco seems to think that 49ers scouts were impressed at Smith's Pro Day workout and would pull the trigger if he were available--man-boobs and all. Maiocco drops this little nugget on Sunday...

--Steelers free-agent tackle Marvel Smith received a contract offer from the 49ers on Friday. Obviously, it did not bowl him over. There is a strong chance Smith will continue to weigh his options for a while.

The physical must have gone well. It would be hard to believe OT could be the selection at #10 if Marvel Smith agrees to terms.

2. Outside Linebacker: I would have ranked the need for a pass rusher ahead of OT even though most don't see it that way. So, if the Marvel Smith deal gets done I will be crossing my fingers for Everette Brown or Brian Orakpo at #10. I'm still very afraid of Aaron Maybin, even though he apparently had a great showing at Penn State's Pro Day (so good people are whispering the S-word). There is enough depth that a nice player could be had at pick #43 if the right guy falls to #10 at another position. Everette Brown is still my guy as he is the best pure pass rusher and is more likely to be available due to his size (6-2, 256) counting him out for traditional 4-3 defenses.

3. Wide Reciever: Where's the potential #1 target? Josh Morgan was a nice surprise, but let's be real, we're talking about a guy with ONE career start. The only guy that makes sense with the 10th pick is Crabtree. There could be a nice player in round 2, however. Such as, Hakeem Nicks or Kenny Britt. And I'm glad to see the Ramses Barden bandwagon gaining steam.

4. Running Back: I am not on the Thomas Clayton bandwagon. In fact, I don't really get the facsination with this guy. He's just not that good. From everything the 49ers are saying, they agree with me. McCloughan has made it clear he will draft a #2 to go behind Frank Gore. I'm not sold that it needs to be a "big" back necessarily, but that seems to be what they're looking for, even though McCloughan leaves a ray of hope for a more explosive type runner in a 49ers.com Q and A:

I do not want to comment on another team’s player, but an individual who has the same skill set as Sproles has value not as just a running back, but a returner, receiver and running back. If we were able to find a guy with similar skills, we would definitely entertain that option. The "big back" would be someone who, if Frank were to get hurt, could come in and carry the load for two, four or six weeks. I don’t see a smaller back being that type of guy. We’re going to be a good team this year because we’re able to establish the run and come downhill between the tackles. With a smaller back, that is tough to do, especially for a longer period of time. We always look for good football players and that’s what we’ll continue to do, but you have to understand that this is a big man’s game. The big backs are going to survive in this league.

5. Cornerback: CB is the darkhorse position. Everyone is still talking about safety, but the team has made it clear, they're filling that need from within. And with the recent visits of veteran CBs, the 49ers are tipping their hand. Matt Barrows has finally written what I've been waiting to see--Reggie Smith is now a safety. Watch out for Darius Butler from Connecticut, if he's still there at #43.

6. Quarterback: If the 49ers were interested in Kurt Warner, then you know they're interested in upgrading the position, which they should be. It would surprise me, though, to see a QB selected in the first round, but it's not impossible. If we start to hear lots of talk about QB coming from the front office, you gotta believe it's a smokescreen to increase trade value of the pick. If they do go QB, we probably won't hear a peep.