Tag: NFL Draft Picks

49ers add to OL, select USC G Jarrett Kingston in 6th round

The pick is in! It’s USC OL Jarrett Kingston to the #49ers with the 215th pick.

The 49ers made another addition to their offensive line late in this year’s draft. With the 215th overall pick San Francisco selected USC guard Jarrett Kingston.

Kingston played a lot of football across his six-year college career. He began his college time with Washington State where he played in 37 games with 26 starts. In his lone year with the Trojans after transferring he started 11 of the 12 games he played.

Impressively, Kingston started at four of the five spots on the offensive line. He started 16 games at left guard, 10 at left tackle, six at right guard and five at right tackle. Given his 6-4, 308-pound frame and relatively short arms (just over 32 inches) he’ll probably wind up sticking as a guard in the NFL.

He’s a good athlete with plenty of experience. His NFL future will rely on him settling at a position and honing his skill set there.

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WATCH: 49ers 4th-round draft pick Jacob Cowing college highlights

Jacob Cowing highlights? Jacob Cowing highlights. Check out the #49ers 4th-round pick at WR:

The 49ers’ quest to revamp their receiving corps started with their first-round pick in this year’s draft. It continued at the end of Round 4 when they took Arizona wide receiver Jacob Cowing No. 135 overall.

Cowing didn’t measure in with great size at the combine where he came in at 5-8, 168 pounds. While that size may be a bit of an issue that limits him to working out of the slot in the NFL, he has plenty of athleticism to make a living playing from that spot.

At the combine Cowing clocked a 4.38 40-yard dash so he has the speed to take the top off a defense, but he’s not just a speed merchant. He works a lot in the short areas of the passing game where his ability to create separation makes him a potential go-to target on third downs and in the red zone for San Francisco.

Check out these highlight clips:

 

 

 

 

WATCH: 49ers 4th-round draft pick Isaac Guerendo makes tackle breaking look easy

49ers 4th-round RB Isaac Guerendo can MOVE. Check out these highlight clips:

Adding running back depth was such a priority for the 49ers in this year’s draft that they traded two fifth-round picks to slide up to No. 129 in the fourth round to take Louisville RB Isaac Guerendo.

The raw numbers for Guerendo aren’t super impressive. He rushed for 1,392 yards and 17 touchdowns on 231 college carries. He added 358 receiving yards and one touchdown on 42 catches.

Watching him tells a much different story than the numbers though, and it’s clear from his one season at Lousiville that his lack of statistical production hard more to do with injury problems during his time at Wisconsin than his overall talent.

Check out these highlights of the 49ers’ newest RB:

 

 

 

 

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WATCH: 49ers 4th-round draft pick Malik Mustapha brings the thump in college highlights

Check out these highlight clips of #49ers 4th-round pick S Malik Mustapha:

The 49ers made Wake Forest safety Malik Mustapha the 124th overall pick in the 2024 draft. He may not start on Day 1, but there should be a long-term role available for him beyond the 2024 season.

Watching highlights of Mustapha makes it clear why San Francisco loves his upside. There won’t be a ton of electric athletic flashes, but he is an outstanding, instinctual football player who is able to constantly be around the football despite not having the elite speed traits teams may typically look for at safety.

Mustapha has enough athleticism to cover tight ends and wide receivers in short areas, but his calling card is the thump he brings as a tackler, and that shows up constantly in his highlight reels:

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Instant analysis: Will 4th-round pick RB Isaac Guerendo play right away for 49ers?

Can 49ers 4th-round RB Isaac Guerendo break a troubling NFL draft trend for San Francisco?

49ers fans may be holding their collective breath after the team traded up to select running back Isaac Guerendo in the fourth round of this year’s draft. San Francisco ditched a pair of fifth-round picks to jump up to 129th overall pick where they snagged the super-athletic Louisville product.

Running backs taken before Round 6 haven’t had much success in the Kyle Shanahan era. Joe Williams, Trey Sermon and Ty Davis-Price were all selected in Round 3 or 4 and all three flamed out before getting a real shot at playing for the club.

Guerendo could certainly change that though.

He wasn’t a star in college, playing 27 games without a start in five seasons with Wisconsin before transferring to Louisville. With the Badgers he had 99 carries for 582 yards and six touchdowns. Injuries limited him a lot in those seasons. He dealt with two hamstring injuries and a foot injury that lost him for 23 games in three years.

The Cardinals utilized him more though as he got healthy, but he still started only one of the 13 games he played for them. Last season he posted 132 carries, 810 yards and 11 touchdowns while hauling in 22 catches for 234 yards.

His athleticism is evident in the way he moves through and around contact, but he still has plenty of speed to hit home runs.

There’ll be stiff competition for snaps behind Christian McCaffrey with Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason both in the mix. Availability has been an issue for Mitchell though and Mason hasn’t been able to consistently get on the field for offensive snaps. If Guerendo can reliably pass block and catch passes he could push for snaps as a secondary or tertiary option right away,  and he could shoot up the depth chart in future years with Mitchell and Mason both heading for free agency next offseason.

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Updated 49ers Day 3 draft picks after pair of Day 2 trades

Here’s an updated list of the #49ers Day 3 draft picks after a couple of Day 2 trades:

The 49ers got active on Day 2 of the NFL draft with one trade in each round.

In the second round San Francisco slid down one spot in a swap with the Chiefs that also included a swap of Day 3 picks. Then in the third round the 49ers got aggressive and traded up to No. 86 in a deal with the Eagles that included the 49ers’ third-round pick and a fourth-round choice.

After the dust settled, here’s where San Francisco stands with its picks heading into Day 3, which features Rounds 4-7:

Round 1, Pick 31: WR Ricky Pearsall, Florida
Round 2, Pick 64: CB Renardo Green, Florida State
Round 3, Pick 86: OL Dominick Puni, Kansas
Round 4, Pick 124 (via DAL)
Round 4, Pick 135
Round 5, Pick 173 (via KC)
Round 5, Pick 176 (Compensatory)
Round 6, Pick 215 (Compensatory)
Round 7, Pick 251 (Compensatory)

The 49ers have checked their major needs in the draft with some offensive line help, secondary help and wide receiver depth. There’s still plenty of work to do at running back, tight end and on the defensive line. More offensive line help wouldn’t hurt either.

Day 3 of the draft should be fun for the 49ers. They hold six picks, but it’s hard to imagine they use them all so some more trades could be in the works.

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Every pick made in Round 2 and Round 3 of the 2024 NFL draft

Here’s a complete recap of every pick from the second and third rounds of the draft.

Round 1 of the 2024 NFL draft saw a historic number of offensive player taken, including the first 14 overall picks in the draft. As expected, when Round 2 picked up tonight the opposite happened, with defensive prospects dominating the early picks.

When the Seahawks finally got their turn to pick at No. 81 overall, they did the responsible thing and picked the best guard available. That happened to be UConn’s Christian Haynes, who should be their right guard of the future. Let’s see how the other 31 teams made out tonight. Here’s a complete recap of every pick from the second and third rounds of the draft.

Twitter reacts to Seahawks picking Christian Haynes at 81

Instant analysis: Dominick Puni an intriguing, versatile OL option for 49ers

The 49ers waited to address their biggest need in the draft. Their patience was rewarded with a prospect who could solve multiple problems for them:

The 49ers waited until the back half of Day 2 to address their biggest need in the NFL draft. San Francisco needed some offensive line help, and they traded up to No. 86 in Round 3 to snag Kansas offensive lineman Dominick Puni who could be an answer to multiple questions up front for the 49ers.

Adding OL help was never a surefire need for the 49ers. Colton McKivitz is serviceable and it looks like Jon Feliciano will have the inside track to the starting right guard spot. Upgrades at either spot would be helpful though. Depth is also something the 49ers needed more of on the offensive line. Puni could theoretically check any of those boxes.

He primarily played left tackle in college with 27 of his 43 starts coming there, 13 of which came with Kansas last season. He also played right tackle some with three starts there for Central Missouri where he spent his first four college seasons. Prior to switching to tackle with the Jayhawks though, Puni started all 12 games for them at left guard in 2022.

Chances are the 49ers view him as a guard and he’ll compete at right guard with Feliciano and Spencer Burford. It’s not out of the question though that they give him some reps at right tackle to see if he can provide competition for McKivitz and OL Brandon Parker.

The 49ers could have reached earlier in the draft for an offensive lineman, but chose instead to add depth at wide receiver and cornerback. They still wound up with a quality prospect who could offer solutions at multiple positions for them.

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49ers draft pick CB Renardo Green shut down No. 6 overall pick WR Malik Nabers in college matchup

49ers draft pick Renardo Green dominated the No. 6 overall pick WR Malik Nabers in a head-to-head matchup.

LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers went well before Florida State cornerback Renardo Green. The Giants selected Nabers No. 6 overall while the 49ers took Green off the board 58 picks later at No. 64 overall. Nabers might’ve been the better prospect, but nobody would know that based on their head-to-head matchup.

Florida State and LSU faced off to open the 2023 college season. The Seminoles dominated the game 45-24 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. Part of the reason Florida State dominated was because of Green’s effectiveness in taking Nabers out of the game.

The No. 6 overall pick was targeted five times when guarded by Green and caught two passes for 20 yards per Pro Football Focus. Green managed an interception on one of the throws to Nabers, meaning he finished with just one fewer catch than Nabers on balls thrown the wide receiver’s way.

If Green continues stepping up in big games like that as a pro he could wind up being one of the steals of the draft as the final pick in Round 2.

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