All 49ers

The 49ers' Most Exciting Undrafted Free Agent Addition

Some of the 49ers' best players under Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have been undrafted free agents.
Grant Cohn|
Mar 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner (RB19) during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Mar 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner (RB19) during the 2025 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Some of the 49ers' best players under Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have been undrafted free agents.

We're talking Jordan Mason, Raheem Mostert, Azeez Al-Shaair, Kendrick Bourne and Emmanuel Moseley. None of them were drafted. All of them became key contributors for the 49ers. So it's worth getting to know the 49ers' undrafted free agents. Chances are one of them will make the team at some point.

This year, the 49ers' most exciting undrafted free agent addition is Cincinnati running back Corey Kiner according to Bleacher Report.

"San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is known for plucking running backs out of relative obscurity and turning them into productive ball-carriers," writes Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski.

"It's not any stretch of imagination to think undrafted free agent Corey Kiner could be the next in line.

"Kiner ran for 2,200 yards over the last two seasons and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. At 5'9" and 209 pounds, the LSU transfer is a pinball of a running back capable of making sudden cuts and bouncing off of contact. He doesn't present a top gear, but he's willing to show how he can produce in Shanahan's run-friendly scheme."

Kiner is intriguing because he's so similar to the running back the 49ers drafted in Round 5 -- Jordan James. Both are about the same size and have essentially the same strengths and weaknesses. Which means Kiner has a legitimate chance to make the team. He just has to beat out a fifth-round pick. And the winner of that competition could become Christian McCaffrey's backup now that Jordan Mason is on the Vikings.

Kiner will be a player to watch when OTAs start this week.

Read more

Published
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.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News