4 players from 49ers 2022 NFL Draft who eventually become starters
By Peter Panacy
49ers 2022 NFL Draft pick No. 2: EDGE Drake Jackson, USC
Yes, there’s a real chance San Francisco’s fifth-round pick, Samuel Womack, winds up being a year-one starter while the 49ers’ top pick from the 2022 NFL Draft, former USC EDGE Drake Jackson, starts off his pro career as a rotational reserve.
In fairness, the Niners’ defensive line is chock full of starting-caliber players, and Jackson isn’t exactly the ready-to-go-on-day-one kind of prospects in the mold of one of his San Francisco predecessors, EDGE Nick Bosa, was back in 2019.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Jackson had only 12.5 sacks over three collegiate seasons with the Trojans, yet that’s partially due to how USC was using him on defense, asking him to bounce around as both a defensive end and linebacker.
Raw but powerful and promising, Jackson will nevertheless need to work on his run-stopping abilities to become a true three-down player. Right now, he’ll be a situational pass-rusher, and that’s fine.
However, given a year or two of development, one might expect Jackson to fit nicely into that base-formation role.