The best picks of the 2018 NFL Draft in every round

Third Round

70. San Fransisco 49ers (via Chicago Bears): Fred Warner, LB, BYU

Before explaining why the San Fransisco 49ers’ selection of Fred Warner was the best pick of the third round, it goes without saying that the Baltimore Ravens had an outstanding and by far the best third round out of any team in recent memory landing both Pro Bowler’s Orlando Brown Jr. and Mark Andrews.

Brown Jr. made a tough case against Warner making Pro Bowls in back-to-back seasons despite switching to left tackle halfway through this past season. But it ultimately came down to the fact that Warner is still with the 49ers and Brown Jr. requested to be traded and then was moved to the Kansas City Chiefs days before the draft.

Baltimore traded Brown Jr., 58th overall pick (Nick Bolton), and a 2022 6th round pick to Kansas City for the 31st pick (Odafe “Jayson” Oweh), 94th pick (Ben Cleveland), 136th pick (traded down to become a fifth-round pick used on Shaun Wade and a 2022 fourth-round pick).

Despite how well Brown Jr. played for Baltimore and what they got in return for him in a deal, as it stands Warner looks like he was the better selection. That being because after three seasons Warner is no doubt a top-3 linebacker in football arguably behind Bobby Warner and fellow 2018 draft class member Darius Leonard.

He has started every single game since joining San Fransisco. Warner hasn’t only been the quarterback of Robert Saleh’s defense of the last three years, but he has also been a tackling machine. During his rookie season, he put up 124 combined tackles (85 solo tackles). The next year Warner had 118 combined tackles (89 solo tackles) to go along with three sacks and an interception.

This past year he had 125 solo tackles (79 solo tackles), two interceptions, and a sack. He was rewarded for his play this past season being selected to his first Pro Bowl and being named First-Team All-Pro.

The cherry on top for San Fransisco’s selection of Warner was that the pick used to select him was acquired during the 2017 draft during the Mitch Trubisky deal. During the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears traded the third overall pick, 67th overall pick (traded down to a seventh-round pick that was used on Adrian Colbert and 2018 second-round pick was used to acquire the pick that was used on Dante Pettis), 111th overall pick (was used in a package to trade back into the first round to select Rueben Foster), and a 2018 third-round pick to move up one spot to second overall.

That 2018 third-round pick ended up being Fred Warner.

So despite both the Bears and 49ers’ selections of Mitchell Trubisky and Solomon Thomas did not how well in 2017 (both only lasted four years with their respective teams), the 49ers made out better on that deal because they selected an All-Pro caliber linebacker with a pick that at the time seemed like an added bonus to a ridiculous deal made by Chicago.

Honorable Mentions:

68. Houston Texans: Justin Reid, S, Stanford

73. Miami Dolphins: Jerome Baker, LB, Ohio State

81. Dallas Cowboys: Michael Gallup, WR, Colorado State

83. Baltimore Ravens: Orlando Brown Jr., OT, Oklahoma

86. Baltimore Ravens (via Kansas City Chiefs): Mark Andrews, TE, Oklahoma