49ers give Raheem Morris everything he wants in defense-only mock draft

The one area of the San Francisco 49ers roster that might require some attention going into the busiest months of the offseason is the defense.

True, the organisation did draft heavily there a year ago. But following attrition, injury, and some lack of development, there are still a handful of questions that require resolving across the unit. That's exacerbated by the hiring of new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, who seems likely to bring some schematic tweaks to what we saw last season under now-Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh.

What if Morris had control of the entire NFL Draft?

Where would he add players, and perhaps most importantly, who would those players be?

I enlisted the help of Pro Football Focus' mock-draft simulator to find out.

The parameters

For this experiment, I used the following settings:

Care for positional value: I set this in the middle of the bar, as it seemed the most reasonable way to ensure teams considered it without going overboard. I didn't see too many strange results.

Draft for needs: As above, I believe most teams in the NFL are balanced between need and best player available, and this seemed the best way to imitate that.

Randomness: This was set on the lower end of the scale, as Al Davis isn't in the league any more. Nor is Trent Baalke. Hooray!

The picks

Round 1, Pick 27: Colton Hood, Cornerback, Tennessee

I can already hear the pass-rush mafia (lets call them the EDGE lords, maybe?) screaming at me for this one. But in truth, I wasn't flush with options at the 27th overall pick. In fact, I'd go as far as to say if the 49ers were considering a defensive player in Round 1, this might be the nightmare scenario.

Most of the top EDGEs weren't even in range; the nearest two to this pick were Cashius Howell, who went the pick prior, to the Buffalo Bills, and Akheem Mesidor, who went much earlier to the Vikings. There's a pretty big gulf after that. T.J. Parker was available here, but I saw him as relatively unremarkable, while it feels much too soon for Zion Young.

The closest I came to another pick here was either Caleb Banks or Peter Woods, but in the end, I plumped for Hood, who's aggressive play style, especially in man coverage and run support, gives the Niners another tone-setter in the defensive backfield.

Outside of Deommodore Lenoir and Upton Stout, there aren't a lot of long-term pieces in the cornerback room. The coaching staff seems to have soured on Renardo Green, Nate Hobbs is on a one-year deal, and no one else is even close to NFL standard.

Hood needs some work, but he's already got a number of things the 49ers like in their DBs, including size and good athleticism.

With the help of some experienced defensive back coaching from the likes of Jerry Gray, Hood could be a plus starter.

Round 2, Pick 58: A.J. Haulcy, Safety, LSU

More screaming from the EDGElords, and it's true, I could've had a couple here: Joshua Josephs and Derrick Moore (whom I do like) stood out.

But as soon as I saw this man on the board, I couldn't pass up the value, especially considering my fairly consistent desire for San Francisco to add a playmaking safety.

I actually prefer Dillon Thieneman of Oregon, but he jumped off the board as early as pick No. 16, and this seems a pretty good consolation prize. Haulcy should actually satisfy both sides of the safety coin. He's a pretty good hitter, but more importantly, he's an excellent coverage player, snagging 10 interceptions over his college career.

With good instincts and good ball skills, as well as the ability to hit like a train, Haulcy could be the all-round guy the Niners are looking for in the defensive backfield. Actually, given their attitude toward safety, perhaps not. But they should be.

An All-American on a struggling LSU outfit, the Texan looks set to have an excellent professional career.

Round 4, Pick 127: Nadame Tucker, EDGE, Western Michigan

With no third-round pick, thanks to the trade for Osa Odighizuwa (boy, am I looking forward to typing that next season), the 49ers drop into the fourth round. And at this point, you're looking for unpolished gems with potential tools to play rotational roles in the NFL. Anything beyond that is a bonus, and the Niners have often been good at finding these players.

They could strike gold again with the selection of Tucker.

The Western Michigan product is an EDGE (hooray!) who had an astonishing season in 2025, recording 14.5 sacks along with four forced fumbles. While he had to drop down to the MAC to see playing time and show his potential, what's clear from his tape is that he's got an instinctive and intuitive pass-rushing ability with a number of moves and counter-moves, in fact, more than many EDGEs higher on most draft boards have.

What he doesn't have is experience and a refined technique; he's extremely raw, and with only one season of experience, it's understandable he's available here.

But, hey, a good athlete, with some pass-rushing skills, that just needs his technique refining?

That sounds like a job for Kris Kocurek.

Round 4, Pick 133: Devon Marshall, Cornerback, North Carolina State

Another cornerback, although in truth, with four picks in quick succession, I allowed myself to play around a bit here.

Having taken Tucker, I wasn't going to go back-to-back EDGEs (and was prepared to bet one would fall - keep watching), and I truly liked Marshall.

My rationale for drafting him is similar to the one for Hood in the first round. Simply put, in the NFC West, and with the 49ers attrition, you can't have enough good corners. And Marshall has real potential.

Unlike Hood, he's perhaps more solid in zone than man, but Marchall is a very productive and playmaking corner (can you tell I want the 49ers to add some defensive backs with ball skills?), and another raw athlete that Jerry Gray could mould.

Round 4, Pick 138: DeMonte Capehart, Defensive Tackle, Clemson

I mostly had similar options five picks later: a smattering of cornerbacks (but San Francisco already mock-drafted two), and a couple of developmental EDGEs with questions. Being that the 49ers have back-to-back picks here, I trusted my gut and added yet another young body to the defensive tackle room in Capehart.

He's ended up with a six-year college career, so he'll be one of the more seasoned players in this draft, and it does show a lot in his tape. He's an excellent run-stuffer and has some potential as a pass-rusher, largely down to his athleticism, which is extremely high for such a large man, especially at defensive tackle. Capehart's first step and lateral quickness are a particular surprise at his speed; he's a real "dancing bear" of a football player.

In some ways, he projects like Alfred Collins and CJ West did last year, and I suspect he would fit nicely in tandem with them. Capehart would likely find an immediate role as a run-stuffer, given the departure of Jordan Elliott and, seemingly, Kevin Givens, and perhaps Kocurek could leverage the rookie's athletic traits into use as a rusher as well.

Round 4, Pick 139: Mason Reiger, EDGE, Wisconsin

The final pick, and probably the first genuine sop to Morris' potential scheme change, Reiger was avaiable to me at a high position on the board for at least three picks before this. But I kept leaving him out.

The reason? He's probably more of a 3-4 rush guy. His size puts him closer to 3-4 linebacker than 4-3 end, and as such, he doesn't look like the sort of well-packed, explosive rusher the Niners generally covet.

At this point, though, his value exceeds those concerns. He is capable and "twitchy," and he looks to be useful on all three downs. Also, when you factor in Morris' use of five-man fronts and ability to mould players into rushers regardless of physique and size, Reiger seems the sort of steady, rotational guy, much like Cle Ferrell, that defensive lines need.

Given the 49ers' usual attrition at the position as well, more solid contributors can't be a bad thing, can it?

The grade

Obviously, I can't tell the simulator that I'm doing an extremely unlikely scenario-based mock draft, so it took my picks at face value:

I was therefore not entirely surprised to see it ding me heavily for my first-round pick of Hood (mainly because his value isn't very high compared to the offensive players who were left, like KC Concepcion, for instance), as well as my penultimate pick of Capehart, which was at a point where defensive players of value had been mostly picked clean.

It did, however, love the Haulcy and Reiger picks, and gave me an overall grade of a B-minus. What do you think?

Incidentally, PFF suggested I take OT Blake Miller in the first round instead.

Maybe the machines and I aren't so far apart after all.