Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III had 15-minute meetings this past weekend with many of the teams picking in the Top 10 ... and one team picking in the bottom three. That team? Your San Francisco 49ers, who have practically no chance of picking the Baylor quarterback, who figures to be taken No. 2 overall.
So why the interest? In an interview on the NFL Network Sunday, Griffin suspected it was more about teammate Kendall Wright, who caught 108 passes for 1,663 yards and 14 touchdowns this past season. Wright also is projected to be taken before the 49ers are on the clock, but the 49ers may be in a more realistic position to move up to snag him.
"I don't know," Griffin said when asked why the 49ers wanted to talk to him. "Maybe they're just trying to get some inside information on my boy, Kendall Wright." The 49ers have traded up in each of the last two drafts, in 2010 to snag offensive tackle Anthony Davis in the first round, then last year to get quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the second. Wright ran his 40-yard dash Sunday in 4.61 seconds, which is slower than expected. He'll likely run again at Baylor's pro day March 21 when he also will catch passes from Griffin.
Another reason for the Griffin interview may have been curiosity. "The weirdest meeting I had was with San Fran and coach Harbaugh because he recruited me at Stanford, and I didn't go to Stanford," Griffin said archly. "He said he was burned, but he was cool. It was a really good meeting."
Indeed, Harbaugh said this week he was intent on finding out why some of the players he recruited at Stanford chose to go elsewhere. "That's the first thing I do when I look at the (scouting combine) list is go through each one and - I know that guy; we played against him," Harbaugh said. "I remember (Florida State OT) Zebrie Sanders when we recruited him or RG III, etc. So I go through that list and that's the first thing I do look at. ... I can't wait to find these guys and find out why they didn't come to Stanford. Confront 'em!"
-- Matt Barrows
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