49ers 7-round mock 2021 NFL Draft with only Big Ten players
806. . EDGE . Nittany Lions . Shaka Toney. 172. player
49ers Round 5 Pick, No. 172 Overall: EDGE Shaka Toney
The 49ers need another EDGE rusher to pair opposite Nick Bosa. For the short term, maybe that can be Dee Ford, but that seems unlikely given his recent injury history, and the best-case scenario there is they get one more season out of him.
They did sign Samson Ebukam, but he hasn’t done the job at a high level during his NFL tenure and will likely be a situational guy, meaning the team could be looking to continue to build depth as the other pass rusher along with Bosa.
Penn State’s Shaka Toney is the kind of high production player teams will look to grab in the mid-to-late rounds and would be an immediate fit in the 49ers’ wide-9 defensive line scheme.
In four years at Penn State, Toney amassed 111 tackles, 28.5 for loss, and 20 sacks in 40 games, including five in eight games as a senior.
He’s got incredible quickness off the edge and has been consistent in pressuring the quarterback opposite first Yetur Gross-Matos, who the Panthers drafted in the second round in 2020, and then Jayson Oweh, who is anywhere from a first- or second-round projection in 2021. Toney outperformed them both at Penn State.
This could be a steal at a position of need for San Francisco and could eventually build himself up into an every-down player, provided the bulking up that would require didn’t take away from his blazing quickness.
Either way, the 49ers would be getting a quality, productive player this late in the draft.