Five players the 49ers could draft in the first round

By Rhys Knott

The 49ers first pick in 2025 is going to be fascinating. Kyle Shanahan is going maximum mad scientist in the 2025 offseason (or praying Christian McCaffrey doesn’t get injured in 2025). There’s no Deebo Samuel, Elijah Mitchell or Jordan Mason. 35 other 49ers players hit free agency in March too.  

12 of those re-signed in San Francisco and nine new faces arrived in the first week of free agency. You know what that means? It’s rebuild time in the Bay area. Luckily they’ll have 11 picks when the draft starts in Green Bay. And after the 2024 injury crisis, they have the 11th overall pick.

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Two quarterbacks left the Bay area and only Mac Jones has arrived, but nobody should be drafting a backup QB in the first round (Shanahan once took Trey Lance at three though). 

Demarcus Robinson replaces Deebo Samuel in the receiving corps, but he won’t be lining up in the backfield anytime soon. Maybe Ricky Pearsall will? After Elijah Moore signed with Kansas City and Mason was traded to Minnesota they need some more running back depth, but not in the first round. 

Dre Greenlaw has become a Bronco and if De’Vondre Campbell ever shows his face in San Francisco again he’s in trouble. The 49ers have signed Luke Gifford who was a Titan last season, but he’s been a special teamer more than a linebacker. Gifford has only started five of the 73 NFL games he’s played! Robert Saleh will want to reinforce his linebacking corps. 

Seven defensive backs were all out of contract and four new ones have arrived in the shapes of Richie Grant, Jason Pinnock, Tre Brown and Tre Tomlinson. There has been a lot of turnover on the defensive line too, with seven guys hitting free agency and only three re-signing so far. Leonard Floyd upped sticks to Atlanta and Javon Hargrave signed with the Vikings.

So plenty of ways the 49ers could turn, but who are the five players most likely to be San Fran’s first round pick…

Will Johnson. Cornerback, Michigan

Johnson is a phenomenal athlete and a very good cornerback to boot. But even if he wasn’t a very good cornerback his athleticism would paper over any deficiencies. 

His closing speed is almost unbelievable, but he only clocked a 4.39-second 40-yard time. That’s not going to garner much attention, but it is quicker than the number one-ranked cornerback in the class, Travis Hunter. At 6-foot-2 Johnson is two inches taller than the Colorado Buffalo too. 

Johnson projects as the 11th pick and the majority of mock drafts see him landing in San Francisco. But he could go as high as fourth and that wouldn’t be a surprise because he is that good.

Mike Green. EDGE, Marshall

Nick Bosa’s best days may be behind him, his healthiest days certainly are. The Trump fanatic really missed Aric Armstead lining up inside, and all the silly hats in the world couldn’t prevent him having the least productive, healthy, season of his career. 

Green led the FBS in both sacks and tackles for a loss last year! Green’s presence on the defensive line would definitely help Bosa. Offensive lines won’t be able to double-team Bosa on every down with the 6-foot-3 Green playing opposite.  

He is an inch shorter and 16 pounds lighter than Bosa, but he would provide offensive linemen with a different challenge. The 2024 Sun Belt player of the year ran a 4.57 second 40-yard time, that’s in the 95th percentile of the DE class and 0.22 faster than Bosa clocked in 2019. 

Green isn’t just fast, he’s also very light on his feet for someone his size. He can spin around defenders like Dwight Freeney. Green can even spin his way out of blocks when quarterbacks break the pocket. The Virginia native recorded 22.5 sacks in total during his 32-game college career. He also made 131 tackles and forced four fumbles in those 32 games. 

The 21-year-old projects as anywhere between the 14th and 17th pick. Some expect him to be the Bengals’ first pick. But Robert Saleh would love to have two dominant defensive ends on his defense.

Walter Nolen. DT, Ole Miss

Talking of dominant defensive linemen, another 21-year-old, Nolen would bring pressure up the middle. He could bring the Aric Armstead-type pressure that Nick Sorenson’s unit failed to generate consistently in 2024. 

Nolen is so explosive that he seems to surprise every lineman who tries to block him. The consensus All-American arrives before they’ve completed their first step. Even when blockers are prepared for his sudden movement they still struggle to deal with his violent impact. ESPN’s number 1 recruit out of high school, Nolen has a burst that allows him to squeeze through double teams. One blocker is always unable to deal with his explosive power. 

At 6-foot-4 and 296 pounds he is not a like-for-like replacement for the 6-foot-7 Armstead. But he is six pounds heavier than the current Jaguar. The Tennessee native’s ability to cause complete chaos in the heart of an offensive line would free up the other 49ers’ pass rushers. 

He is expected to be drafted between 18 and 26. But taking him at the 11th pick wouldn’t be a reach, especially if Mason Graham is the fifth overall pick.

Jihaad Campbell. LB Alabama

The 2025 linebacker class doesn’t really pop off the page (don’t sleep on Danny Stutsman though), but Campbell might be Robert Saleh’s perfect linebacker. He’s big, faster than Dre Greenlaw and shows excellent discipline in both passing lanes and when it comes to setting the edge in the run game. 

Campbell doesn’t just look the part, he also backs up the eye test with his productivity. In the 35 games he played at Alabama he made a total of 184 tackles! 16 of those were tackles for a loss and he recorded 5.5 sacks. The New Jersey native also defended five passes, made two interceptions, forced two fumbles and recovered three fumbles, returning one for a score. 

His 4.52 second 40 time ranked him in the 92nd percentile of the linebacker class and his 127-inch broad jump is in the 94th percentile! The consensus belief is Campbell will fall to the Buccaneers at 19. Adding Campbell to Jamel Dean and Zyon McCollum would be bad news for the rest of the league.

Malaki Starks. Safety, Georgia

SEC defenders are always worth a first-round pick and Georgia defenders are virtually guaranteed to be an instant hit. If the 49ers want to replace Hufanga they could do a lot worse than adding Starks to their defensive backfield. 

Three safeties are projected to go in the top 50 picks, but Starks is the most polished. Starks only ran a 4.50 40 at the combine, but he plays much faster than that. He has the speed to play man coverage on slot receivers and the closing to shut down screen passes. And his confidence in his athleticism means he doesn’t over-pursue so he’s rarely caught out position. 

The Georgia native was named a first-team All-SEC safety in both 2023 and 2024. He can be a bit too physical in coverage, but that’s not going to worry coaches.  

After a disappointing combine display, Starks draft stock has fallen. At one time he was expected to be the 12th overall pick, but now he is expected to fall to the Vikings at 24.

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

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