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Why the 49ers Could Draft Oregon D-Tackle Derrick Harmon in Round 1

He's quite similar to Arik Armstead.
Grant Cohn|
Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Derrick Harmon forces a fumble from Idaho Vandals quarterback Jack Layne as the Oregon Ducks host the Idaho Vandals Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.
Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Derrick Harmon forces a fumble from Idaho Vandals quarterback Jack Layne as the Oregon Ducks host the Idaho Vandals Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard/USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

In the past 20 years, the 49ers have drafted just two defensive tackles who were really good, and they both went to Oregon.

I'm talking about DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead. The 49ers drafted each of them in Round 1 -- Armstead in 2015 and Buckner and 2016 -- and both were great picks. Then, the 49ers traded Buckner in 2020 and tried unsuccessfully to replace him with Javon Kinlaw and later Javon Hargrave.

In addition, in 2024 the 49ers released Arik Armstead and signed Maliek Collins to replace him. But, Collins failed, and now he's a Cleveland Brown. So the 49ers are still trying to fill the voids left by Armstead and Buckner.

How better to fill them than to draft another defensive tackle from Oregon?

I'm talking Derrick Harmon. He's quite similar to Armstead in particular in the sense that both are outstanding against the run and generate lots of pressure against the quarterback. They just don't always finish plays with sacks, but that's what the 49ers pay Nick Bosa to do -- clean up and finish.

Harmon currently is projected to get picked in the 20s, which means he might be a bit of a reach at pick No. 11. So the 49ers could trade down a few spots for him, or they could take him at No. 11 and say that he's a perfect fit for what they need because he is a perfect fit. He's big and stout enough to anchor versus double-teams, which is required for a defensive tackle in a Wide 9 defensive front.

But, he's also explosive and nimble enough to rush the quarterback. And he fills the void that Armstead left when he requested his release and signed with the Jaguars.

Expect the 49ers to take Harmon in Round 1.

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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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