Draft season is the smokiest season in the NFL, a time of the year when no one is to believed and any rumor is on the table. This year is even smokier because the two teams at the top, the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, are in full-blown rebuilds without clear-cut options at quarterback. 

Anything is on the table, making any rumor totally feasible. Here’s a very interesting option for San Francisco: Reuben Foster of Alabama with the No. 2 overall pick.

According to Vic Carruci of the Buffalo News, there is substantial “buzz” about Foster landing in San Francisco at the top of the draft. Asked in a mailbag about the possibility of Foster landing with Buffalo at No. 10 overall, Carucci expects to see him off the board.

“I doubt the former Alabama star would be available at that point,” Carucci wrote. “There’s a lot of buzz he could end up going to the San Francisco 49ers with the second overall pick. Multiple draft prognosticators see him as a top-five choice.”

Foster is a stud and an animal against the run, a guy who dominated for Alabama in Nick Saban’s defense. Look at the description from Rob Rang’s write-up for Foster’s draft page:

Whether it be his outstanding sideline-to-sideline speed or the impact he generates with his collisions, Foster is a heat-seeking missile hell-bent on destruction. Just as aggressive as he is athletic, Foster attacks would-be blockers in the running game, jolting opponents with a powerful punch that can leave them staggering.

But going as a top-two overall pick would be a stunner, especially with the need at quarterback 

The highest he’s been taken thus far in any of our 2017 NFL mock drafts is No. 9 to the Bengals, which is actually a pick and player that makes a lot of sense, considering the concerns that exist around Vontaze Burfict, king of NFL fines.

Also, the 49ers have a lot of needs, particularly at quarterback. But that list of needs does open the possibilities for what they can do at the top. If Foster is the best player on their board, there’s no reason to pass on him at No. 2 because they think that another position matters more.

New 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has already said as much.

“The worst mistakes you can make is you take a guy who isn’t that good of a player, or worthy of that,” Shanahan said. “The expectations change. You put a guy in a position that is really unfair to him and you set your organization back. And then you’re trying to commit to a guy who … shouldn’t have been put in that position.”

And there’s also the option for the 49ers to simply not have to pick at No. 2. If someone covets a player in that position -- whether it be a quarterback or whoever -- San Francisco could easily trade out. We’ve seen a quarterback-needy team (hello, Cleveland 2016) get out of the way for someone else to select a quarterback at the No. 2 position before. 

Forty-niners GM John Lynch, in a KNBR interview via the San Francisco Chronicle, acknowledges a trade is absolutely on the table.

“We could stay pat right there and find a fabulous player, a game-changing player,” Lynch said. “It gives us a lot of flexibility to do some other things if we chose to be bold. There are going to be people that covet the pick we have, so there’s going to be some people that want to move up.”

In other words, anything is on the table. Nothing would be a surprise and the 49ers have options. Welcome to draft season.