SF 49ers: Post-2021 draft bubble watch for 53-man roster
By Peter Panacy
SF 49ers bubble watch: Linebacker
Lock: Azeez Al-Shaair, Dre Greenlaw, Fred Warner
Strong bubble: Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Justin Hilliard*
Weak bubble: Nathan Gerry, Jonas Griffith, Elijah Sullivan*
Long shot: None
The Niners have an excellent starting trio of linebackers with the All-Pro, Fred Warner, leading both Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shair as the presumed top three on the depth chart. Nothing wrong with that, although San Francisco will want to focus on depth and special teams capacity behind those names.
The SF 49ers seem to like Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles’ versatility as a cover linebacker and special teams ace, so that should give him a leg up on players like Jonas Griffith and Nathan Gerry, whose contracts don’t exactly incur a lot of dead money if moved by Week 1.
The Niners did, however, give Ohio State linebacker Justin Hilliard a pretty notable UDFA deal, meaning his chances of making the cut are exponentially greater than other undrafted additions:
The #49ers are signing former Ohio State LB Justin Hilliard to a hefty rookie free-agent deal that includes a $30,000 signing bonus and $95,000 base salary guarantee, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 2, 2021
Hilliard, who dealt with plenty of injuries during his college tenure, probably would have been a mid-round pick if he stayed healthy.
For now, though, he’ll be vying to solidify the depth and offers up a lot more promise than Gerry, who was one of the Philadelphia Eagles’ poorer coverage options in recent years.