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49ers Pick Tennessee DE James Pearce Jr. in New Mock Draft

The 49ers must improve their defensive line this offseason.

Grant Cohn

Nov 16, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman James Pearce Jr. (27) rushes the passer against the Georgia Bulldogs in the second quarter at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive lineman James Pearce Jr. (27) rushes the passer against the Georgia Bulldogs in the second quarter at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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The 49ers must improve their defensive line this offseason.

Nick Bosa still is good, but the rest of the d-line is unremarkable at best. It doesn't shut down the run or pressure the quarterback particularly well. It relies on Bosa to be great.

That's why CBS Sports analyst Chris Trapasso projects the 49ers to take Tennessee defensive end James Pearce Jr. with the 11th pick in 2025 NFL Draft.

"Pearce looks like a top-15 pick, and the 49ers make him one here," writes Trapasso. "He's long, explosive, deceptively powerful and put together two magnificent seasons in the SEC. He's the running mate Nick Bosa needs."

Pearce led the SEC in sacks with 10 in 2023 as a sophomore. Now he's declaring to the NFL Draft after his junior season. For what it's worth, the 49ers didn't draft any juniors last year -- they drafted seniors only. Perhaps they would make an exception for Pearce.

Pearce is built similarly to 49ers defensive end Leonard Floyd. Both are 6'5" and both weigh roughly 245 lbs. So Pearce certainly would fit the 49ers defense. But Floyd currently has 8.5 sacks and just got selected to the Pro Bowl as an alternate. Plus he's under contract for next year. Which means Pearce wouldn't start until 2026 if the 49ers were to draft him.

The 49ers always could use more depth at edge rusher, and taking the best player available never is a bad idea. I simply don't expect them to use their top-15 pick on a player who won't start right away. I think they're more likely to take a defensive tackle or an offensive lineman.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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