49ers add depth to O-line, secondary, running backs on Day 3 of NFL draft
The 49ers traded away their fourth-round picks to take Ohio State running back Trey Sermon in the third round on Friday night, leaving them a long wait until Round 5 to make their first pick Saturday morning.
And with pick No. 155, the first of three selections in the round, San Francisco added its second offensive linemen of its draft class, tapping Western Michigan tackle Jaylon Moore to compete for a depth role and potentially shift to guard.
Moore (6-foot-4, 311 pounds) was a three-year starter for the Broncos and transitioned to tackle after playing tight end in high school. He was lightly recruited, but proved to be durable — an apparent prerequisite along the offensive line — finishing his career with 32 straight starts. Moore was a second-team All-MAC honoree during his junior and season seasons. The 49ers started seven different combinations along the offensive line in 2020.
Moore joins guard Aaron Banks, the second-round pick who made 31 straight starts to finish his career at Notre Dame, who will presumably start at right guard. Moore is expected to shift to guard, head coach Kyle Shanahan said. There he would compete with Daniel Brunskill, Colton McKivitz and Justin Skule for snaps.
General manager John Lynch afterwards said adding another guard wasn’t the intention at that pick, but Moore was the highest graded player on the team’s draft board at the time.
“We don’t just go purely go by grades,” Lynch said. “We go by how people feel in that room, how convicted we all are, and we felt great conviction there. So I think at this point, I think we weren’t married to certain positions.”
49ers add another cornerback in Round 5
Seventeen selections after taking Moore, the 49ers added their second cornerback of the draft class. They took Deommodore Lenoir at No. 172, a boundary corner from Oregon who started his last three seasons and played in 47 total games during his college career. He didn’t miss a contest in four campaigns.
Lenoir (5-10, 199), who grew up in Los Angeles, broke up 27 passes, had five interceptions and two forced fumbles for the Ducks. He’s fluent in both man-to-man and zone coverage schemes and earned second-team all-conference honors as a senior during the abbreviated season in 2020. Lenoir is considered an above average tackler for the position and might have the versatility to slide inside to nickel, where veteran K’Waun Williams is playing on a one-year contract.
“He’s not a nickel only,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Lenoir. “Which means that he can play outside or inside. He’ll come in here and try to figure it out and learn it, but he’s got the skill set to where he has the ability to play either one.”
Lenoir joins third-round pick Ambry Thomas, the cornerback from Michigan, in San Francisco’s new-look secondary that no longer has Richard Sherman or Ahkello Witherspoon. He’ll likely compete for a depth role with Thomas, Dontae Johnson, Tim Harris, Ken Webster and others.
49ers go safety with third pick in Round 5
San Francisco added another defensive back from the Pac-12 Saturday, taking Talanoa Hufanga, a play making safety who spent most of his time near the line of scrimmage at USC. He was taken with pick No. 180 overall.
Hufanga (6-0, 199) is slightly undersized and ran an underwhelming 4.63 in the 40-yard dash, but observers believe he played faster than he timed and his tape was was better than most late fifth-round picks. He was a three-year starter for the Trojans and earned the Pat Tillman Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year award while leading his team in tackles (62), interceptions (four) and forced fumbles (two).
Hufanga will likely compete for a depth role behind incumbent safeties Jimmie Ward, Jaquiski Tartt, Tarvarius Moore, Marcell Harris and Tavon Wilson. He could carve out a roster spot as a star on special teams. Tartt is one a one-year contract while Moore and Harris are entering the final season of their rookie contracts. Hufanga could be used in a similar role as Harris, a hybrid safety and linebacker to play in the box.
“(We) love him at safety,” Shanahan said of Hufanga. “He hits like a linebacker. His mentality is he’s an old-school bad ass, as we say. So we’re excited to get him here, see what he can do on special teams, hope he can earn a role there for us to start. We’ll try him at safety. If he’s better at linebacker, that will eventually happen too.”
There are injury concerns with Hufanga, however. He broke his collarbone twice, first during the 2018 season and again during spring practices in 2019.
49ers take a second running back with final pick
San Francisco added its second running back of the class, ensuring Shanahan will be able to run the ball after the team dealt with injuries at the position last season.
The 49ers used pick No. 194 in Round 6 on Elijah Mitchell, a speedy back from Louisiana, after adding Sermon in Round 3. Mitchell (5-10, 201) has elite athleticism. He was clocked at 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash at his pro day while jumping 37.5 inches in the vertical and 128 inches in the broad jump.
Mitchell started for three seasons and averaged 6.2 yards per carry on 527 attempts. He scored 41 touchdowns with his season high coming in 2019 with 16. He also averaged 12.2 yards on 49 receptions. He was an All-Sun Belt player in 2020. Mitchell compares favorably to another speedy running back, Matt Breida, whom the team signed as an undrafted free agent in 2017.
Speaking of Breida, the 49ers before this week hadn’t drafted a running back since the failed Joe Williams experiment in 2017. Shanahan and Lynch both said position coach Bobby Turner was giving them grief about not adding to the position. Perhaps Turner will be glad the team is adding two running backs through the draft for the first time since 1991.
“Bobby’s been sensitive lately,” Shanahan said. “Because I haven’t talked to him as much, he claims, in the last month.”
Shanahan said he’d been busy looking at other positions in the draft (like quarterback with that No. 3 pick).
“He keeps telling me how I’ve changed because I don’t come down to his office as much the last month,” Shanahan said. “Today, he forgave me for it. I told him I’ve been working on some stuff and he didn’t believe that until we saw we got him two running backs. So he was very happy.”
The 49ers are overhauling their running back group this spring. They allowed Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon to leave in free agency, and signed former Giant Wayne Gallman last month to a one-year contract.
Raheem Mostert will likely top the depth chart as he enters the final season of his two-year deal he negotiated before last season. Wilson returned on a one-year pact this spring. Mostert and Wilson missed 12 games combined last season due to high ankle sprains.
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 11:41 AM.
