SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
Round 2 (No. 61 overall) – Drake Jackson, LB/DE, Southern Cal: The Niners join the draft party and take the Trojans pass rusher. San Francisco values a deep group up front, but the 6-3 Jackson needs to figure out what his ideal playing weight is – 255? 275? – before he’s able to serve as a nice change of pace opposite Nick Bosa.
Round 3 (93) – Ty Davis-Price, RB, LSU: At 6 feet, 211 pounds with 4.48 speed, he was a 1,000-yard rusher for the Tigers in 2021 and could slot in for RB2 duties for the Niners behind Elijah Mitchell with Raheem Mostert gone.
Round 3 (105, special compensatory) – Danny Gray, WR, SMU: At 6 feet, 186 pounds, he’s no Deebo Samuel clone. But Gray’s 4.3 speed could obviously add a new dimension to the Niners offense.
Round 4 (134) – Spencer Burford, OT, Texas-San Antonio
Round 5 (172) – Samuel Womack, CB, Toledo
Round 6 (187, from Broncos) – Nick Zakelj, OT, Fordham
Round 6 (220, compensatory) – Kalia Davis, DT, UCF
Round 6 (221, compensatory) – Tariq Castro-Fields, CB, Penn State
Round 7 (262, compensatory) – Brock Purdy, QB, Iowa State
Grade: B
Jackson is the headline player and should bolster the depth the Niners like to feature on their defensive line. Perhaps the real headline is that Niners brass didn’t cave to All-Pro WR Deebo Samuel’s trade request – not yet anyway – and it now appears there’s time to salvage the relationship with a player who’s certainly critical to the development of young QB Trey Lance. But this is one of those drafts that’s hard to assess holistically given the first-round pick (along with next year’s) was spent on last year’s investment for Lance with the No. 3 overall selection. Probably gonna be at least a few seasons before anyone knows if he makes this all worth it.