2019 NFL Mock Draft: Nick Bosa heads to Raiders, Dwayne Haskins to Redskins
By Randy Gurzi
6. San Francisco 49ers Devin White, LB, LSU
In 2017, the San Francisco 49ers were supposed to have built themselves one of the nastiest defenses in football. After the weird trade where the Chicago Bears moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 with the Niners, they took Solomon Thomas — the Stanford defensive end they supposedly were going to take at No. 2 anyway.
They also added more ammunition and moved back into the first in order to secure Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster. He was easily a top-10 talent but had some serious red flags. San Francisco was well aware it was a gamble, but the swing away. And here we are not even two full seasons later and Foster isn’t on the club any longer. As for Thomas, he’s been a decent player but nothing close to what they expected when they selected him so high.
That means the 49ers still have a lot of work to do on defense. They can go defensive back if they like, and it’s a major need. They can also address the line, but they have a lot invested in there already with top picks. So what they decide on is landing a linebacker who can make the plays they expected out of Foster.
Enter LSU’s Devin White. The junior linebacker just had his second season in a row with more than 100 tackles, which is proof of his ability to play sideline-to-sideline. He’s strong against the run and pass and has even had success in the blitz game. San Francisco hopes to get a lot better in 2019 just due to the return to health of Jimmy Garoppolo, but improving the defense will go just as far.