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Daniel Jeremiah Projects 49ers to Take a Cornerback in New Mock Draft

The 49ers already have two good starting cornerbacks in Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green.

Grant Cohn

Michigan defensive back Will Johnson (2) celebrates a touchdown after intercepting USC quarterback Miller Moss (7) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.
Michigan defensive back Will Johnson (2) celebrates a touchdown after intercepting USC quarterback Miller Moss (7) during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Frankly, the 49ers have needs almost everywhere.

Which could mean they just might not draft for need in Round 1 this year like they typically do. Instead, they could take the best player available, and Daniel Jeremiah of The NFL Network projects that player will be Michigan cornerback Will Johnson.

"Johnson is a scheme fit and his size will play well in a division featuring wide receivers built like power forwards," writes Jeremiah.

Johnson looks like he could become one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL relatively quickly, so he would be a terrific pick. But of all the players the 49ers could take in Round 1, he's one they don't desperately need.

The 49ers already have two good starting cornerbacks in Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green. Lenoir just signed a five-year extension, and Green just ranked 13th in pass breakups this past season despite being a rookie and starting just seven games. He's an ascending player.

Drafting Johnson would inhibit Green's development and growth, and the 49ers still would have to address their trenches with their next few picks. Had the 49ers drafted trench players as they should have the past few years, Johnson would be an option, but they didn't, and that's on them.

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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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