49ers roster 2023: Drake Jackson needs massive 2nd-year leap

Drake Jackson showed some promise in his rookie year but turned into a healthy scratch late in the season. What will 2023 bring?

Perhaps the best quote about the difference a year makes for San Francisco 49ers edge Drake Jackson came from Sports Illustrated's Grant Cohn, who observed Jackson during the Niners' offseason organized team activities in Santa Clara last spring.

"Looks like a completely different person than he did last year as a rookie," Cohn wrote of Jackson. "Back then, he looked like a flabby college player who might wear a t-shirt in the swimming pool. Now, he looks like a five-year veteran with a grown man's body."

Provocative quote, indeed.

That "t-shirt in the swimming pool" version of Jackson started off hot after the Niners used a Round 2 pick on the former USC defender. Jackson recorded three sacks in his first six games while also notching an impressive eight passes batted down at the line of scrimmage throughout his rookie season.

However, a lack of conditioning took its toll, and Jackson subsequently became a weekly inactive and healthy scratch down the stretch and into the playoffs.

“We had a decent group of rushers and as the year went out and towards the end, it got too long for him, and his body wasn't quite ready for what we needed,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Jackson at the end of the pass-rusher's rookie season, via NBC Sports Bay Area.

Message sent. Jackson needed to get into the weight room while undergoing a serious conditioning program.

Judging by Cohn's initial review, it worked.

Drake Jackson is vital to the 49ers in 2023

As Shanahan mentioned, San Francisco had a good crop of rotational pass-rusher to pair with the All-Pro and NFL sack leader, Nick Bosa. Charles Omenihu, Jordan Willis, Kerry Hyder, Samsom Ebukam and even Jackson were in the mix to provide the opposite-end rushing needed to take advantage of other teams' attention on Bosa.

Each of those players aside from Jackson is gone, though, having moved on via NFL free agency.

Sure, the 49ers inked other veteran pass-rushers to help fill the void, namely Austin Bryant and Clelin Ferrell. And they also used a fifth-round pick in this year's draft on Georgia edge Robert Beal Jr.

But it's pretty clear the Niners envision Jackson as filling that role opposite Bosa. They need him to, especially considering no other pass-rusher had more than six sacks for San Francisco a year ago in light of Bosa's 18.5.

Read more: 49ers can stay excited about Drake Jackson despite late dropoff in 2022

Bosa can't do it alone, and Jackson factors into that equation. Plus, with him being on a cheap rookie deal in which he'll account for just $1.34 million in 2023, it's going to be financially sustainable.

Predicting Drake Jackson's impact for 49ers in 2023

Jackson still needs some work against the run to be a true three-down defender, so it's likely he winds up being a primary third-down pass-rushing specialist, at least for the early phases of the upcoming season.

It's not a bad gig, especially considering the 49ers have plenty of rotational linemen who can defend well enough against the run. Plus, being out for a third of the defensive snaps should help keep Jackson fresh even in light of his offseason workouts.

There aren't likely to be a lot of tackles from Jackson, perhaps in the range of 25 to 30 this season. Yet he has that knack of swatting down passes, meaning it wouldn't be totally shocking to see double-digit production there.

Perhaps 10 or so, up from the eight last year, would be a good prediction.

Then, as far as sacks are concerned, Jackson's trajectory last year suggested he could be in the range of six to eight if he had kept up his endurance. Tack on the full year of experience, it'd be safe to bet on the higher end of that range, meaning eight sacks could be a reachable goal and target.

And the Niners would be more than happy with those kinds of results.

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