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NFL Mock Draft: 49ers Pick RB Dylan Sampson in Round 3

Sampson is an intriguing pick.
Grant Cohn|
Nov 16, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Dylan Sampson (6) runs for a touchdown against the Georgia Bulldogs during the first half at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers running back Dylan Sampson (6) runs for a touchdown against the Georgia Bulldogs during the first half at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Running back is one of the 49ers' biggest needs this offseason.

Christian McCaffrey is a huge question mark after missing 13 games last season with bilateral Achilles tendonitis and a torn PCL. He'll turn 29 in June.

Jordan Mason, the 49ers' leading rusher last season, now is on the Vikings. He got traded for a pair of late-round draft picks.

And Isaac Guerendo, currently the No. 2 running back on the depth chart, was carted off the field in the final game of the season after just 84 carries on the year. He's an upright runner who gets injured frequently.

Which means the 49ers almost certainly will spend a high draft pick on a running back next month. And NFL.com Draft Analyst Chad Reuter projects the 49ers to take Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson in Round 3 with pick No. 100.

Sampson is an intriguing pick. In 2024, in his first and only season as a starter, he led the SEC in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. He's extremely compact and explosive -- he ran a 4.46 at 200 lbs. at his Pro Day.

Sampson's only drawback is his height -- he's 5'8". Which means he's an extremely small target as a receiver. Maybe that's why Tennessee rarely threw him the ball.

As good as Sampson is, I'm guessing the 49ers want to draft a big running back to replace Jordan Mason, who's a bruiser. Also, I'm guessing they want a running back who's an experienced receiver because Brock Purdy desperately needs an elite check-down option.

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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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