{"id":285240,"date":"2026-04-25T08:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/285240\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T08:06:15","slug":"how-romello-height-fits-san-franciscos-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/285240\/","title":{"rendered":"How Romello Height fits San Francisco&#8217;s roster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 24, 2026, 7:15 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It was going to be a surprise if the San Francisco 49ers left the 2026 NFL draft without an edge rusher, so it&#8217;s easy to see how No. 70 overall pick Romello Height can have a Day 1 impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Height doesn&#8217;t bring prototypical size at 6-2, 239 pounds. That may limit him as a three-down player in the NFL. However, the 49ers don&#8217;t need a three-down defensive end which may have been part of the reason they waited so long to pick one. There were a rash of DEs who went in the late first round and in the second round who fit a similar mold to 2025 49ers first-round pick Mykel Williams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Instead of going for the versatile, do-everything DL who rushes the quarterback from the interior and plays on the edge in base packages, they went with a pure speed rusher in Height.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Height&#8217;s athleticism is apparent off the line, and he uses his speed to turn the corner on offensive tackles. After Bryce Huff retired, the 49ers were sorely lacking in a style of pass rusher they&#8217;ve typically thrived with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Here&#8217;s what Dane Brugler had to say about Height in his draft guide for the Athletic:<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">There aren\u2019t many edge rushers with Height\u2019s slender size profile who find sustained NFL success, but his twitchy get-off and rush movements can be weaponized by the right defensive play caller. He projects as a sub-down designated pass rusher in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Nick Bosa and Williams figure to start in base packages, but when the 49ers go into nickel packages we should see plenty of Height rushing off the edge. It&#8217;ll be interesting to see if San Francisco defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has bigger plans down the line for Height as a versatile piece who also spends time lining up in the second level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It&#8217;s not reasonable to expect big-time production right away from the No. 70 overall pick, but he should have ample opportunity to have an impact on a 49ers pass rush that badly needs an injection of talent. If he can hit the ground running as an effective rotational pass rusher as a rookie it would be a massive lift to San Francisco&#8217;s defense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">More 49ers: <a href=\"http:\/\/ninerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/niners\/2026\/04\/24\/nfl-draft-4-things-to-know-about-new-49ers-de-romello-height\/89785114007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">4 things to know about 49ers third-round draft pick Romello Height<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 24, 2026, 7:15 p.m. PT It was going to be a surprise if the San Francisco 49ers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[243,101,103,102,104,106,105,10224,10225,378,12217,507,65397,379,366,374,508,377,246],"class_list":{"0":"post-285240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news","15":"tag-sstssportsnflniners","16":"tag-sstsnniners","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbryce-huff","19":"tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","20":"tag-tagcgr-sports","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285240","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=285240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}