2021 NFL Draft: 5 injury-risk players 49ers should avoid

No. 1: Center Landon Dickerson, Alabama

Fortunately, San Francisco doesn’t have a big need to find a long-term option at center in this year’s NFL Draft. At least not after signing veteran center Alex Mack in free agency.

While an eventual replacement could be on the radar in a year or so, and there’s still a need for depth, the 49ers should feel comfortable completely crossing Alabama center Landon Dickerson off their NFL Draft target list.

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Dickerson is notably talented, yes. And if he had a completely clean slate of health, there’d be a good chance he would end up being the first interior lineman selected in this year’s draft.

But Dickerson’s lengthy injury history is there and then some.

Dickerson suffered an ACL tear his freshman year while playing at Florida State. In 2017, he then dealt with a nagging ankle injury, which carried over into 2018 and limited him to just one start for the Seminoles that year before transferring to Alabama in 2019.

Yet the injury problems didn’t go away despite the change in venue.

In 2019, Dickerson stayed healthy enough to start 13 games. But he then suffered yet another knee injury after 11 starts in 2020 and was forced to essentially miss the Crimson Tide’s CFB Playoff Championship game outside of taking a final victory-formation snap at the end of the win.

While most players on this list have some notable injuries, Dickerson’s injury history is far too long for the Niners to even consider taking a flier on him.