Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and
Speaker 1: ten Podcast, ten minutes of the most up to date
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers news first Thing in the morning. I'm
Speaker 1: your host Brianna McDonald, and I'm joined by forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers team reporter Lindsay Polares. The forty nine Ers closed
Speaker 1: out the final day of the twenty twenty three NFL
Speaker 1: Draft on Saturday, making six selections in rounds five, six,
Speaker 1: and seven. In total. San Francisco welcomed nine draft picks
Speaker 1: to the team. Before we get to know some of
Speaker 1: the final picks, Lindsay, tell me your initial reaction to
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three draft class.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I just want to echo what general
Speaker 2: manager John Lynch said, I think the forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: got better this weekend. I think kind of the overarching
Speaker 2: theme that we heard heading into the draft and also
Speaker 2: coming out of it is the forty nine Ers were
Speaker 2: interested in adding depth to their team. They had a
Speaker 2: lot of their core remain intact during free agency, which
Speaker 2: everyone was really happy about. They added some more key
Speaker 2: players and positions of kneed during free agency, so the
Speaker 2: draft really was to make sure that they have the
Speaker 2: talent of the future and talent that can step in
Speaker 2: if there's unfortunate injuries throughout the season, which happens every year.
Speaker 2: It's almost unavoidable, and they got a lot of players
Speaker 2: that they were happy to find in the spots they had.
Speaker 2: There was only one trade they've made, and that was
Speaker 2: to go up to eighty seven. Really just from one
Speaker 2: round three spot to number eighty seven, So there wasn't
Speaker 2: a ton of movement, and I think they were okay
Speaker 2: with that because they were really happy with the picks
Speaker 2: they came out of this weekend.
Speaker 1: Awesome. It's definitely exciting to welcome some new faces to
Speaker 1: the team and see how they'll perform in the Red
Speaker 1: and gold. Now forty nine ers first selection on Day
Speaker 1: three was at pick number one, fifty five cornerback Darrell
Speaker 1: Ludar Junior from South Alabama. He's a player who was
Speaker 1: honored as the SBC Defensive Player of the Year in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Last season, he recorded forty two tackles
Speaker 1: in interception and seven pass breakups, so he's definitely a
Speaker 1: standout player on the field, but the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: personnel also called him very mature and simply a great leader.
Speaker 1: Tell me about how he fits in with the team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So when I asked him to describe himself as
Speaker 2: a player, he really really was happy to talk about
Speaker 2: how physical of a player he is. He's more of
Speaker 2: a press coverage guy, but can play also deep corner position.
Speaker 2: So he is just excited to come in and learn.
Speaker 2: He is a guy that I talked to and he
Speaker 2: came the Juco route, and he said that that really
Speaker 2: primed him for the competition that he's going to see
Speaker 2: at the next level. He didn't have the traditional college
Speaker 2: football route, made a name for himself at the jucal level,
Speaker 2: and then went to South Alabama and now got his
Speaker 2: name called in the NFL Draft. I think one important
Speaker 2: thing to note about him too is that he is
Speaker 2: a girl dad, and he is also a husband and father,
Speaker 2: and so he said that that also adds an element
Speaker 2: to his game. He is a mature player, like you said,
Speaker 2: and I think all of that kind of feeds into it.
Speaker 2: Also one thing that the forty nine ers love just
Speaker 2: to find in their players as natural born leaders. You
Speaker 2: see that in him at something that the personnel department
Speaker 2: also highlighted. So just a really mature guy that's coming
Speaker 2: in for the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: That's great. The next draft that became a Niner is
Speaker 1: defensive lineman Robert Beale, junior from Georgia. He's just coming
Speaker 1: off a CFP National championship game against TCU. What made
Speaker 1: Beal stand out to John Lynch and the team?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this one was funny and the answer kind
Speaker 2: of came in the John Lynch Kyle Shanahan press conference.
Speaker 2: But essentially his get off the ball meter, which they
Speaker 2: have a different acronym for, which if you want to
Speaker 2: know what that is, just go ahead and tune into
Speaker 2: that press conference. He was off the charts in terms
Speaker 2: of getting off the ball his speed and that's really
Speaker 2: the first one or two yards off the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 2: and that is a statistic that the forty nine ers
Speaker 2: are very, very fond of that. He also got a
Speaker 2: glowing recommendation from his college football head coach, Kirby Smart.
Speaker 2: He said, is a really talented guy that if you
Speaker 2: just let him go, I think it was Hunt quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: He's going to do really well at the next level. Bria.
Speaker 2: As you know, that is pretty much the number one
Speaker 2: goal of the forty nine ers defensive line, So they
Speaker 2: are really excited about the potential he has as a
Speaker 2: pass rusher, and he's really excited in particular to be
Speaker 2: learning from the best, and of course I mean AP
Speaker 2: Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa. Bill mentioned that
Speaker 2: at Georgia they watched a ton of tape on Nick Bosa,
Speaker 2: and that's a guy that he's really excited not just
Speaker 2: to meet, but to learn from.
Speaker 1: Biil he started in eight games during the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two season. He had twenty six total stops and twenty
Speaker 1: quarterback pressures in his senior year. So a huge pickup
Speaker 1: in round five, which forty nine ers are great at
Speaker 1: finding those late round gems. It's definitely exciting to see
Speaker 1: what he can do with the Niners. So next step
Speaker 1: was also a player who was just in the CFP
Speaker 1: National Championship game, just on the opposing team. It's linebacker
Speaker 1: d Winters out of TCU. He was selected in the
Speaker 1: sixth round. Why was it important for the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers to draft a linebacker here?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the you know, the number one
Speaker 2: defense in the league just wants to continue reloading talent. Also,
Speaker 2: we saw the exit of linebacker as he's al Shire,
Speaker 2: so there is room in the linebacking corps and with
Speaker 2: D Winners, he is a guy that talked about studying
Speaker 2: someone that is currently on the roster, All Pro Fred Warner.
Speaker 2: That's somebody that D Winters has really targeted as someone
Speaker 2: that he wants to model his game game from. And
Speaker 2: d Winter's actually used to play safety, came into TCU
Speaker 2: playing safety and made the switch to linebacker during the
Speaker 2: course of his collegiate career. There and again, I think
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers just want to continue adding depth.
Speaker 2: I asked General manager John Lynch in our one on
Speaker 2: one interview after his press conference if he saw a
Speaker 2: little bit of Fred Warner in him, and he said
Speaker 2: that it was actually funny that he's studying Fred Warner
Speaker 2: because D Winters actually reminds him a little bit more
Speaker 2: of Drake Greenlaw, which is the other piece of the
Speaker 2: forty nine ers dynamic linebacker duo. So definitely not a
Speaker 2: bad thing. So yeah, just very excited about reloading that
Speaker 2: linebacker core and having young talent to develop in house.
Speaker 1: Now. In Round seven, the forty nine Ers picked up
Speaker 1: tight end Brandon Willis from Oklahoma, wide receiver Ronnie Bell
Speaker 1: from Michigan, and linebacker Jalen Graham from Purdue with these elections,
Speaker 1: What was the forty nine Ers strategy here as the
Speaker 1: draft was winding down and did the team meet their
Speaker 1: goal of simply adding depth to the roster?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, bri And I think again, I was able to
Speaker 2: chat with general manager John Lynch and he said that
Speaker 2: he was so happy to see those three seventh round
Speaker 2: names still be available when they were picking at two
Speaker 2: forty seven, two fifty three, and two fifty five, because
Speaker 2: you're really at the tail end of the draft there.
Speaker 2: Braiden Willis was the second tight end taken in the draft,
Speaker 2: and we've heard it a lot, kind of a common
Speaker 2: theme in this draft to these young players have sort
Speaker 2: of identified their favorite guy on the forty nine Ers
Speaker 2: that they're super excited to come into the building and
Speaker 2: learn from. For Braden Willis, that is George Kittle. Not
Speaker 2: a huge surprise there. He said again, same thing as
Speaker 2: we've seen over the course of other draft picks, that
Speaker 2: they want a lot of George Kittle footage at Oklahoma.
Speaker 2: That's somebody that he's excited to just be in the
Speaker 2: same room with and be able to learn from as
Speaker 2: he begins his pro career and one thing I did
Speaker 2: want to know about Brandon Willis is I think he
Speaker 2: probably had the best draft celebration, and you can head
Speaker 2: to our forty nine Ers social channels specifically ticked off
Speaker 2: to see it. He did a backflip into the pool
Speaker 2: after he was done with all his interviews. He's so
Speaker 2: excited to officially say he's a San Francisco forty nine Ers,
Speaker 2: and I know the team is really happy to have him.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's a forty nine Ers draft pick essential. Now,
Speaker 1: if you get the forty nine Ers in the draft,
Speaker 1: you've got to do a backflip in the pool. I
Speaker 1: think Drake Jackson started that last year. So yeah, maybe
Speaker 1: a new tradition. All right. Finally, maybe a surprise for
Speaker 1: some of the faithful, but the forty nine Ers opted
Speaker 1: to not draft any offensive lineman in this year's draft.
Speaker 1: Why is that so? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So that was probably the first topic of conversation that
Speaker 2: came up in the post draft press conference with Lynch
Speaker 2: and Shanahan, And I think it's just a testament to
Speaker 2: the guys that are currently on the roster. If the
Speaker 2: season were to start today, the forty nine Ers are
Speaker 2: incredibly confident that it would be Colton mckivott's starting at
Speaker 2: right tackle. He's proven himself over the course of the
Speaker 2: last two seasons, having to fill in for left tackle
Speaker 2: Trent Williams in some very important situations, both during the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one season and again in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: I think playing the Rams both times, and they like
Speaker 2: how he's developed over the course of the three seasons
Speaker 2: he's had here in the Bay Area, and they didn't
Speaker 2: have an offensive tackle that they saw where they were
Speaker 2: picking in the draft that would beat him out, So
Speaker 2: they've decided to go with what they have. They feel
Speaker 2: really confident about it, and that's kind of the big
Speaker 2: reason that you didn't see any offensive lineman get selected
Speaker 2: by San Francisco.
Speaker 1: All Right, that'll do it for today. Be sure to
Speaker 1: look out for all of the forty nine ers draft
Speaker 1: news and content on forty nine ers dot com slash Draft.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much Lindsay for joining me in this
Speaker 1: off season update. Don't forget to follow First and ten
Speaker 1: on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Be sure to turn on
Speaker 1: the notifications so you're in the know when we post
Speaker 1: any breaking news updates. And thank you faithful for tuning
Speaker 1: in