The 49ers are banking big on their two first-round picks, Javon Kinlaw and Brandon Aiyuk. While they need both players to work out, the Kinlaw selection will be viewed especially critically since the club opted to parted ways with All-Pro DeForest Buckner in exchange for the draft pick they eventually used to pick Kinlaw No. 14 overall out of South Carolina.
Hall-of-fame executive Gil Brandt, who worked as an executive for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960-88, sees a flawless player in the 49ers’ first-round pick.
“He does not have a weakness on a grade that you use to evaluate players with,” Brandt said Sirius XM NFL Radio per Eric Branch of the SF Chronicle. “That’s unusual. I mean, Jerry Rice had a weakness (as a prospect) – he wasn’t a good blocker. Very few guys have no weaknesses at all and, in my estimation, he has no weaknesses at all.”
Kinlaw spent three seasons at South Carolina, and didn’t break out until his senior season when he collected 6.0 of his 10.0-career sacks. There were a variety of reasons he struggled early in his career, some of which were described by Branch in his detailed breakdown of the rookie, but perhaps the biggest one was where Kinlaw played.
He spent a lot of time at nose tackle for the Gamecocks, a position where stats are harder to rack up and the player’s job is to occupy blockers and fill gaps more than it is to record sacks and tackles.
If Kinlaw is a flawless prospect, as Brandt believes, the 49ers may not have to wait long to find their replacement for Buckner. Going into camp it looks like there’ll be a committee approach to filling Buckner’s 800-plus snaps. However, if Kinlaw doesn’t have any holes in his game and holds his own on all three downs right away at a better position for his skill set, there may not be any reason to take Kinlaw off the field for extended periods of time.
Translating college prospects to the NFL isn’t as easy as just evaluating their talents in college though. Kinlaw was dominant for South Carolina with a rare combination of size and athleticism. Simply. winning with physicality doesn’t often work in the NFL. There will be players who know how to properly handle Kinlaw’s size, length, speed and strength. If he can’t win that way, he’ll need to consistently find other ways to move offensive linemen and get into opposing backfields.
Brandt’s high praise is a good start though. If Kinlaw can get anywhere close to the expectations a prospect without weaknesses gets tabbed with, the 49ers will be in a good spot to have one of the NFL’s top defensive lines again even after trading one of their best players on that unit.
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