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Have the 49ers Given Up on Defensive End Drake Jackson?

This year, the 49ers might spend their first-round pick on a defensive end as if Drake Jackson doesn't exist.

Grant Cohn

Dec 11, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (95) celebrates after the 49ers made a defensive stop on fourth down against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Dec 11, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (95) celebrates after the 49ers made a defensive stop on fourth down against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
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This year, the 49ers might spend their first-round pick on a defensive end as if Drake Jackson doesn't exist. Because for all intents and purposes, he might be the invisible man in the 49ers' facility.

The 49ers drafted Jackson in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. When they took him, they thought he might develop into a long-term starter opposite Nick Bosa. Jackson had the frame and the bend that can't be coached -- he just needed to get stronger, take coaching and stay healthy.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, Jackson tore the patellar tendon in his knee halfway through the 2023 season and hasn't played since.

"That's been a tough injury," general manager John Lynch said at the Combine earlier this offseason. "We found that out with Mike McGlinchey. Those quad tendon repairs -- you've got to really think long and hard before you have that because it doesn't just make it go away. I think if you ask McGlinchey, to this day he probably plays through some pain.

"Drake hasn't had setbacks, but he has had trouble coming back from it. It's not been the most encouraging thing. Hopefully, it takes a turn for the positive because we've seen Drake when he's healthy. He can be a real effective player for us. So we're crossing our fingers and putting in all the work as is Drake."

If they're crossing their fingers, it doesn't sound like they're confident he can contribute this season or maybe ever again. It sounds like they're going to replace him and keep him around one more year just in case he makes a miraculous comeback.

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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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