{"id":223270,"date":"2026-03-17T05:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T05:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/223270\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T05:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T05:41:18","slug":"how-free-agency-moves-are-shaping-the-49ers-first-round-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/223270\/","title":{"rendered":"How Free Agency Moves Are Shaping the 49ers First-Round Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kadyn Proctor &#8211; OT, Alabama<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Proctor, not yet 21 years old, was one of seven FBS tackles to earn an 80.0-plus PFF grade in pass blocking and run blocking in 2025.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lomu&#8217;s a really good player, and these Utah offensive linemen are ready to play at the next level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/draft\/onsi\/mock-drafts\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-free-agency-chaos-just-changed-everything\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sports Illustrated: Justin Melo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Omar Cooper Jr. &#8211; WR, Indiana<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.49ers.com\/team\/players-roster\/brock-purdy\/\" title=\"Brock Purdy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brock Purdy<\/a> deserves more passing-game weapons. Omar Cooper Jr. is a stout wide receiver who generates yards after catch due to physicality. Kyle Shanahan would appreciate his toughness and he&#8217;d get him the football in creative ways.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bleachernation.com\/bears\/2026\/03\/16\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-316\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bleacher Nation: Matt Rooney<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cashius Howell &#8211; EDGE, Texas A&amp;M<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The 49ers added <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.49ers.com\/team\/players-roster\/mike-evans\/\" title=\"Mike Evans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mike Evans<\/a> in free agency to address a big need on the outside. That clears the way for them to add to the defensive line, and Cashius Howell provides them a productive option with a ton of upside.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/draft\/2026\/03\/16\/2026-nfl-mock-draft-two-round-free-agency-trades-ty-simpson-chiefs\/89167476007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">USA Today: Nate Davis, Ayrton Ostly<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Avieon Terrell &#8211; CB, Clemson<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;San Francisco&#8217;s corners certainly weren&#8217;t helped by the rash of injuries this defense suffered in 2025. Doesn&#8217;t mean the Niners couldn&#8217;t use some significant help in pass coverage, which Terrell is prepared to provide \u2013 whether out wide or in the slot, where he played more often in 2025 for the Tigers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Emmanuel McNeil-Warren &#8211; S, Toledo<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The 49ers trading for <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.49ers.com\/team\/players-roster\/osa-odighizuwa\/\" title=\"Osa Odighizuwa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Osa Odighizuwa<\/a> and reuniting with <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.49ers.com\/team\/players-roster\/dre-greenlaw\/\" title=\"Dre Greenlaw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dre Greenlaw<\/a> have the front seven in good shape heading into the fall. McNeil-Warren could have a similar impact on the back end. The Toledo product is a tone-setter in the run game and will make his share of plays in coverage.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kadyn Proctor &#8211; OT, Alabama &#8220;Proctor, not yet 21 years old, was one of seven FBS tackles to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[62931,812,811,57121,809,810,84293,808,93298,93297,93300,100,93299,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-223270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-2026-draft","tag-briana-jeannel","tag-briana-mcdonald","tag-draft","tag-english","tag-english-articles","tag-free-agency-2026","tag-latest-app","tag-mock-draft","tag-mock-draft-monday","tag-netapp","tag-news","tag-news-draft","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}