The 49ers Draft Brayden Willis, Ronnie Bell and Jalen Graham in Round 7

The 49ers just finished their draft with three picks at the end of Round 7.
First, they took Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis with pick No. 247. Next, they took Michigan wide receiver Ronnie Bell with pick No. 253. And finally, the 49ers took Purdue linebacker Jalen Graham with pick No. 255.
Willis is an H-back who's a good route runner and a dangerous weapon after the catch -- think Jordan Reed, who played for the 49ers in 2020. Willis is a better blocker than Reed was, though. Reed is the second tight end the 49ers drafted this year after Cameron Latu at the end of Round 3. Clearly, the 49ers felt their lack of depth at tight end was a primary reason for their loss in the NFC Championship Game to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bell is a slot receiver who can line up outside if needed and return punts and kicks as well -- think a much tougher version of Dante Pettis. Both are extremely quick route runners, but Bell embraces blocking and catching passes over the middle, unlike Pettis. The 49ers drafted Bell because both Ray-Ray McCloud and Jauan Jennings will be free agents next year.
Graham is 6'2", 220 pound linebacker who could begin his career on the 49ers practice squad as he develops into a tall, rangy middle linebacker -- think Fred Warner, who never had played middle linebacker before the 49ers drafted him. Graham is an intriguing project for a team that knows how to draft and develop linebackers.
Now it's time for the 49ers to sign their undrafted free agents. Stay tuned for the list of those players.

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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