Kurtenbach
with ease and probably take out a safety in the defensive backfield for you, too, just for fun. Humphrey likely won’t provide massive immediate value, but the depth and future upside are fantastic at No. 43, and having a center you can trust in the years to come is a great investment for a team that just drafted a quarterback. THIRD ROUND… PICK NO. 102 ELERSON SMITH, DE, NORTHERNIOWA>> He’s more basketball than football right now — he’s skinny — but Smith has the kind of burst you cannot create with five meals a day. At six-foot-six, he can broad jump 10 feet and vertical leap more than 40 inches.
And the Niners, with a solid amount of depth on their defensive line, can afford to work with Smith for a year while finding him opportunities to get after the quarterback as a third-down pass rusher, replacing Dee Ford, who remains a question mark for the 2021 season.
Smith isn’t just a miscast athlete. He’s a battler and his hands are heavy. Combine that with his length and burst and you have the kind of defender who could easily end up as the best pass rusher in this class. The upside is worth the gamble here. FOURTH ROUND… PICK NO. 117
MARCO WILSON, CB, FLORIDA >> Back when the 49ers had the No. 12 pick in the draft, there was plenty of speculation that they could take South Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn. It made perfect sense — the 49ers could use some cornerbacks and Horn was one of the most athletic cornerbacks to ever enter the draft.
But what if the Niners could get the same kind of athleticism 105 picks later?
Wilson can run faster, jump higher, and bench press more than Horn, which more than makes up for the one inch of height the South Carolina prospect has on the Florida Gator.
Now, it must be noted that Wilson never fully put that athleticism together on the field, whereas Horn did. But the 49ers, especially in their new Cover4-heavy scheme, have found ways in recent years
to get the most out of players who could never quite get it together at the collegiate level.
And forgive me for doubting that Florida was getting the most out of Wilson, considering the fact that the program is on its third cornerbacks coach in four years. (Gators coach Dan Mullen’s staff has developed a reputation back in my old stomping grounds — it’s not a good one.)
Wilson, whose brother, Quincy, was a secondround pick and currently plays for the Giants, is a player with first-round upside and round-seven production. Early in Day 3 seems like an apt place to select such a prospect. FIFTH ROUND… PICK NO. 155 TOMMY DOYLE, OT, MIAMIOHIO >> I don’t understand how Doyle isn’t a higherranked player. He tested off the charts and he’s an absolute grinder on tape. Can he be a bit stiff sometimes? Sure. Is his technique lacking in certain areas? Of course.
But there are first-round draft picks who share those traits and don’t have the upside Doyle boasts.
But I asked around, there’s no buzz on his name.
Maybe it’ll come in the next few weeks. In the meantime, this guy is a tremendous sleeper.
Let’s start with the numbers: He’s six-foot-8, 320 pounds, and he ran a 5.12 40-yard dash.
There are only a handful of tackles in the history of the NFL who can run that fast carrying that much weight and it reads like a who’s who of the position over the last few decades. I found 21.
A handful of those 21: Jonathan Ogden, Robert Gallery, Trent Williams, Andrew Whitworth, Jason Peters — have I piqued your interest yet?
I’m not saying that Doyle is going to be a future Hall of Famer, but, again, such athletic similarities have carried lesser players further.
The Niners have languished with undersized but athletic options or correctly sized and unatheltic options at backup tackle for the last few years.
Doyle would be the perfect mix of try-hard and specimen, and while he might not be the guy who takes over at right tackle for Mike McGlinchey in 2023, he could be an ideal swing guy for today and tomorrow.
FIFTH ROUND… PICK NO. 172 JONATHAN MARSHALL, DT, ARKANSAS >> Marshall is all burst, all the time, and he has the potential to thrive in the Niners’ onegap defensive line system.
At 310 pounds, Marshall ran a 4.88-second 40yard dash, with splits of 1.67 and 2.7 seconds at 10 and 20 yards, and he can broad jump more than nine feet.
This is the kind of athlete who makes the 49ers front office salivate. It doesn’t hurt that last year’s tape is fun as hell to watch, too.
I’ll flat-out say it: I love Marshall. He’s my favorite value pick in this class.
FIFTH ROUND… PICK NO. 180 >> Trade with Chicago for Nos. 204, 208, and a 2022 sixth-round pick
SIXTH ROUND… PICK NO. 193 NICK NIEMANN, LB, IOWA >> There are two kinds of middle linebackers in the NFL today: old-school backers and good ones.
Niemann might be able to bridge that gap.
The Iowa product is a tough-nosed Mike — the kind that football coaches who still drive 1998 Buicks love. He had 77 tackles in the Big Ten’s shortened season last year, showing a serious tenacity in the run game.
He’s also crazy fast, running a 4.51 40-yard dash with elite splits and a quite silly 3-cone time of 6.67 seconds.
The knock of Niemann is his weight — he plays at 235 pounds.
Do you know who else plays at that weight? Fred Warner, arguably the best middle linebacker on the planet.
The NFL has evolved. Middle linebacker, in particular, requires such a different skill set than what was expected five years ago. Niemann fits the new mold — guys who can run with backfield pass catchers and tight ends while playing with the fire to fill gaps in the run game.
The Niners have tough decisions to make at the linebacker position moving forward — there’s not enough money to go around after Warner is signed. Niemann is a brilliant depth piece who could dominate on special teams and make those roster decisions much easier in the not-too-distant future. SIXTH ROUND… PICK NO. 204 KENE NWANGWU, RB, IOWA STATE >> One cut and go — that’s all the Niners are looking for in a running back. Nwangwu is the perfect embodiment of that skill.
There are 12 running backs in the last two decades who were faster on the first 10 seconds of the 40-yard dash than Nwangwu, and the only one who could claim to be in the same class of athlete as him was Chris Johnson.
You remember Chris Johnson, right? He ran for 2,000 yards in a season. He’s considered the fastest back in NFL history.
Nwangwu was out of the gates five one-hundredths of a second slower than Johnson.
Now, Nwangwu was Iowa State’s second-string running back behind FirstTeam All-American Breece Hall, but that means he has less wear-and-tear on his body.
Add in his vision and strength to his speed and you have a player who has no business going on Day 3. But that’s where the Niners can get him. Just another steal at running back. SIXTH ROUND… PICK NO. 208 BRILEY MOORE, TE, KANSAS STATE >> The 49ers need to replace both their blocking and their move tight end/ H-back before the start of
the season — at least in my estimation.
In this lackluster tight end class, a blocker can be found in undrafted free agency.
Moore, though, is the kind of move tight end who’s worth a late-round flier.
He’s big enough to play in the league at 6-foot-4 and 257 pounds, and he benched 225 pounds 26 times, so there’s some strength, too. But what stands out for Moore is his straight-line speed.
This guy could do damage on vertical routes off the edge of the line. He ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash.
I question his hands and his toughness (though there’s requisite toughness in playing for Kansas State) but that kind of speed is capable of making the Niners think twice about re-signing Jordan Reed and it will replace Ross Dwelley just fine, thank you.
Moore also wore No. 0 at K-State, which is just too cool to not mention. SEVENTH ROUND… PICK NO. 229
JALEN CAMP, WR, GEORGIA TECH >> Camp is a big-bodied receiver with breakaway speed and tenacity when it comes to catching the ball.
Yes, I find it weird that he’s a round-seven pick, too.
I fully expect Camp to be moving up draft boards in the coming weeks. It has to happen, right? He’s really good and he has the potential to be a thirddown specialist who can line up anywhere and, somehow, someway, get open past the line to gain.
Camp is also a winning blocker who, when he properly engages, can be a huge asset in the run game.
The knock on him is his route running. It’s loose, to say the least. But, again, there are players that will be selected in the Top 100 who have similar faults. Camp also seems to be paying a price for being at a school that didn’t throw the ball until a few years ago and now only sparingly pushes it through the air.
Presuming the Niners run the same kind of offense with Fields at the helm, they need a slot receiver for 11 personnel situations. Kendrick Bourne is gone, but there are plenty of options remaining on the roster. Camp seems to be a better option than any of those players,
though. I feel strongly about most of these lateround picks, but there’s something I can’t quite shake with Camp. I’ll bet in a few years folks are laughing about him being a seventh-round pick.