Jack-  The 49ers are obviously very interested in Eric Reid according to reports, and the mocks I've seen have him going in the early part of the 2nd round.  One has to remember that there is a difference between free safety and strong safety.  The 49ers need a free safety, and one with size.  Reid is seen as a free safety, and has good size.   Some of the other safeties that you mentioned, Elam being one of them, are small guys(under 6 feet).  Come draft day, the 49ers will have a better barometer on where players are expected to go, and if they really want Reid, then they'll know the appropriate time to take him.

As for drafting a tightend early on.  Again I'll mention that we are talking about a backup player since we already have Vernon.  If the team didn't have pressing needs on the D-Line, and in the secondary, then drafting a backup type player wouldn't be such a big deal.  As far as the 49ers offense, and running a ton of plays from a two tightend formation.  The 49ers are not married to just one style of offense. They run plays from a variety of offensive discplines.  I think with the addition of Aquan Boldin, we'll see less of the double tightend formation, and more 3-Wide, especially with Mario Manningham and Kyle Williams.  I also believe that we won't see as much read option.  If the 49ers do use one of their premium picks on a tightend, then they really need to do more in free agency defense wise.

Also thanks for the info on Mathieu.  Like I said, I don't know much about him, but there has been a lot of talk about him lately.  I was watching NFL Network, and Deion Sanders said he'd take him, and that he felt that Mathieu was the best CB in the draft.  However as you mentioned, he has had major off the field issues, and at 5'8", he's likely to get abused by the bigger, taller players in the NFL.

I'm really excited about this years draft because of how many picks the 49ers have, especially early one's.  They should be able to do very well for themselves.