The San Francisco 49ers had a busy three days in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Not only did they come into the draft with 11 picks, perhaps the most surprising element was that they used all of them, neither trading up nor down in any of the draft's seven rounds.
That leaves a whopping 11 rookies with the possibility of earning a spot on the Niners roster, and while all look to have been picked with clearly defined roles in mind, some made more sense than others.
Let's take a look at the best, worst, and most intriguing of San Francisco's 11 picks.
Best pick: DL Mykel Williams, Georgia (Round 1, No. 11 overall)
OK, so it might seem a bit of a cop-out to say the player drafted 11th overall is the best pick. After all, from a purely numbers perspective, it should be; the better players should be at the top of the draft, and the lesser-heralded ones at the bottom.
But with Williams, it's not so much about the player as what he represents to the 49ers. First of all, there were a number of ways, at least by my evaluation, the Niners could've made a complete mess of this pick. Much howling for an offensive lineman could've led to them taking a poor fit for their scheme, like the Dallas Cowboys' pick of Tyler Booker, or possibly led to an overdrafting of a versatile lineman like now-Seattle Seahawks guard Grey Zabel.
Alternatively, the clamour to add a pass-rusher could've led to a strange pick like Texas A&Ms Shemar Stewart, who's all-athleticism, no-production scouting report should've raised multiple red flags.
So the first thing you have to give San Francisco credit for, frankly, is not screwing up and taking easily the best player available on the board at No. 11. The fact the 49ers tried to trade up for Williams shows they believed that, too.
Outside of that, though, the reason the Williams pick stands out is simple. If he becomes the player he's reputed to be, he solves a problem the Niners have been trying to solve since Nick Bosa joined the team in 2019: Who plays opposite him?
There's been multiple swings and misses at filling that void, ranging from high-profile acquisitions like oft-injured defensive end Dee Ford and veteran pass-rusher Leonard Floyd, to early-round draft swings like former USC lineman Drake Jackson. There's also been trades for Chase Young and Randy Gregory, among others.
None have worked.
Whether through a combination of injury (that robbed San Francisco of Ford, for instance), or deficiencies in the players' game (such as Young being atrocious against the run), all the 49ers have ever truly found is rotational pieces, and certainly not the every-down player they were looking for.
Williams projects to be that player from almost the first time he pulls on a pair of cleats. His ability to play the run superbly, twinned with his fledgling pass-rush ability (something defensive line coach Kris Kocurek will surely be waiting to unlock) should make him a three-down player from his first NFL game.
If the rookie can develop into the well-rounded lineman he seems capable of becoming, he could become a dominant player. Even if Williams can't fully reach his ceiling, he looks solid enough as to be likely to lock the position up for five to 10 years and finally fix a running sore on the defense.
Well worth a first-round pick, I'd say.
Worst pick: QB Kurtis Rourke, Indiana (Round 7, No. 227 overall)
It's a measure of how much I liked the Niners' draft that I'm having to wait until the seventh round to find something to complain about.
Complain, though, I must.
On a base level, drafting a quarterback yearly is not a bad strategy. It's the most important position on an NFL squad, and having a multitude of options at the position in case of injury or ineffectiveness is not necessarily a bad thing.
What's questionable about this pick is two-fold: one, San Francisco had multiple other gaps in the roster, such as offensive tackle, that could've been addressed here. It made Rourke feel like a luxury pick; one drafted at the behest of noted quarterback guru head coach Kyle Shanahan, rather than a pick selected for the good of the roster.
That would probably be fine if it weren't for the fact we likely won't even get to see Rourke compete for any sort of role in the 49ers quarterback room in his first year; he's recovering from an ACL tear (his second, worryingly) and may not even see the field in 2025.
In a sense, he then becomes a wasted pick, unless he somehow reaches his potential after recovery. That's not out of the realms of possibility, but anyone who remembers the Trent Baalke All-ACL team years in Niners draft history will understand the scepticism.
Of course, San Francisco has decent history with seventh-round quarterbacks, so perhaps we'll be talking about Rourke leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl in three years.
For now, though, it looks like a strange use of draft capital when more immediate help was required.
Most intriguing: LB Nick Martin, Oklahoma State (Round 3, No. 75 overall)
Martin wasn't on many boards in the third round. According to most, he was scheduled to go at least a round later, if not more.
Except for Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN, of course, who had him as high as the 84th pick.
More than most, Martin is intriguing, as his very drafting is a triumph of scheme fit over supposed value. The Niners love undersized, fast, linebackers. From Fred Warner, to Dre Greenlaw, to even departed reserves like Azeez Al-Shaair, the 49ers have consistently drafted and acquired athletic, but small, linebackers.
In many ways, they are players more suited to be defensive backs: safety-sized players who can pack on a hit. One of the reasons the Niners do this is to provide sideline-to-sideline coverage in the passing game, and aggressive fits against the run game, particularly under now-returned defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and his original successor, Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans.
That strategy worked well, and San Francisco often had an athletic, adaptable defensive unit. However, once Greenlaw missed most of the season with his torn Achilles, that strategy started to go backwards.
You've probably blocked out most of the 2024 season, but suffice it to say, watching the likes of former linebackers Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and the frankly disgraceful De'Vondre Campbell lumber after opposing players in coverage was damning. It was miles away from what the 49ers portent to be and want to be, defensively.
That's what makes Martin's drafting so intriguing.
He's a return to the old standard, first of all, being a classic run-and-hit defender, and great in coverage, but he also represents something else for Saleh: a potential chess piece who could be moved around and used in a variety of roles.
Given Martin's size/speed/coverage combination, he could be deployed in a hybrid safety/linebacker role, for example.
The intrigue surrounding Martin is unlikely to let up until he's on the field. He's tabbed to replace a player who formed the heart and soul of previous successful defensives in Greenlaw, and the first-year backer's success or failure (and Saleh's usage of him) will likely determine just how good the defense is in 2025.
If they can even get to respectable, it probably gives the 49ers a better shot at a playoff run in 2025.