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Will the 49ers Trade Up for Michigan Defensive Tackle Mason Graham?

Graham would be a perfect fit for the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham celebrates a tackle against Ohio State during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.
Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham celebrates a tackle against Ohio State during the second half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The 49ers might need to change up their approach to the Draft this year.

They desperately need a great defensive tackle. The last two times they drafted that position in Round 1, they traded down first and selected Solomon Thomas and Javon Kinlaw, two major busts.

So why not do the opposite and trade up for a defensive tackle this year?

For what it's worth, that's exactly what Pro Football Focus expects the 49ers to do -- trade up for Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham.

"As an extension of the Jaguars' section, the 49ers could look to move up to get their hands on one of the top offensive or defensive linemen," writes PFF analyst Trevor Sikkema. "They have 11 draft picks right now and likely won’t use all of them. Their extra third- and fourth-rounders could come in handy to get aggressive for the player who I believe is perfect for them in this class: Michigan’s Mason Graham.

"Graham is the No. 4 overall player on PFF's big board and likely wouldn't last until the 49ers' pick outside the top 10. He ranked first in PFF overall grade in 2024 among all interior defenders in college football and would instantly boost San Francisco's trenches."

I agree with Sikkema that Graham would be a perfect fit for the 49ers. He's big enough to stuff the run in their Wide 9 alignment, and he's disruptive enough to collapse the pocket and pressure the quarterback. The 49ers haven't had a player like him since DeForest Buckner.

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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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