Recent NFL history could have looked quite a bit different if the Falcons hadn’t traded up to the sixth overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft and chosen the player the 49ers wanted to draft at No. 7.
Former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh revealed this week that the 49ers wanted to draft Julio Jones in 2011.
“I’ve always had a ton of respect for Julio Jones,” Harbaugh told Scout.com (via ESPN). “When I was with the San Francisco 49ers, we were hoping to draft Julio.”
When the Falcons traded up and took Jones off the board at No. 6, the 49ers drafted Aldon Smith at No. 7.
Harbaugh was wearing a Julio Jones jersey at a satellite camp at South Alabama University.
“Always have had tremendous respect for him, competed against him,” Harbaugh said of Jones. “I’m just a big fan of a lot of people. And I’m a jersey guy. I like jerseys.”
Harbaugh would have loved to see Jones in a 49ers jersey.
