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Will the 49ers Draft Michigan DT Kenneth Grant in Round 1?

Don't be surprised if he's the pick.
Grant Cohn|
Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant celebrates a sack on Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. during the College Football Playoff national championship game against Washington at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant celebrates a sack on Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. during the College Football Playoff national championship game against Washington at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. | Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Defensive tackle is the 49ers' biggest need and Kenneth Grant is the NFL's Draft biggest defensive tackle, or one of them. Will they take him in Round 1?

As of now, the 49ers' starting defensive tackles are Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott, two journeymen who will be free agents in 2026. Behind them are Evan Anderson and Kalia Davis, two young players with very little experience.

Ideally, the 49ers should spend their first-round pick this year on the best defensive tackle available who fits their Wide 9 defensive front. They own the 11th pick, so they should be able to acquire a difference-maker.

The top two defensive tackles in the class generally are considered to be Michigan's Mason Graham and Ole Miss' Walter Nolen. They both dominate one-on-one matchups against both the pass and the run, but they're both also lighter than 300 pounds. Which means neither one has the size to anchor against the double teams they would face on the 49ers.

The 49ers just learned this lesson with Javon Hargrave. Two years ago, they gave him a four-year, $84 million contract. He had flourished on the Eagles which had a five-man front that created one-on-one matchups for Hargrave. On the 49ers, he didn't get those opportunities, and he struggled to defend the run.

Kenneth Grant is 6'4", 331 pounds, he's one of the best run defenders in the draft, he "can absorb and split double teams when pad level is right" according to his NFL.com draft profile and he's extremely athletic. He didn't run at the Combine but his tape shows he can fly for a man of his size.

Grant would be a tremendous pick for the 49ers in Round 1. He would give them a true three-down defensive tackle who demands double teams, shuts down the run between the tackles and collapses the pocket.

Don't be surprised if he's the pick.

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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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