The Florida Keys

Every week I engage in a 24 hour intermittent fast. Some might think that sounds extreme. For me, I look at it as an excuse to cut down my weekly caloric intake by approximately 1/7th and hopefully trigger autophagy. It takes a little bit of discipline and a lot of water to make myself not go completely crazy, but my favorite part of doing a weekly 24 hour intermittent fast is breaking the fast. Well, today was a fasting day, and I decided to visit a Mexican restaurant in Honolulu and get some bomb carne asada after my 24 hours were up.

But while I was sitting at the table by myself impatiently waiting for my Mexican BBQ steak to arrive, I looked up at the TV in the barroom adjacent to the restaurant's dining room and saw, much to my excitement, the University of Florida's NFL pro day. And for the first time got a close-up look at Kyle Pitts and Kyle Trask.

You are probably reading this blog because you saw it on a 49ers forum, or if I am really lucky you saw this on social media in a non-San Francisco 49ers post. I spend way too much time obsessing over the San Francisco 49ers, and for the last week the 49ers digital blogosphere has been on fire with white-hot takes. Every member of Niner Nation fashions ourselves to be a better GM than John Lynch and to be smarter than head coach Kyle Shanahan, and ever since the 49ers made a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins to acquire the 3rd overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, we can't help but communally salivate over a franchise quarterback prospect. (I like Justin Fields, and wrote a blog outlining this very scenario a little more than a month ago.) But after watching the Florida pro day, I can't help but think that the best-looking player in the upcoming NFL draft is none other than Florida's Kyle Pitts.

I mean seriously, watching that guy run around with his shirt off makes most NFL players look like Steve Rogers before he took the Erskine Super Soldier Serum! Many football brains who are smarter than I am are saying Pitts might be the best overall player in this year's NFL draft class, potentially a future hall of famer, and after watching his pro day and seeing his raw athleticism, I can't disagree with that assessment. Kyle Pitts stands 6'6" tall, weighs 240 pounds, and today ran the 40 in 4.44 seconds. Simply insane athleticism for a man with his height and weight.

Something else that stood out to me was the athlete who threw Kyle Pitts passes at their pro day, the much-maligned Kyle Trask. Now look, I don't think Kyle Trask is as good as Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, or Justin Fields. But as a San Francisco 49ers superfan who yesterday watched Big Mac Jones throw the ball at the Alabama pro day, I have to say, I don't understand why Mac Jones is getting so much hype while Kyle Trask is getting piled on. There are probably dynamics at play here which a casual observer like myself is missing. But in my not-at-all humble opinion, Kyle Trask had a much better pro day than Mac Jones did. Now Trask has been throwing passes to Kyle Pitts, and we have already established my belief that Pitts is indeed the best NFL prospect in this draft class. But Mac Jones had a better NFL-ready cast of weapons surrounding him. Granted Mac Jones did just win a national championship, but even so, to me, a casual fan, I can't understand why people would want to draft Dad Bod Jones any higher than Kyle Trask.

I look at things from an exceedingly 49ers centric POV. The Niners have the #3 pick in the draft this year, and I think that is way too high to draft either Mac Jones or Kyle Trask. The unfortunate thing about this situation is that the Niners spent so much draft capital to move up to #3 overall, and thus made it known they will be taking a quarterback with that pick. I don't think using up that much draft capital to take any position other than QB would ever be worth it, and so, unfortunately, Kyle Pitts shouldn't be considered at #3.

However, I will say, if I was former 49ers GM and current Jacksonville Jaguars Executive Poobah Trent Baalke whose team earned the 1st pick in the 2021 NFL draft, my strategy would be quite simple. Forgo Trevor Lawrence. Quarterbacks taken so high in the draft are busts more often than not. Instead, I would make history, and draft "tight end" Kyle Pitts at #1 overall. PFF would surely be pissed but last I checked PFF doesn't care for Trent Baalke to begin with! Then with the first pick in the 2nd round (#33 overall), I would draft Kyle Trask, who will most likely be there, considering how much he is hated on by all manner of NFL observers, professional and internet troll alike. Heck, if I got wind that Tampa Bay was about to do a smart thing and draft Kyle Trask to be Tom Brady's heir apparent, I would do the Trader Trent thing, and give up #33 and a 6th round draft pick to move to #31, just to get ahead of the Bucs and score a precious 5th-year option on a QB who very well could develop into a polished and steady NFL starter. And we already know Trask and Pitts have chemistry. Keep them together in the low-tax state of Florida, and have some fun this year.

That's what I would do, anyway! And from a 49ers fanatic perspective, this move would be awesome because the Niners would have the chance to draft either Trevor Lawrence or Zach Wilson or Justin Fields at #3, win-win-win. Oh, and in case you were wondering, my carne asada was delicious.