San Francisco 49ers: Danny Shelton should go in first round

By Brian Spaen | Apr 8, 2015

Conventional wisdom says that the San Francisco 49ers need to improve on offense. For example, a wide receiver would be the smartest move with their first round pick. However, Trent Baalke has shown that he does not care about general consensus. If he decides to go for something crazy, picking up Danny Shelton on defense would be a solid move.

Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com projects that the 49ers will pick Shelton in his latest mock draft. He was impressed with the former Washington nose tackle’s showing at the Senior Bowl.

"Shelton was the talk of the Senior Bowl with his combination of power, size and burst. He was a load and nearly impossible to single-block. In the pass-rushing one-on-ones and in run defense, Shelton had his way with blockers. He was one of the nation’s sack leaders at defensive tackle in 2014 with nine. Shelton totaled 87 tackles and 16.5 tackles for a loss, too. The 6-foot-1, 339-pounder is a big, disruptive tackle who has a surprising burst."

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Campbell’s previous pick was Arik Armstead from Oregon, who has been a pick on many mock drafts recently.

Considering the 2015 draft has a large amount of depth at wide receiver, it would not be a surprise to see Baalke continuing to make the defense stronger with the 15th overall pick. Their current weakness is in the middle of the defense, and Shelton is at the top of the list in terms of defensive tackles.

When listing Sheldon’s strengths, you have to begin with his strength. He is still able to bring his guys down by making up his lack of speed for being quick to establish himself at the snap of the ball. Offenses try to avoid the 6-foot-2, 339-pound matchup problem and instead gameplan around him.

Of course, there is a chance that Sheldon will not be available when the 49ers are on the board. Some mocks have the nose tackle going in the Top 10, and Mike Mayock of NFL.com compared Shelton to Vince Wilfork.

"“If you have a top-10 pick, the thing you have to ask yourself is will he consistently have an ability, when you go to sub-packages, to push the pocket,” Mayock said. “I think he does. I would put him in the category with a Vince Wilfork.”"

Some of the problems that could keep Sheldon on the board past the 49ers are how easily he gets fatigued and his lack of speed. Teams have won the matchup by avoiding him completely. At this high of a level, he must strive to be a complete player and work on being consistently on the field when asked.

Also, some stats are a little inflated. For example, he recorded nine sacks in 2014, but six of them happened in the first two games. They came against non-conference foes Hawaii and Eastern Washington — hardly tough competition for the Huskies.

These weaknesses are all issues that Sheldon can work on as he matures into an NFL player. The potential is all there, and if the 49ers are going to look at a defensive player in the first round, they should take a long look at this strong tackle.

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