49ers roster 2024: UDFA Drake Nugent to follow in Jake Brendel's path?

The 49ers added Drake Nugent as an undrafted free agent in 2024, and he may look to their veteran center, Jake Brendel, as a mentor.

One of the many themes from the San Francisco 49ers' NFL Draft class of 2024 was to find experienced prospects, many of whom played all four (and sometimes more) years at the collegiate level before going pro.

It appears as if that approach extended to the Niners' crop of undrafted free agents, too.

Among the players signed was a well-tested center, Drake Nugent, who split his college time at both Stanford and Michigan, winning a national championship under then-head coach Jim Harbaugh.

The 6-foot-2 and 298-pound rookie was a three-year starter between both the Cardinal and the Wolverines.

San Francisco grabbing Nugent makes plenty of sense. The team had only one true center on the roster, starter Jake Brendel, so getting someone like Nugent and another UDFA in Briason Mays potentially gives the 49ers some long-term developmental options.

And Nugent might want to copy Brendel's journey to starterdom if he wants to cut out a solid NFL career for himself.

Drake Nugent can mirror Jake Brendel's path to prominence

Brendel, too, was an unheralded UDFA signing by the Dallas Cowboys back in 2016, later landing on with the Miami Dolphins that year and staying with them through 2018, even getting in three starts.

From there, Brendel had brief stints with both the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos before the Niners identified him in 2021 as someone they wanted.

By 2022, his seventh year in the league, Brendel emerged as San Francisco's starting center.

Granted, Nugent might prefer not to bounce around the league quite as much as Brendel. And if the former is a proverbial "hidden gem" of a player, the 49ers may want to figure out ways to keep him around as both a backup to Brendel now and as a potential long-term replacement.

The 31-year-old Brendel is a free agent in 2027, but the guaranteed money on his current contract ends after this upcoming season. In theory, that could open up the door for Nugent to take over in 2025, provided the rookie impresses aplenty this year.

Big picture, Nugent can look at Brendel as a model UDFA story: someone who received little hype for much of his early career but found a way to rise to prominence.

If it all happens with the Niners, all parties would benefit.

Read more from Niner Noise