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49ers Take Cornerback in Round 1 of Mel Kiper Jr.'s New NFL Mock Draft

We're nearly two weeks away from the draft and the godfather of mocks just released his latest one.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 29, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch watches drills with San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel RJ Gillen during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch watches drills with San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel RJ Gillen during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

We're nearly two weeks away from the draft and the godfather of mocks just released his latest one.

Of course, we're talking about ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. He has been making mock drafts for decades, and his are usually as accurate as they get. So when he releases one shortly before the draft, you take notice.

Today, Kiper Jr. projects the 49ers will take Michigan cornerback Will Johnson with the 11th pick.

The logic is sound. The 49ers lost Charvarius Ward in free agency this offseason and don't have a clear third cornerback to pair with Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green. Johnson has the talent potentially to be better than both of them.

But the 49ers haven't drafted a cornerback in Round 1 since 2002 when they took Mike Rumph with the 27th pick. Last year when they took Green at the end of Round 2, he was the highest pick they'd spent on a corner since Shawntae Spencer in 2004. Maybe that trend abruptly this offseason, or maybe it won't.

It's not like Johnson is a can't-miss prospect. He's tall for a cornerback -- 6'2" to be exact -- but he has 30 1/8-inch arms, and those are extremely short for his position.

In addition, Johnson missed all but six games last with a shoulder contusion and turf toe. Plus he didn't go to the Senior Bowl or work out at the Combine or at Michigan's Pro Day recently because he has a hamstring injury.

The 49ers can't afford to miss on this first-round pick, which means they can't afford to take this injury risk in Round 1. They'd be better off trading down.

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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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