5 players 49ers unwisely passed on in 2022 NFL Draft
By Peter Panacy
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Zyon McCollum. 157. player. 48. . Cornerback
No. 3 player 49ers should have drafted: CB Zyon McCollum, Sam Houston State
The 49ers needed to find one boundary cornerback in the NFL Draft. They did come away with one small-school nickel-type corner in Toledo’s Samuel Womack, which could help address the free-agent loss of K’Waun Williams.
Yet those boundary needs weren’t wholly addressed, meaning Charvarius Ward’s opposite end — either Emmanuel Moseley or Ambry Thomas — will have to be on point this season.
Coby Bryant would have been a good find, but the Seahawks landed him instead. Perhaps the Niners were hoping another small-school prospect, Sam Houston State cornerback Zyon McCollum, would continue to fall on day three of the draft, making his way to their pick at No. 174 overall, which was eventually used on Womack.
Yet the chance to grab the 6-foot-4, 200-pound do-it-all McCollum was still evident at the end of Round 4, the pick used to grab Spencer Burford.
McCollum projects to be one of those hidden-gem finds, and he would have checked off a vital need for San Francisco.
Too bad it didn’t pan out as planned.