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The 49ers Met with Ohio State OT Josh Simmons at the NFL Combine

The 49ers are taking a close look at the offensive tackles in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 2, 2023; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Josh Simmons (71) lines up beside offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) during the NCAA football game at Indiana University Memorial Stadium. Ohio State won 23-3.
Sep 2, 2023; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Josh Simmons (71) lines up beside offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) during the NCAA football game at Indiana University Memorial Stadium. Ohio State won 23-3. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

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San Francisco 49ers

INDIANAPOLIS -- The 49ers are taking a close look at the offensive tackles in the upcoming NFL Draft.

This week at the NFL Scouting Combine, they had a formal meeting with Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons, who was considered the top left tackle in this draft class before he tore his patellar tendon last season. He still is in the process of recovering.

The 49ers could have met with Simmons for a couple reasons. It's possible they love his tape and sincerely want to draft him. It's also possible that they want to know more about his patellar tendon injury because it's extremely serious.

49ers defensive end Drake Jackson tore his patellar tendon in 2023 and hasn't played since, and former 49ers center Weston Richburg tore his patellar tendon in 2019 and never played another down. So the 49ers most likely will be hesitant to invest in another player coming off this brutal knee injury.

The 49ers haven't drafted an offensive tackle since 2021. This year, backup tackle Jaylon Moore will be a free agent. And next year, starting right tackle Colton McKivitz will hit the market as well. So the 49ers need to draft an offensive tackle at some point this year. They might even need two. Expect them to meet with lots of offensive tackles this week.

If the 49ers want to take a big risk on a player who could have giant potential, they could take Simmons with the 11th pick. I just don't think they will.

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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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