49ers roster: 5 most underrated moves of 2021 offseason
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: 49ers grab Jaylon Moore in NFL Draft
Every team in every NFL Draft hopes it can land a gem in the later rounds, and this isn’t any different with the Niners’ three fifth-round selections, including Western Michigan offensive lineman Jaylon Moore.
Granted, rookies are anything but guaranteed to pan out at the pro level, so it’s premature to suggest Moore will be another one of those gem-type pickups.
That said, especially in hindsight, San Francisco using a day-three pick on Moore could pay massive dividends in the coming years.
The 49ers already lost swing-tackle candidate Justin Skule to a season-ending ACL injury, and his backup competitors include two others who aren’t locked at all to make the 53-man roster: Shon Coleman and Colton McKivitz. Plus, with Coleman signed only through 2021 anyway, the Niners should fully intend to have someone like Moore work his way up the depth chart en route to becoming a high-quality backup in the next two or three years.
There’s always the hope Moore becomes more than that, of course. But considering how easy it is for offensive lines to suffer massive injury attrition over any given year, stockpiling some decent talent with regularity could go a long way towards ensuring this unit is riddled with injuries like it was a year ago.
Simply put, San Francisco should be happy it landed Moore, especially in the wake of Skule’s injury.