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Identifying the 49ers' draft-day need is the easiest game on the schedule. The team thirsts for a receiver, a vacancy created -- and underlined repeatedly -- by Terrell Owens' spectacularly prolonged and clamorous departure.
General Manager Terry Donahue, seeing little reason to play coy, acknowledged last week that the 49ers would lean toward using their first-round pick on one of the speedy and super-sized pass catchers in this year's receiver class.
There are, of course, no guarantees. Donahue left room for the "best-player-available" philosophy and noted that cornerback and defensive tackle are other areas of concern. But there seems to be some obvious matchmaking in the works between a receiving class being touted among the best ever and a team in search of a new pair of hands.
Whether the 49ers make their first selection at No. 16, or pull off a trade to move down, seven receivers merit first-round consideration. Some of the elite players will be gone by the time the 49ers pick, which presumably means no shot at Larry Fitzgerald (University of Pittsburgh), Roy Williams (Texas) and Mike Williams (USC), but there are plenty of potential stars to go around. One who could be on the board at No. 16 is Washington's Reggie Williams.
"I would put anyone with the name of Williams in our first clump of players," Donahue joked, alluding to Roy, Mike and Reggie. "I just hope that if we pick a Williams we get the name right."
Draft pundits ballyhoo this crop as the equivalent of the quarterback class of 1983 that produced John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly. In the least, it should rival the receiving class of eight years ago that yielded Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Terry Glenn and Owens.
"It's not just in the first round," 49ers Coach Dennis Erickson said. "There are a lot of good ones that you could get in the draft late. In my six years of being involved in the draft, this may be the best receiver corps that I have seen."
General Manager Terry Donahue, seeing little reason to play coy, acknowledged last week that the 49ers would lean toward using their first-round pick on one of the speedy and super-sized pass catchers in this year's receiver class.
There are, of course, no guarantees. Donahue left room for the "best-player-available" philosophy and noted that cornerback and defensive tackle are other areas of concern. But there seems to be some obvious matchmaking in the works between a receiving class being touted among the best ever and a team in search of a new pair of hands.
Whether the 49ers make their first selection at No. 16, or pull off a trade to move down, seven receivers merit first-round consideration. Some of the elite players will be gone by the time the 49ers pick, which presumably means no shot at Larry Fitzgerald (University of Pittsburgh), Roy Williams (Texas) and Mike Williams (USC), but there are plenty of potential stars to go around. One who could be on the board at No. 16 is Washington's Reggie Williams.
"I would put anyone with the name of Williams in our first clump of players," Donahue joked, alluding to Roy, Mike and Reggie. "I just hope that if we pick a Williams we get the name right."
Draft pundits ballyhoo this crop as the equivalent of the quarterback class of 1983 that produced John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly. In the least, it should rival the receiving class of eight years ago that yielded Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Terry Glenn and Owens.
"It's not just in the first round," 49ers Coach Dennis Erickson said. "There are a lot of good ones that you could get in the draft late. In my six years of being involved in the draft, this may be the best receiver corps that I have seen."
