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Have the 49ers Given Up on Drake Jackson?

Jackson still is only 23 -- he's one of the youngest players on the team. But the 49ers don't have time to wait for him to mature. They need to win the Super Bowl now. Which means Jackson might need a new home.
Grant Cohn|
Aug 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (95) before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (95) before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports | Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

It wasn't long ago that the 49ers had big plans for Drake Jackson.

He was their top draft pick in 2022 -- they took him in Round 2, and he had just turned 21. He was so young. With a little growth and development under renowned defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, Jackson surely would become a star opposite fellow defensive end Nick Bosa. What a tandem those two would be.

Last season, Jackson recorded three sacks in the 49ers' season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He seemed as though he had arrived. But in the next seven games, he touched the opposing quarterbacks zero times. We're talking no sacks, no QB hits. And then he injured his knee and spent the rest of the season on the Injured Reserve List.

In January, Jackson finally had surgery to repair his knee. And in OTAs and minicamp, he was rehabbing from his knee surgery. It's unclear when he will be healthy enough to practice.

And the 49ers don't appear to be waiting for him. This offseason, they signed Leonard Floyd, who had 10.5 sacks last season -- he's everything they hoped Jackson would be. They also signed Yetur Gross-Matos, who plays Jackson's position.

Now it seems like Jackson could get released if he doesn't play well in training camp and preseason. Because the 49ers don't need him anymore. They've moved on.

Jackson still is only 23 -- he's one of the youngest players on the team. But the 49ers don't have time to wait for him to mature. They need to win the Super Bowl now. Which means Jackson might need a new home.

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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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