49ers Draft USC DE Drake Jackson in Round 2

Jackson has an elite combination of length and explosiveness.
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The 49ers chose not to address their subpar offensive line with their first draft pick this year.

Instead, the 49ers added to their already outstanding defensive line by drafting USC edge rusher Drake Jackson. Jackson is a good value for the 49ers at pick 61, and he plays a premium position, but he does not fill a need.

The 49ers most likely drafted Jackson to replace Dee Ford, who has been injured pretty much his entire time on the 49ers. And Jackson will form a terrific edge-rushing duo with Nick Bosa.

But the 49ers already have the following defensive ends: Samson Ebukam, Kemoko Turay, Jordan Willis, Kerry Hyder, Charles Omenihu and Bosa. Jackson is No. 7. Surely all of them won't make the 53-man roster.

Perhaps the 49ers are concerned about their ability to extend Nick Bosa's contract when the time comes. Or perhaps they simply felt Jackson was too good to pass up.

Jackson has an elite combination of length and explosiveness. This past season, he had 25 pressures and 6 sacks in just 173 pass rushing snaps. He needs to add strength to his lower body, so he might not start right away, but he will be a terrific pass-rush specialist. Jackson's ceiling is as high as any edge rusher in this draft. And he gets to work with defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, who specializes in helping pass rushers reach their potential.

This pick will be a great one if the 49ers manage to address their offensive line in Round 3. The 49ers lost starting left guard Laken Tomlinson in free agency, and starting center Alex Mack is considering retirement. Which means the 49ers' second-best offensive lineman after Trent Williams is Daniel Brunskill. Not good.

It's interesting that the 49ers spent their first pick this year on defense even though their defense has been better than their offense for years and they mostly signed defensive players this offseason. 

At some point, the 49ers might want to give Trey Lance some help.


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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.