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The 49ers Draft Wide Receiver Junior Bergen in Round 7

The 49ers just improved their special teams.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 27, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch speaks during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 27, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch speaks during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers just improved their special teams.

In Round 7 with pick No. 252, the 49ers took kick returner/punt returner Junior Bergen from the University of Montana. Officially, they list him as a wide receiver. But after the draft, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Bergen will attempt to make the 53-man roster as a return specialist. That's why the 49ers drafted him.

The 49ers haven't had a dangerous returner since Ted Ginn Jr. 15 years ago. Bergen certainly doesn't have Ginn's speed, but he was a productive return man in college and just might be the most talented returner on the 49ers. He doesn't have much competition.

The 49ers primary return man last season, Jacob Cowing, wasn't good. He often slipped and fell before he could make anyone miss. And there's no guarantee he'll even make the team this year considering the 49ers just drafted wide receiver Jordan Watkins in Round 4.

Bergen probably is a longshot to make the 53-man roster as a rookie -- he seems destined to land on the practice squad. The 49ers considered signing him as an undrafted free agent but were afraid he'd get drafted by another team with one of the final picks, so they took him.

Give the 49ers credit for dedicating a draft pick to their awful special teams. They could have taken a kicker as well, but considering how bad the kicker they drafted has been, maybe they should sign veteran kickers in the future.

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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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