Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and ten Podcast, ten minutes of the most up to date forty nine Ers news first Thing in the morning. I'm your host Brianna McDonald, and I'm joined by forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay Polares. The forty nine Ers closed out the final day of the twenty twenty three NFL Draft on Saturday, making six selections in rounds five, six, and seven. In total. San Francisco welcomed nine draft picks
to the team. Before we get to know some of the final picks, Lindsay, tell me your initial reaction to the twenty twenty three draft class.
Yeah, I think I just want to echo what general manager John Lynch said, I think the forty nine Ers got better this weekend. I think kind of the overarching theme that we heard heading into the draft and also coming out of it is the forty nine Ers were interested in adding depth to their team. They had a lot of their core remain intact during free agency, which
everyone was really happy about. They added some more key players and positions of kneed during free agency, so the draft really was to make sure that they have the talent of the future and talent that can step in if there's unfortunate injuries throughout the season, which happens every year. It's almost unavoidable, and they got a lot of players that they were happy to find in the spots they had. There was only one trade they've made, and that was
to go up to eighty seven. Really just from one round three spot to number eighty seven, So there wasn't a ton of movement, and I think they were okay with that because they were really happy with the picks they came out of this weekend.
Awesome. It's definitely exciting to welcome some new faces to the team and see how they'll perform in the Red and gold. Now forty nine ers first selection on Day three was at pick number one, fifty five cornerback Darrell Ludar Junior from South Alabama. He's a player who was honored as the SBC Defensive Player of the Year in
twenty twenty one. Last season, he recorded forty two tackles in interception and seven pass breakups, so he's definitely a standout player on the field, but the forty nine ers personnel also called him very mature and simply a great leader. Tell me about how he fits in with the team.
Yeah, So when I asked him to describe himself as a player, he really really was happy to talk about how physical of a player he is. He's more of a press coverage guy, but can play also deep corner position. So he is just excited to come in and learn. He is a guy that I talked to and he came the Juco route, and he said that that really primed him for the competition that he's going to see
at the next level. He didn't have the traditional college football route, made a name for himself at the jucal level, and then went to South Alabama and now got his name called in the NFL Draft. I think one important thing to note about him too is that he is a girl dad, and he is also a husband and father, and so he said that that also adds an element to his game. He is a mature player, like you said, and I think all of that kind of feeds into it. Also one thing that the forty nine ers love just
to find in their players as natural born leaders. You see that in him at something that the personnel department also highlighted. So just a really mature guy that's coming in for the forty nine ers.
That's great. The next draft that became a Niner is defensive lineman Robert Beale, junior from Georgia. He's just coming off a CFP National championship game against TCU. What made Beal stand out to John Lynch and the team?
Yeah, so this one was funny and the answer kind of came in the John Lynch Kyle Shanahan press conference. But essentially his get off the ball meter, which they have a different acronym for, which if you want to know what that is, just go ahead and tune into that press conference. He was off the charts in terms of getting off the ball his speed and that's really the first one or two yards off the line of scrimmage, and that is a statistic that the forty nine ers
are very, very fond of that. He also got a glowing recommendation from his college football head coach, Kirby Smart. He said, is a really talented guy that if you just let him go, I think it was Hunt quarterbacks, He's going to do really well at the next level. Bria.
As you know, that is pretty much the number one goal of the forty nine ers defensive line, So they are really excited about the potential he has as a pass rusher, and he's really excited in particular to be learning from the best, and of course I mean AP Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa. Bill mentioned that at Georgia they watched a ton of tape on Nick Bosa, and that's a guy that he's really excited not just to meet, but to learn from.
Biil he started in eight games during the twenty twenty two season. He had twenty six total stops and twenty quarterback pressures in his senior year. So a huge pickup in round five, which forty nine ers are great at finding those late round gems. It's definitely exciting to see what he can do with the Niners. So next step was also a player who was just in the CFP National Championship game, just on the opposing team. It's linebacker d Winters out of TCU. He was selected in the
sixth round. Why was it important for the forty nine ers to draft a linebacker here?
Yeah, so I think the you know, the number one defense in the league just wants to continue reloading talent. Also, we saw the exit of linebacker as he's al Shire, so there is room in the linebacking corps and with D Winners, he is a guy that talked about studying someone that is currently on the roster, All Pro Fred Warner. That's somebody that D Winters has really targeted as someone
that he wants to model his game game from. And d Winter's actually used to play safety, came into TCU playing safety and made the switch to linebacker during the course of his collegiate career. There and again, I think the forty nine Ers just want to continue adding depth.
I asked General manager John Lynch in our one on one interview after his press conference if he saw a little bit of Fred Warner in him, and he said that it was actually funny that he's studying Fred Warner because D Winters actually reminds him a little bit more of Drake Greenlaw, which is the other piece of the forty nine ers dynamic linebacker duo. So definitely not a bad thing. So yeah, just very excited about reloading that linebacker core and having young talent to develop in house.
Now. In Round seven, the forty nine Ers picked up tight end Brandon Willis from Oklahoma, wide receiver Ronnie Bell from Michigan, and linebacker Jalen Graham from Purdue with these elections, What was the forty nine Ers strategy here as the draft was winding down and did the team meet their goal of simply adding depth to the roster?
Absolutely, bri And I think again, I was able to chat with general manager John Lynch and he said that he was so happy to see those three seventh round names still be available when they were picking at two forty seven, two fifty three, and two fifty five, because you're really at the tail end of the draft there.
Braiden Willis was the second tight end taken in the draft, and we've heard it a lot, kind of a common theme in this draft to these young players have sort of identified their favorite guy on the forty nine Ers that they're super excited to come into the building and learn from. For Braden Willis, that is George Kittle. Not a huge surprise there. He said again, same thing as we've seen over the course of other draft picks, that they want a lot of George Kittle footage at Oklahoma.
That's somebody that he's excited to just be in the same room with and be able to learn from as he begins his pro career and one thing I did want to know about Brandon Willis is I think he probably had the best draft celebration, and you can head to our forty nine Ers social channels specifically ticked off to see it. He did a backflip into the pool
after he was done with all his interviews. He's so excited to officially say he's a San Francisco forty nine Ers, and I know the team is really happy to have him.
I wonder if that's a forty nine Ers draft pick essential. Now, if you get the forty nine Ers in the draft, you've got to do a backflip in the pool. I think Drake Jackson started that last year. So yeah, maybe a new tradition. All right. Finally, maybe a surprise for some of the faithful, but the forty nine Ers opted to not draft any offensive lineman in this year's draft. Why is that so? Yeah?
So that was probably the first topic of conversation that came up in the post draft press conference with Lynch and Shanahan, And I think it's just a testament to the guys that are currently on the roster. If the season were to start today, the forty nine Ers are incredibly confident that it would be Colton mckivott's starting at
right tackle. He's proven himself over the course of the last two seasons, having to fill in for left tackle Trent Williams in some very important situations, both during the twenty twenty one season and again in twenty twenty two. I think playing the Rams both times, and they like how he's developed over the course of the three seasons he's had here in the Bay Area, and they didn't have an offensive tackle that they saw where they were picking in the draft that would beat him out, So
they've decided to go with what they have. They feel really confident about it, and that's kind of the big reason that you didn't see any offensive lineman get selected by San Francisco.
All Right, that'll do it for today. Be sure to look out for all of the forty nine ers draft news and content on forty nine ers dot com slash Draft. Thank you so much Lindsay for joining me in this off season update. Don't forget to follow First and ten on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Be sure to turn on the notifications so you're in the know when we post any breaking news updates. And thank you faithful for tuning in