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The Player the 49ers Will Take in Round 1 of the NFL Draft

The theme of the 49ers offseason so far has been to overhaul the defense and keep the offense the same, so I don't expect them to go offense in Round 1.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch talks to the
Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch talks to the | Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL Draft is roughly one month away and the 49ers will have a first-round pick for the first time in three years. Who will they take?

It would make sense for them to take an offensive linemen, considering offensive line clearly is the biggest weakness on the team. But the 49ers don't seem to value that position as much as other teams do, and they seem to like all five of their current starters. So if they draft an offensive lineman, I would expect they'll do so after Round 1 so they can sit him and develop him for a year or two.

The theme of the 49ers offseason so far has been to overhaul the defense and keep the offense the same, so I don't expect them to go offense in Round 1. I expect them to go defense. We've seen that the 49ers have been hosting free agent safeties for visits but haven't signed any, so they're clearly in the market for one. In addition, all of their top three cornerbacks -- Charvarius Ward, Deommodore Lenoir and Ambry Thomas -- will be free agents in 2025. So the 49ers desperately need defensive backs.

They also need a returner, considering Ray Ray McCloud signed with the Falcons and the NFL changed the kick return rules to increase the importance of that play.

Which is why the 49ers could draft Iowa's Cooper DeJean in Round 1. He was both the Defensive Back of the Year and the Returner of the Year in the BIg 10 last season, he can play every position in the secondary and he's a good tackler.

If DeJean is available when the 49ers are on the clock, they can't pass on him.

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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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