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49ers Pick South Carolina Safety Nick Emmanwori in New Mock Draft

Talanoa Hufanga will be a free agent the 49ers probably won't re-sign this offseason. So, they'll need someone to replace him.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 28, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; South Carolina defensive back Nick Emmanwori (DB40) runs in the 40 yard dash during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 28, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; South Carolina defensive back Nick Emmanwori (DB40) runs in the 40 yard dash during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Talanoa Hufanga will be a free agent the 49ers probably won't re-sign this offseason. So, they'll need someone to replace him.

They could go with Ji'Ayir Brown who has started 18 games for the 49ers since they drafted him in 2023. Or they could try to draft a Day 1 starter such as South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori. In fact, Emmanwori is the 49ers' pick in the CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson's latest mock draft.

"Let's start with the measurables," writes Wilson. "6-foot-3, 231 pounds, 32.5-inch arms, a 43-inch vertical jump and a 4.38-second 40-yard dash time. This is basically what it looks like when you build the perfect safety in the lab.

"But here's the thing: Nick Emmanwori's game tape matches the measuring tape; he has some of the best ball skills in the class, and he's just as good against the run. He can come downhill and thump the ball-carrier or carry the tight end or slot receiver in coverage, and he's an even better person."

Wilson makes a compelling case for the 49ers taking Emmanwori with the 11th pick. He certainly seems worthy of such a high selection.

But the 49ers simply cannot take a safety with the 11th pick no matter how athletic he is. Safety would be a pick the 49ers don't have the luxury to make while they have such glaring needs in the trenches.

Plus, in this mock draft, Missouri's Armand Membou is available for the 49ers and they pick Emmanwori anyway.

I strongly feel that the 49ers would take Membou in that scenario.

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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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