The San Francisco 49ers made their first real surprise selection of the 2025 NFL Draft on Friday night's third round, selecting off-ball linebacker Nick Martin, the former Oklahoma State prospect.
While Martin is a great athlete, as his RAS scores from the NFL Combine show, as reported by the San Francisco Standard's David Lombardi, he is also undersized for the linebacker position, something that also showed up in testing:
The 49ers' first third-round pick is LB Nick Martin, who is very small but very explosive for the position. Very possibly a LB/safety hybrid for Robert Saleh. Martin did suffer a season-ending knee injury in 2024.
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) April 26, 2025
SF's board looks a lot different than the analysts' — he'd been… pic.twitter.com/89sxFaSQ5Y
This had some Niners fans scratching their heads, and there was already the usual caterwauling about potentially reaching on a player with a premium pick.
The fact the 49ers have something of a spotty record in the third round probably didn't help, either, although at least Martin isn't a running back.
One prominent NFL Draft prognosticator who doesn't agree with the reach consensus, though, is ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper.
According to his ESPN colleague and 49ers beat reporter Nick Wagoner, Kiper actually had Martin ranked much closer to where San Francisco took him than fan dissent might suggest:
Our @MelKiperESPN had new #49ers LB Nick Martin listed as his favorite off-ball linebacker prospect this year, noting people have been "sleeping" on Martin because of the knee injury.
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) April 26, 2025
Mel recently projected Martin going No. 84 to Tampa Bay in a mock draft.
There's a lot to like with Martin: He's fast, athletic, and good in coverage, which should at the very least put him in the mix to replace phenomenal linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Also -- and this shouldn't be dismissed either -- Martin's blend of speed and playing style likely makes him a good candidate to be a top special teams player, something the Niners seem to have both valued and focused on in their offseason additions.
Of course, the 49ers will hope for more than that, and the likelihood is he has the inside track into the starting lineup spot next to Fred Warner, although he'll have to fight off spirited competition from the likes of Dee Winters, Curtis Robinson, and Tatum Bethune.
Martin's blend of athletic abilities could also make him something of a moving chess piece for defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. Martin seems very much like a linebacker hitter in a safety body, raising the intriguing possibility of both a hybrid role schematically or some usage in certain packages to replace departed safety Talanoa Hufanga.
It's certainly something interesting to watch, particularly as Saleh develops and refines his new defensive scheme.
Either way, San Francisco fans should rest a little easier about the pick than they might have at first, as while it looks odd on paper, the athletic fit, as well as experienced evaluators like Kiper's comments, certainly makes the pick look better than it otherwise might have done.