Today, a couple of different reporters from NFL.com are reporting that the draft-pick-laden San Francisco 49′ers, who have 13 selections in the upcoming draft, are looking to jump up into the #13 overall pick (now belonging to the New York Jets) or the 14th overall pick…which belongs to the Carolina Panthers.

No doubt the Niners are playing the two organizations against each other, feasting on the knowledge that both teams are looking to rebuild.

The Jets might be willing to part with their #13 overall choice, but having two of the first 13 picks in this year’s draft is tempting to hold on to as this draft in particular is a bit top-heavy, with the top 15 or 16 rookies being the “top-tier” guys, after which the talent level begins to fall off at most positions.

The Jets could still trade back from 13 overall and still get a quality rookie corner to take (not replace) Darrelle Revis’ roster spot and start immediately, garnering even more picks in the 2nd round and beyond, while holding on to their #9 overall pick.

The Panthers at #14 might be willing to take the Niner’s first rounder – which will very likely be involved in a trade with EITHER squad – along with slightly less compensation in the form of later-round picks to move back and recapture at least another second-round pick with perhaps a later round choice tossed in to round things out.

As for the now-outdated “draft pick value chart,” the difference in value between picks 13 and 14 is not that huge. However, the fact remains that the Niners will NOT have 13 roster spots available on a Super Bowl team that lost by 3 points…and indeed, lost because of their inability to cover kickoffs well.

The San Francisco 49′ers have struggled to find a top wide receiver for years until embattled WR Michael Crabtree finally had a breakout season in 2012. He’s still not what I would call a dominating force, but a lower-tier #1 wideout when you consider WRs on other teams like Megatron with the Lions or Andre Johnson with the Texans, or even Stevie Johnson with the Buffalo Bills. Don’t forget, they added fearless possession WR Anquan Boldin from the team that beat them in that Super Bowl as well, but still lack a guy at WR with great speed, having let the Carolina Panthers get reserve WR Ted Ginn, Jr. as a free agent. They also still have probably the fastest TE in the game in Vernon Davis.

Nov 23, 2012; Ames, Iowa, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers running back Tavon Austin (1) rushes up field against the Iowa State Cyclones during the first half at Jack Trice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Reports say they’re targeting one of the two players I’ve been saying are the two pivot-points for trades in this year’s draft class – West Virginia WR Tavon Austin.

There’s fear I’m sure that the Jets are targeting Austin as well, since they are very thin at their own WR position, despite having drafted physical freak Steven Hill out of Georgia Tech last season. Hill played like a rookie, but showed flashes of ability last season and his production and understanding of the offense should only improve.

Ga. Tech ran a triple-option game while he was in school, so his knowledge of NFL passing offenses was next to nothing when he entered camp as a rookie.

The Jets also lost TE Dustin Keller in free agency to the Miami Dolphins, and in order to give struggling Mark “Butt Fumble” Sanchez a realistic chance to improve, the Jets are going to have to improve talent both on the offensive line and in the receiving corps. They’re definitely in high-rebuilding mode, especially after trading their best player away just yesterday.

Fans of the Carolina Panthers shouldn’t despair quite yet, however. My early impressions of new GM David Gettleman are that he’s very shrewd and could possibly work a deal with one or more players involved as well. While I don’t see him trading away aging WR Steve Smith, he could work things the OTHER way around and get a solid player from San Francisco’s stacked roster as part of the compensation.

Everything is speculation at the moment, but the Rumor Mill is really churning away on this one. Things could develop quite quickly, so keep an eye on the sporting news world for any developments along this front today!

Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49′ers agreed to terms that will send the Niners’ veteran QB to Andy Reid’s Chiefs. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reported the Niners get in return a second-round draft pick in 2013 and a conditional draft pick in 2014.

No trades can become official until March 12th, the first day of the free agent signing period.

Smith’s talents would seem to fit Andy Reid’s west coast offense. He does not have great arm strength, but has developed into a very accurate short to intermediate range passer that makes few mistakes – something Reid will find a welcome change after coaching the mistake-prone Michael Vick in Reid’s final season in Philadelphia last year.

The Chiefs were probably one of the best-ever 2-14 teams in 2011, although that’s hardly a ringing endorsement of their team. However, they have a coach with a proven track record. Reid never did win a Super Bowl, but at one point in his career when Donovan McNabb was in his prime, they went to 4 consecutive NFC Championship games, winning one.

That lone win was in Terrell Owens’ short tenure with the team. Owens had an ankle injury for the Super Bowl but played anyway and had over 100 yards receiving during the game, but ultimately his sideline hi-jinks and motor mouth made him unwelcome in Philadelphia after a very short time.

Andy Reid is one of the better coaches for quarterbacks, but Jim Harbaugh, a 15-year NFL veteran of the position, indeed does seem to have a knack for bringing out the best in his QBs in his own short head coaching tenure on the NFL level.

He also coached Andrew Luck at Stanford, so he has developed several QBs and improved their on-field performance.

It appears KC’s current QB, Matt Cassel, will be released to the scrap heap of career backup-dom as it were.

Now, keep your ears and eyes open to see if the Niners decide to pursue disgruntled cornerback Darrelle Revis.

After Beyonce’ repeated the same lyrics 100 times, the second half was underway.

Third quarter:

The Ravens had won the toss, deferred, and received the kick to open the second half.

Eleven seconds later, Jacoby Jones had put 6 on the board with a Super Bowl record 109-yard kickoff return. The one area I had said in the piece I wrote earlier today where the Ravens had the edge was in special teams, especially Jacoby Jones. He had 2 kickoff returns for TDs during 2012 and 1 punt return TD.

Ravens 28, Niners 6.

Kaepernick started San Francisco’s opening drive from the 17 yard line as their kickoff return was stuffed well inside the 20. After a nice 20-something yard completion, this was the night the lights went out in Louisiana.

That’s what happened, anyway. More than half the banks of floodlights in the Superdome went dark for some unknown reason. We all simply saw the camera panning upward, showing dimmed lights. Steve Tasker got on and let us know Jim Nantz wasn’t on because “half of the power went out” in the stadium.

Yes, the power and lights in the majority of the Superdome was gone for the better part of an hour. CBS even put up a digital clock timer counting up how long the delay was. It appears this particular Super Bowl has more than its’ share of firsts and not all of them were the sort of firsts the NFL was looking for!

I suppose it’s no coincidence the problem was on the 49′ers side of the field with the game going the way it is.

Play finally resumed after about a 35 minute delay. For what it’s worth, Kaepernick completed a short pass on 3rd and 13 but not nearly far enough to move the chains and they had to punt.

After the touchback punt, the Ravens began their initial post-blackout drive but they had to punt as well.

I suppose this makes perfect sense, seeing as how the defenses were sooooo well-rested from halftime and the scrubs did all the running on the kickoff return TD, so everyone was fresh for when the lights did come back on.

Kaepernick wound up tossing a 39-yard TD pass to Michael Crabtree after the latter dropped a long pass down the right sideline earlier in the drive and burned a timeout on the drive.

Ravens 28, Niners 13.

The Ravens couldn’t get out of the shadow of their own endzone and punted. The punter hit a very poor kick and Ted Ginn, Jr. was able to field it on a hop, reverse his field, and got it down to the 20 yard line. Vernon Davis went over 100 receiving yards on the next play with a 14-yard catch to the 6. Gore took a handoff in a misdirection play to the end zone for 6 on the following play.

So far, the power outage has completely changed the momentum of the game in favor of the Niners.

Ravens 28, Niners 20.

The Ravens then fumbled the ball away on their own 25 yard line with the Niners recovering it.

The Harbaugh family had to be feeling edgy at these proceedings. Could things get any stranger?

Uhh….yes. They could, and they did.

San Francisco kicker David Akers pushed a 39-yard FG attempt to the left, missing the try and extending his year-long struggle, but the Ravens got flagged for running into the kicker. It wasn’t enough for a first down, but allowed Akers another try from 5 yards closer. He split the uprights on his 34-yard attempt.

Ravens 28, Niners 23.

Fourth quarter:

The Ravens finally got their offense moving – without the help of “Leon Sandcastle” – and got into the red zone for the first time since the Great Power Smite. They couldn’t get into he end zone and settled for a 19-yard field goal.

Ravens 31, Niners 23.

San Francisco went on the march again from their own 23 and got to the red zone on their next possession. At the 15 yard line, Colin Kaepernick decided he was going to run the thing in and went down the left sideline and easily into the end zone to pull his team within 2.

The 2-point conversion failed.

Ravens 31, Niners 29.

The Ravens then set out to eat up clock while driving for hopefully (for the Ravens) a touchdown or a field goal at minimum. They did eat up a good part of the clock on a 5 minute drive but it stalled out and they settled for a field goal.

Ravens 34, Niners 28.

Now it was the Niners’ turn for trying the same thing. A long TD drive with little time left would be perfect.

Frank Gore broke open a 33-yard run down to the 7 on about the 5th play of the drive, taking the clock to the 2 minute warning. 4th and goal from the 5 saw the Ravens bring the house. Kaepernick was forced to throw the ball immediately and despite what appeared to be defensive holding on CB Jimmy Smith, there was no flag thrown as the pass fell out of Crabtree’s reach, incomplete.

Ravens 34, Niners 31

It was yet another controversy on the most bizarre night of Super Bowl action in the history of the game. Toss in the “voluntary” safety after the Ravens ran out all but 14 seconds on the clock along with blatant holding by their offensive line that went uncalled (and unannounced), and we COULD have a bit of another scandal regarding the officiating. It was simply awful in the last part of this ball game.

The Ravens punted from their own 20 yard line with 4 seconds left.

Ted Ginn couldn’t run it back for a touchdown and the storybook season ended with a Super Bowl victory for Baltimore and Ray Lewis gets sent into retirement with another ring.