The San Francisco 49ers head into the NFL Draft with plenty of needs to address. While San Francisco made several moves in free agency, holes remain on the roster.
Wide receiver no longer seems like the glaring hole that it was entering the offseason, but the Niners could still be tempted to draft a wideout in Round 1 who has been compared to Deebo Samuel.
Signing Mike Evans and Christian Kirk answers a lot of questions about the wide receiver room for the upcoming season. Yet, both guys are veterans who are probably not going to be with the team for a long time. San Francisco still has to think about the future at wide receiver which is why it wouldn't be a shock if it drafted one with the No. 27 pick.
KC Concepcion, a receiver out of Texas A&M, has been seen as a fit for the Niners for quite some time. His speed and agility are huge assets as a potential deep threat, but his versatility also can’t help but remind Niners fans and observers of Deebo Samuel.
Brad Graham, a 49ers commentator who does a lot of talent evaluation ahead of the draft, shared a recent video comparing Concepcion to Samuel:
This is 1st round WR prospect KC Concepcion running in between the tackles as a RB 👀
— Brad (@Graham_SFN) March 30, 2026
I had mentioned in my fist eval comp’ing him to Deebo in a sense and you get a much better look at him in fighting through traffic as he refuses to go down easy pic.twitter.com/qPY3g7EYRF
As can be seen in the video and as Graham notes, Concepcion is used basically as a normal running back on the play and runs in between the tackles. Concepcion is listed as 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, so it’s questionable how sustainable it would be to use him in that role. But surely, every now and then, he could be utilized in the sort of Swiss Army knife role head coach Kyle Shanahan used for Samuel.
Concepcion was not regularly used as a rusher in college. During his first collegiate season at North Carolina State, he had 41 carries for 320 yards. His carries slowly dwindled, as the next season he had just 19 for 36 yards, and then last season with the Aggies he had only 10 carries for 75 yards.
If the 49ers did draft Concepcion, they wouldn’t use him exactly like Samuel, but the fact those skills are a potential tool in his tool belt has to be exciting. Maybe the Niners could bring back those end-around plays they’d use a lot when Samuel was younger as a rookie. That would add a nice element to the offense.
General manager John Lynch did seem to recently throw cold water on the notion San Francisco would draft a receiver in Round 1. Maybe that’s just posturing to try and throw other teams off the scent, but it seems fairly likely Concepcion will be off the board when the Niners draft in Round 1.
The draft can be weird, though. Sometimes players linger, so if Concepcion is still there at No. 27 the chance to get a player who has some similarities to Samuel may be too good a chance to pass up.