Niner Noise
FanSided

San Francisco 49ers: 2019 NFL Draft tracker with grades and analysis

By Chris Wilson

"THE PICK IS IN" for the San Francisco 49ers during the 2018 NFL Draft (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
"THE PICK IS IN" for the San Francisco 49ers during the 2018 NFL Draft (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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BATON ROUGE, LA – NOVEMBER 14: Dre Greenlaw #23 of the Arkansas Razorbacks pursues Brandon Harris #6 of the LSU Tigers during the second quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA – NOVEMBER 14: Dre Greenlaw #23 of the Arkansas Razorbacks pursues Brandon Harris #6 of the LSU Tigers during the second quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

The 49ers sent off one of their sixth-round picks, along with linebacker and special teams ace Dekoda Watson, in a deal with the Denver Broncos for the No. 148 overall pick.

Subsequently, the Niners used that pick on Arkansas linebacker Dre Greenlaw.

Greenlaw didn’t run at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine, yet his game tape flashed good speed and sideline-to-sideline coverage abilities. At 5-foot-11 and 237 pounds, Greenlaw is a bit undersized and primarily will see field time as either a backup or special teams contributor.

That said, Greenlaw was regularly around the ball at Arkansas and has some solid instincts.

Plus, San Francisco needs some depth at linebacker, too, especially knowing one of their prized free-agent pickups, Kwon Alexander, is coming off an ACL tear suffered in 2018.

Greenlaw figures to be a weak-side (WILL) linebacker anyway, which should provide that backup depth to Alexander if his injury concerns continue into 2019.

It would have been much nicer to see the Niners use this pick on bolstering the secondary instead of a backup/special teams linebacker.

Grade: C-