The 2022 NFL Draft may have ended, but that does not mean the 49ers are done. The attention now turns to signing the best players who were not drafted.
Dohnovan West, Center, Arizona State
Leon O’Neal Jr, Safety, Texas A&M
Jason Poe, OL, Mercer
Tay Martin, WR, Oklahoma State
Jeremiah Gemmel, LB, North Carolina
Taylor Hawkins, CB, San Diego St
Segun Olubi, LB, San Diego St
Taysir Mack, WR, Pittsburgh
Sam Schlueter, OL, Minnesota
Devin Atkins, DL, Fresno State
Qwuantrezz Knight, CB, UCLA
Garrett Walston, TE, North Carolina
Cyrus Habibi-Likio, RB, Boise State
Marcelino McCrary-Ball, LB, Indiana
An interesting mix of players. Dohnovan West may be a decent pick-up. Time will tell.
West was initially ranked as the 3rd best center on Kiper’s board.. should stick around. And I love the Poe signing as well… 300 lb athletic freak who’s fast (4.89), explosive (31.5” vert), and strong as hell (34 reps on bench). Both look like solid Oline adds.
Draft analysts – Chad Reuter (NFL.com) and Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News), both saw the 49ers Day 2 picks exactly the same way I did:
Rueter: “The Niners did a nice job picking up Jackson in the second round,” wrote Reuter, “but whether grabbing Davis-Price and Gray in the third round was good value is a question to be answered over the next couple of seasons”
Iyer: “Burford and Castro-Fields were good later picks to address needs, but reaching for Davis-Price and Gray was just too offensively cute for Shanahan”
In fact, just about everyone loved the Drake Jackson pick as much as I did (A+), and just about everyone questioned the value of the 49ers 3rd round picks (C-).
PFF called Drake Jackson “phenomenal value at No. 61 overall”, but they also called Davis-Price “average”, and Danny Gray’s hands “aweful”, as do I. However, PFF likes Danny Gray as an overall player, and I do as well. I just think things went sideways for Lynch and Shanahan after they gave up so much value by drafting Davis-Price @ #93, and giving up this much value in round 3 ended up throwing the rest of their draft off kilter.
I ended up giving the 49ers an overall C+ draft grade, but I could be talked into giving them a B- if somebody could explain to me why they gave up so much value in rounds 3 & 4, without even making a move up to target a specific player who has experience at Center, FS, or Slot CB, especially considering how little room they actually have on their roster for the 4 marginal, backend of the roster players they ended up drafting after round 4.
BTW, Deebo Samuel kind of looks like an idiot now, but I still don’t like the way this thing is going. It’s obvious to me that Deebo and the 49ers are truly at an impasse, and I don’t know how this gets resolved before it ends up having a detrimental effect on the 49ers season. And don’t even get me started with Jimmy!
I’d guess the problem is all about the contract and the outcome will be all about Deebo’s ego. He’s just found out that his trade value isn’t as high as he thought. He’ll get great money from the Niners but maybe a little shy of what he wanted but what’s his alternative. The Niners control him for the next 2 years. Unless he throws a tantrum which I don’t see him doing, he’ll be a Niner this year and next.
Felix
* Deebo Samuel signed a 4 year, $7,247,476 contract with the 9ers, including a $3,618,076 signing bonus, $4,731,791 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,811,869.
* In 2022, Samuel will earn a base salary of $3,986,000. If he’s smart, he’ll sign an extension from the 9ers for ~$22 Mil for the 2022 season. * If Deebo refuses to be used as a RB, that will drop his value to the 9ers, or any other NFL team. He’ll be
lucky to see an offer for $20 Mil from SF, or any NFL team.
* The 9ers hold all the cards, they own his contract rights for the 2022 season. If Deebo holds out, he loses a year, his $3,986,000 salary and get paid the same $3,986,000 in 2023, unless he holds out again.
* If the 9ers want to play hard ball, and make an example out of him, they’ll pay him his base salary for the 2022 season, then use the franchise for the 2023 season for ~$25.1Mil
JasonL
I think it’s fair to say that the 9er FO is satisfied with the OL players and depth that’s already on the roster.
Now wether they’re right, or not, will become obvious this (2022), season.
Also, drafting RB Davis-Price says two things. A) He replaces the need to use Deebo as a RB and B) The 9ers and
KS will run more Inside zone and less outside zone. That was indicated last year when Trey Sermon and Aaron Banks was drafted. Trey Sermon hasn’t worked out, at least not yet. This is likely Sermon’s prove it year.
Really eager to get on with OTAs, training camp, and pre-season. Want to see what the 9ers have (and don’t have).
Nice to read some good opinion (all of you) and not to have wasted 30 or 40 bucks on magazines that don’t know as much as you (No joke..!) I still have to be proven that our WR coach can’t coach Gray’s hands to match his footwork. For at least his rookie year, he’s going to be a decoy whenever he touches the field. I do believe that Davis-Price shows that Frank Gore attitude and will run and crush some LB’s dreams so, I think higher of him than some of you seem to… In order to make a short story even shorter, I like our (9’rs) draft for the most part….Especially both L & D linemen. I’m sort of tired of big contract/low payback on our lines. Kyle planned this out, and if I’m the laughingstock of the blog at years end….., so be it….LET’S PLAY FOOTBALL…!!