This was a rough draft for 49ers fans.
Every year around draft time, we like to look at the ghosts of drafts past with the San Francisco 49ers and reflect on the players allocated from the draft. Luckily, we have a video of each draft thanks to aYouTube poster and 49ers fan Marvin49. We’ll be looking at every year during the Kyle Shanahan era up to 2023. Today, we finish things off with 2023 (video linked).
And so it comes to this—last year’s draft.
We’ll preface this by saying this was one year ago. There are still a lot of things left for us to see from this batch before we can label them busts or home runs. That’s the thing: there isn’t a pick (at least from my point of view) where you can point and say, “OK, that guy,” one way or another.
Whether you liked last year’s draft or hated it, one thing was certain: it was boring.
The 49ers didn’t have a pick until the third round. This was thanks to the Trey Lance trade syphoning their first-round pick and the Christian McCaffrey trade syphoning their second-round pick.
That leads us to Round Three. The 49ers’ first pick was safety Ji’Ayir Brown. Brown was a decent pick and a very smart player. Unfortunately, Brown was called upon far, far too early after Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL. Brown showed some good stuff in spurts, like intercepting Baker Mayfield in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game or Geno Smith in the Second Seattle Seahawks game. Out of all the draft picks, Brown has the most potential to yank a starting job in the future.
The next pick is probably what this draft will be remembered for: Jake Moody—a Michigan kicker with leg strength that would make Street Fighter’s Chun-Li envious. Moody is…well, he is an enigma. His preseason couldn’t have started any worse, but he did manage a kick to win a game (which I honestly thought was good for the mental aspect). Once the regular season began, there wasn’t much to see. Besides a kick that would narrowly go through here or there, he wasn’t exactly expected of much with the high-octane 49ers offense.
Then the Cleveland game happened. In Week 6, Moody missed what could be called a chip shot, thanks to the weather. The follow-up game wasn’t much better as he shanked another kick against the Minnesota Vikings. After that, he was pretty much perfect until Week 17 in a meaningless game against the Los Angeles Rams. It also was a foreshadowing of what may come. Moody missed his first extra point and followed it up with another field goal miss. He then missed a somewhat needed field goal in the NFC Divisional, a slightly more important field goal in the NFC Championship game, and an extra point in the Super Bowl that may have changed a few things in the final minutes.
What the hell? That’s the best thing I can describe what’s going on between Moody’s ears. I want to say it was a decent season? But then you look at those kicks he missed and how crucial some of those were, and know he’s got a few things to work on in the mental game. Moody definitely should not be written off yet. The pick made sense, and Moody had a lot of good tape, but it is a 3rd round pick on a kicker. The fact everyone might be holding their breath when he takes the field isn’t exactly what you want out of a kicker, especially when Robbie Gould came out for a walk-off; you were already changing the channel.
Next up is Cameron Latu, a tight end out of Alabama. He was seen as someone who could take the load off George Kittle. Well, Latu got put on injured reserve. If you were thinking he would get it together in his second season, it’s worth mentioning that the 49ers gave Brock Wright an offer sheet to pry him from the Detroit Lions. While the Lions matched the offer later, the writing was on the wall about Latu. There is not much to write about, and there is not much impact.
Which brings us to Darrell Luter Jr. Now, he did make an impact, just not the impact anyone wants. You know him best as the new Kyle Williams. Luter contributed mostly on special teams and it was a special teams gaffe by him that may have cost the 49ers the game. A punt from the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl bounced off his foot and was recovered by the Chiefs. And then all of a sudden, with a short field, Patrick Mahomes was elite, and no one talked about the muff. Good, I guess.
Then there’s Dee Winters. Special teams are really all you can say about him. He did slot in on linebacker numerous times and played 15 games in the regular season. 10 tackles across those games should give you an idea of how impactful he was.
Brayden Willis was the other tight end taken. And he has a cool single tackle to his stat sheet. That’s it. Granted, he was inactive for over half the regular season’s games, but it was all for special teams with just a handful of snaps on offense.
Ronnie Bell was used mostly as a punt returner in 2023 to fill in for an injured Ray-Ray McCloud and it wasn’t exactly great. By around the time of the Philadelphia Eagles game, Bell’s ball security just went to lousy. He fumbled twice against the Eagles and then nearly and I mean NEARLY coughed it up the very next week against the Arizona Cardinals (thank goodness for the forearm hitting first).
Rather ironic it was a special teams miscue that may have doomed the 49ers in the Super Bowl, and Ronnie Bell’s ball security had nothing to do with it (McCloud returned to punt returner duties long before and had nothing to do with the misfire, in fact he was running like a demon trying to get the ball after it hit Luter’s leg).
Finally, we end with Jalen Graham. Um, special teams plays for four games? That’s it.
Man, this draft was rough as a 49ers fan. Now, to be fair, some of these picks DID see the field, whether it’s special teams or otherwise, but outside of Jake Moody showing potential and Ji’Ayir Brown maybe having a shot down the line, they were all rookies, and it showed. No need to say they are busts after one season, but it’s hard to look at them and say, “That guy is going to be special” like we did with Brock Purdy after a couple starts.
There is still time, of course. A lot of time. These picks will get another crack at things in 2024. They got some experience, which seems better than the 2022 draft class minus Brock Purdy. I guess.
At least this entire draft class made the team in 2023.
As always, the DMCA biscuits are watching this thing in full force, so go here to watch the entire draft reaction.
Pick Breakdown
Round 3 – No. 87 – Ji’Ayir Brown, S, Penn State
Round 3 – No. 99 – Jake Moody, K, Michigan
Round 3 – No. 101 – Cameron Latu, TE, Alabama
Round 5 – No. 155 – Darrell Luter Jr., CB, South Alabama
Round 6 – No. 216 – Dee Winters, LB, TCU
Round 7 – No. 247 – Brayden Willis, TE, Oklahoma
Round 7 – No. 253 – Ronnie Bell, WR, Michigan
Round 7 – No. 255 – Jalen Graham, LB, Purdue
You must be logged in to post a comment Login