2024 NFL Draft prospects

[wco81]

The guards were overpowered in the playoffs, especially the Lions game, where their DTs pushed them into Purdy's face, particularly the first half.

[clyde21]

i think both Puni and Kingston were solid picks at IOL, we should be good there biggest issue will be RT

[CrimsonCrew]

Haven't had a chance to weigh on in the draft yet. Overall, in terms of the picks, I think it was a fine draft which I'll address in more detail below. Some picks I can quibble with, some I liked. It actually wasn't as bad as a lot of this FO's drafts in terms of head-scratching moves, but for the second year in a row, the failure to address OT is glaring. I'm going to go through each pick here, and then give my big-picture impressions in another post.

31) I was lukewarm on the Pearsall pick. I like the player, and I like the fit, but as with others, I would have gone with Newton, DeJean, or Powers-Johnson ahead of him. But I'm fine with the pick. I don't think it's a huge reach, and he's a safer player than several of the other WRs who went in the same area. AD Mitchell, for instance, has higher upside and more versatility, but he's a much riskier prospect who could bust entirely. I don't see that with Pearsall. The big question for me is whether Pearsall is slot only, or if he can play other spots. If he can't, it probably wasn't a great pick. Hopefully he can add a bit more bulk, but as an older prospect, that's somewhat less likely.

64) This was a tough one for me. Cornerback is always very scheme dependent, so rankings at the position have even less value that other spots IMO. And since the draft, I've heard from a lot of people who really like Green. But passing on Suamataia for him is pretty tough. I could have lived with Suamataia at 31. Passing on him in the second...I don't know. Green sounds like an interesting player, if he can cut back on some of the grabbiness. Versatile, though everything I've seen is that he's better in man than zone, which isn't a stellar fit for us (though we have been increasing our man coverage lately). But he has experience inside and outside, and at FS, so he could address a number of needs. A good third CB was a huge need, as is safety, so the position fits.

86) I generally like the Puni pick. Seems like a versatile guy who should compete to start inside right away, but could also back up outside. Could have a future as a starting OG or C. For an IOL, he's got decent size and length. Despite a mediocre 40, his other athletic scores were very strong. We were weak across the interior OL last year, and Banks is a FA next year. Feliciano is old and only signed for a year. So this fits a need. I also think it was probably our best value pick of the draft, and certainly of the first three rounds.

124) I like this pick, too. We have a need at safety, though I wasn't sure it would be addressed in this draft. But we lost Gipson and Huf may not be 100% to start the year. We really only had Brown as a starting-caliber safety. Mustapha is a versatile (there's that word again) defensive back who can play either safety spot or even some slot corner. He could definitely wind up getting a fair bit of playing time if we go with three safeties instead of three LBs. His length is well below average, but he has decent range and good bulk. He profiles as a bit similar to the other safeties on our roster in terms of style of play, but he might be better in coverage than either Brown or Hufanga.

129) Pretty mixed on this one. I hate trading two picks to come up in a deep draft for a RB. And I have some real doubts about Guerendo. He doesn't seem to have great vision or wiggle, and he has some real injury history. I liked Tyrone Tracy more. That said, he's a physical freak, and if we can get him in space untouched, he could be a real weapon. That long speed is no joke, and he's been compared to a bigger Mostert, which could be pretty sweet in this offense. Pretty skeptical of the FO's eye for RBs at this point, though.

135) I like Cowing, though he's a real longshot at his size and I'm not sure I would have taken him here. Out of a ton of small, fast WRs, he was the most productive, and might have the smoothest transition to the NFL. But the profile is one that hasn't panned out a ton. Hopefully he's a Tank Dell clone, but with more durability (he was very durable in college, though I think he played through stuff a lot). Oddly, his change of direction metrics were pretty poor, but he's a good route-runner who excelled at getting open quickly. His yardage totals also dropped steadily from 2021 to 2023. Hopefully that's an indication that he was becoming the primary focus for defenses, and when he's in the #3 role he'll have more success (best year was also at UTEP). He should contribute in the return game, which is something we need.

I'm not going to lie. I didn't and don't really have any thoughts on the last two picks. The other guys I at least knew going into this process. I had to look the other two up. At that point in the draft, pretty much anything goes. So we'll see. Definitely need to address interior OL, so fine to spend two picks there. Also fine with a LB who could be an impact STs player with some upside.

[CrimsonCrew]

Overall, as said, a bit mixed on the draft. I like most of the players to some degree, or I can understand the plan. There was, of course, some reaching, but there almost always is, and ultimately the consensus boards don't mean much of anything, and less outside the first 20 picks or so.

I like that they addressed some problem areas, and that they are trying to surround Purdy with speed and explosiveness. That was the theme for the offense. We definitely got more athletic. This past season, the offense struggled every time they played a good man coverage defense (Cleveland, Baltimore, KC). So they went out and got two WRs who can separate quickly - though who could struggle with press. I like that in theory. That said, they also added two smaller guys who may both be best-suited to the slot. It would have been hard for me to pass on Brenden Rice for Cowing, though obviously Rice plummeted for some reason.

The absolutely glaring issue for me - as with many others - was the failure to address OT. I totally get not doing so in the first round. There was a run, and the value just wasn't there. But why not trade up when guys started going off the board in the second? Why pass on Suamataia? I realize he's not our typical OL prospect, but he's got the physical talent to potentially be a Trent replacement. I understand that a backup OT isn't likely to have a profound impact next season...unless Trent goes down (knocks on wood). But Trent is really, really old, McKivitz was only okay at best, and we really don't have any depth there.

After the second round, other than taking Christian Jones (which I would have been fine with in the fourth), there weren't a ton of options, so fine, but they don't even bring in a UDFA at the tackle position? It's just so bizarre to me. They could be in a huge jam when Trent finally hangs them up, and there just doesn't appear to be any urgency to address the issue. It's really frustrating. Got to hope it doesn't bite them in the ass at some point. I would expect Burford to move back out to tackle at this point, so maybe he shows more there than he has at guard. But generally guys don't fail up in that manner. We shall see....

[CrimsonCrew]

Oh, I'm also fairly shocked we didn't add a DL or a TE, though you can't address every position in the draft.

[CrimsonCrew]

Reading up on some of these guys, especially the later picks and UDFAs. Evan Anderson is listed on 49ers Webzone as 6'3, 356, but was really a hair over 6'1" and 320. That makes more sense for our FO, that's the size profile they prefer at nose. But I was kind of hoping for a big run stopper.

Update: apparently he was in that 360 range as a college freshman, but slimmed down to play at 320.

[CrimsonCrew]

Feel like I'm talking to myself, but what else is new? Back to addressing one of the major problems in the SB, admittedly he was not fully healthy, but attempting 11 passes to Samuel (who caught three for 33 yards) is a major reason why we lost the super bowl. Those are targets that should have gone to Aiyuk and Kittle, and now may go to Pearsall. I still expect Deebo to play a significant role, but if he can't do better against man coverage - and that's an area where he's struggled historically - his time on this roster is limited.

[CrimsonCrew]

Interesting note on the OL we drafted. Both had elite short shuttles, a metric that has a very strong correlation to NFL success. Worth pointing out that Brendel is one of the four UDFAs on the list. Undrafted C Drake Nugent had a 4.5, so just outside this range. Clearly a metric they look at closely.

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[Harry Palmer]

Cc, not talking to yourself, appreciate the thoughts. I’m currently in my usual post-draft phase of trying to talk myself into the picks I didn’t like, and even without that I didn’t think we drafted any non-players early, but bigger picture I have the same issues and not just in terms of roster but overall, it feels like our rep for being arrogant is deserved, we either don’t know how to learn from our mistakes or aren’t seeing them as mistakes in the first place. And honestly, Kyle’s got reason to be big on himself/his philosophy, but while I think we obviously can win a SB without addressing that…in a game like that there were other issues that, if they break differently, we aren’t even talking about the OL…but it still profits you to adjust to reality.

And the reality is that while we don’t have too many holes atm (we’re a sieve in not too long though) it still makes the hill harder to climb if you don’t try and strengthen your obvious weaknesses even if that conflates with your philosophy. Especially given our narrowing window. I can get behind trusting the process when we’re at the beginning or in the middle of our prime opportunity phase, but we’re quite obviously nearing the end of this one and actually paying for OL help in draft capital one year isn’t going to unravel anything that isn’t bound to come undone some time soon. And going off the board as we routinely do hasn’t exactly been a boon to us on early round picks, and again probably supports our rep more.

I’m halfway towards thinking that maybe we should start trading out of the high rounds and crush the mid rounds with lots of bullets in the gun once we see this roster start to empty out. We clearly get more value out of later picks, though it’s hard to say how much of that was Peters. Kinda rambling at this point, I intended on just letting you know you weren’t staring into the void, but here I am several paragraphs later.

[wco81]

Greg Cossell said Pearsall had great shuttle numbers, especially since it’s usually shorter players who do the best.

[clyde21]

I'm not going to lie. I didn't and don't really have any thoughts on the last two picks. The other guys I at least knew going into this process. I had to look the other two up. At that point in the draft, pretty much anything goes. So we'll see. Definitely need to address interior OL, so fine to spend two picks there. Also fine with a LB who could be an impact STs player with some upside.

Kingston, along with Puni, has a top tier short shuttles for an IOL, that's the archetype at this position they are going with



edit: saw you pointed it out later

[clyde21]

really Puni at 6-5 313 with those short drill metrics + versatility and experience I have high expectations for this pick. possible he's a day 1 starter.

[clyde21]

Greg Cossell said Pearsall had great shuttle numbers, especially since it’s usually shorter players who do the best.

Pearsall had absolutely freaky numbers, 4.41 40, 42 vert, 6.64 cone

vert and 3 cone were both second best at combine

dude is a freak

[CrimsonCrew]

Greg Cossell said Pearsall had great shuttle numbers, especially since it’s usually shorter players who do the best.

Pearsall had absolutely freaky numbers, 4.41 40, 42 vert, 6.64 cone

vert and 3 cone were both second best at combine

dude is a freak

Yeah, he's an elite athlete. As I understand it, he didn't always play that way. A lot of people have suggested the pick is a high floor, low ceiling play, but I don't see that. He's got the measurables to really excel.

[clyde21]

Greg Cossell said Pearsall had great shuttle numbers, especially since it’s usually shorter players who do the best.

Pearsall had absolutely freaky numbers, 4.41 40, 42 vert, 6.64 cone

vert and 3 cone were both second best at combine

dude is a freak

Yeah, he's an elite athlete. As I understand it, he didn't always play that way. A lot of people have suggested the pick is a high floor, low ceiling play, but I don't see that. He's got the measurables to really excel.

people just see a white dude and automatically assume high floor low ceiling lol

[CrimsonCrew]

Improving athleticism was a clear priority in this draft, as opposed to last draft when Luter was our most athletic player with a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 8.43. This year, we added Pearsall at 9.78, Mustapha at 9.39 (no agilities), and Isaac Guerendo (9.98). Even Puni came in at 8.27, and Kingston was a 9.90.

I wonder if they see Kingston as a center prospect. His measurables are pretty similar to Brendel's (Brendel is an elite athlete), but he's an inch taller, 20 pounds heavier, and has longer arms than Brendel did.

[wco81]

Other thing with Pearsall is that he supposedly excelled over the middle.

So that may be setting him up as the Aiyuk replacement.

I don't think he's as tall and heavy as Aiyuk though. Or what his wingspan is like.

[CrimsonCrew]

Cc, not talking to yourself, appreciate the thoughts. I’m currently in my usual post-draft phase of trying to talk myself into the picks I didn’t like, and even without that I didn’t think we drafted any non-players early, but bigger picture I have the same issues and not just in terms of roster but overall, it feels like our rep for being arrogant is deserved, we either don’t know how to learn from our mistakes or aren’t seeing them as mistakes in the first place. And honestly, Kyle’s got reason to be big on himself/his philosophy, but while I think we obviously can win a SB without addressing that…in a game like that there were other issues that, if they break differently, we aren’t even talking about the OL…but it still profits you to adjust to reality.

And the reality is that while we don’t have too many holes atm (we’re a sieve in not too long though) it still makes the hill harder to climb if you don’t try and strengthen your obvious weaknesses even if that conflates with your philosophy. Especially given our narrowing window. I can get behind trusting the process when we’re at the beginning or in the middle of our prime opportunity phase, but we’re quite obviously nearing the end of this one and actually paying for OL help in draft capital one year isn’t going to unravel anything that isn’t bound to come undone some time soon. And going off the board as we routinely do hasn’t exactly been a boon to us on early round picks, and again probably supports our rep more.

I’m halfway towards thinking that maybe we should start trading out of the high rounds and crush the mid rounds with lots of bullets in the gun once we see this roster start to empty out. We clearly get more value out of later picks, though it’s hard to say how much of that was Peters. Kinda rambling at this point, I intended on just letting you know you weren’t staring into the void, but here I am several paragraphs later.

Haha. No, I know people are reading. Just when I go on a rant and post like four or five times continuously I feel a little crazy. Which may be apt.

Anyway, part of the dichotomy with Kyle is that he's brilliant, and he's a great coach. But he has these pretty glaring blind spots, and if he could clean them up, he'd be even better. He's never been able to put out the sort of buttoned-up product that was the hallmark of Bellichick's teams - especially on defense - through is tenure. He tends to overrate his team and his moves. Make a few changes, and he could be hands down the best coach out there. But maybe if he was capable of making those changes, he wouldn't be the really, really good coach that he is.

[CrimsonCrew]

Other thing with Pearsall is that he supposedly excelled over the middle.

So that may be setting him up as the Aiyuk replacement.

I don't think he's as tall and heavy as Aiyuk though. Or what his wingspan is like.

I think they try to move Deebo after this year and keep Aiyuk. It just makes too much sense. Aiyuk is younger. He's better at what we do with Purdy. He's committed every play, even when he's blocking or a decoy. They haven't restructured Deebo's contract, which is a strong indication that he's not in the long term plans.

We'll see what happens this year. If Deebo blows up again, then maybe you rethink things. But for now - and for some time leading up to the draft - I'm pretty confident the FO wants to try to keep Aiyuk over Deebo. Only wrinkle is that Kyle and Deebo are tight.

[clyde21]

Improving athleticism was a clear priority in this draft, as opposed to last draft when Luter was our most athletic player with a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 8.43. This year, we added Pearsall at 9.78, Mustapha at 9.39 (no agilities), and Isaac Guerendo (9.98). Even Puni came in at 8.27, and Kingston was a 9.90.

I wonder if they see Kingston as a center prospect. His measurables are pretty similar to Brendel's (Brendel is an elite athlete), but he's an inch taller, 20 pounds heavier, and has longer arms than Brendel did.

i think that's exactly the plan for Kingston