How are the 49ers’ 2022 NFL Draft class players looking after their opening workouts during rookie minicamp? Let’s take a stock-watch look.
There shouldn’t be any grand-sweeping conclusions about any first-year pro after just one abbreviated week of workouts at an inaugural NFL rookie minicamp.
So, no, you’re not going to have any sort of concrete assessments about whether or not the San Francisco 49ers’ nine selections from the 2022 NFL Draft are going to pan out, turn into superstars or go completely bust.
Not yet, at least.
Still, it’s worth monitoring how these first-year draftees are performing, as well as those undrafted free agents the Niners also brought in. And while these players aren’t going up against veteran competition just yet, there are some notable takeaways.
Let’s see who stood out among San Francisco’s first-year pros, for both the right and wrong reasons in this stock-watch feature stemming from the practices that were open to the media.
49ers EDGE Drake Jackson (Round 2)
Any team’s top pick in the NFL Draft is going to garner a lot of attention, and the 49ers’ Round 2 addition of former USC EDGE Drake Jackson is going to be noteworthy, especially if he can translate into the complementary pass-rushing force they’ve needed to pair with Pro Bowler Nick Bosa.
In minicamp, the Niners were only able to work out two defensive linemen, Jackson and UDFA Kevin Atkins, as their sixth-round pick, Kalia Davis, is rehabbing because of a torn ACL suffered last year.
As a result, Jackson was notably gassed from workouts under the tutelage of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, as reported by Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle:
"That wasn’t a great combination for the 49ers’ first draft pick, USC edge rusher Drake Jackson, who crisscrossed the country visiting 15 teams before the draft. That travel schedule presumably affected his workout schedule. And that appeared to be the case Friday when Jackson was one of just two defensive linemen being put through the paces in individual drills by high-intensity position coach Kris Kocurek. With few breathers, the second-round pick was clearly gassed at the end, repeatedly putting his hands on his helmet to catch his breath."
This might pay off in the long run, but Jackson might need a bit more ramping up to get ready for training camp.
Stock: Down (slightly)
49ers running back Tyrion Davis-Price (Round 3)
Hopefully, soon enough, all of us will be able to get over the fact San Francisco reached on former LSU running back Tyrion Davis-Price in Round 3 at No. 93 overall when there were other needs more pressing, combined with the likelihood Davis-Price would have been available in later rounds.
Simply put, he’s here now.
However, Sports Illustrated’s Grant Cohn wasn’t too kind on the 6-foot, 211-pound bruiser who doesn’t seem like a tailor-made fit for head coach Kyle Shanahan’s zone-style offense (he’s strayed from purely zone anyway) by calling out some important and not-so-important observations from rookie minicamp:
"I don’t know if he has bad hand-eye coordination, but that’s the book on him, and he certainly dropped a pass today. He was wide open in the flat, and he just butchered it. Later, he caught a pass and ran upfield with it. When the play was over, he casually tossed the ball to himself and dropped it."
Davis-Price had only 28 receptions for 185 yards during his three-year collegiate tenure, so maybe that won’t be his calling.
It appears, however, that the rookie runner didn’t stand out in any other positive fashion.
Stock: Down
49ers wide receiver Danny Gray (Round 3)
From one third-round selection to another, it’s looking as if former SMU wide receiver Danny Gray is fast becoming the 49ers’ best selection from the 2022 draft so far.
Again, it’s early. Too early. But it is promising.
Both Grant Cohn and Eric Branch had pretty glowing endorsements of Gray, Cohn saying:
"He was the best player on the field, the star of the practice. He got five targets and caught four of them, plus one catch was a 50-yard touchdown. On that play, he ran a deep post route and beat rookie sixth-round pick Tariq Castro-Fields."
Gray also dropped the fifth target, however, which led to Branch describing the rookie’s self-punishment:
"After Danny Gray dropped a deep pass Friday, the San Francisco 49ers rookie wide receiver dropped to the ground. His penance: 10 push-ups. The self-imposed punishment near the start of practice evidently had the desired effect: The third-round pick had an otherwise solid performance in his on-field NFL debut during the first day of the 49ers’ rookie minicamp."
Have to love the hard work there.
Gray, who ran a 4.33 40-yard time at his NFL Scouting Combine workouts, projects to be the deep-field speed threat the Niners have lacked ever since former wide receiver Marquise Goodwin was on the roster in 2018.
This niche set aside for him, the speedster might wind up being the most immediate-impactful offensive player San Francisco gets from this class.
Stock: Up
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (Round 7)
It’s always fun to talk about quarterbacks, and there’s a reason to feel at least some buzz surrounding the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, Iowa State’s Brock Purdy, whom the 49ers grabbed at No. 262 overall.
Yet this year’s quarterbacking draft class was awfully weak, and by default, one might have to assume Purdy was the weakest of all drafted signal-callers simply by the nature of when he was drafted.
Plus, in light of his apparent collegiate regression from 2020 through 2021, one might assume “Mr. Irrelevant” stays in that kind of moniker-like doghouse.
Purdy wasn’t sharp during practices, per multiple reports, and his weakish arm wasn’t capable of pushing the ball down the field, rather he relied almost exclusively on short 5-yard passes like one of the veterans above him on the quarterbacking depth chart, Jimmy Garoppolo, except Garoppolo has the knack for getting the ball out quickly.
That’s not Purdy’s game either.
Purdy might have athleticism in other areas, but it’s not looking as if he’ll be anything more than a low-end second-string option on a weak depth chart at the pro level.
Not without some serious development, at least.