Niners Nation
The 49ers’ investment in the defensive line in the 2025 NFL Draft left one member of that position group potentially facing an uphill battle to make the roster.
With the 2025 NFL Draft in the books, attention for the 49ers will turn to offseason activities and, eventually, the training camp practices that will help determine the construction of their roster for the coming season. One player who would be forgiven for fearing for his place on the roster was the Niners’ top draft selection just a few years ago.
The 49ers selected Drake Jackson with the 61st overall pick in the second round in 2022 – when they did not have a first-round pick – hoping he could develop into a long-term starter at the defensive end spot across from Nick Bosa.
It was an understandable bet for the 49ers to make, as Jackson ticks a lot of boxes for what they look for in an edge defender. He weighed in at 254 pounds ahead of the draft but is now listed at 273 pounds and has the explosiveness and arm length to go with that size.
Additionally, as I wrote back in 2023, Jackson has an encouraging arsenal of pass-rush moves, the lower-body flexibility to bend and flatten at the top of his rush, and the ability to win inside and out as a pass rusher.
But those traits have so far only translated to six sacks across two seasons, three of which came in Week 1 of 2023 in a performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers that now looks like a false dawn.
Jackson missed the entirety of the 2024 season due to surgery on the patellar tendon injury that ended his 2023 campaign prematurely.
Now, with the 49ers using their 2025 first-round pick on Mykel Williams, who immediately slots in as the favorite to start across from Bosa on a revamped defensive line, Jackson faces a fight to earn regular snaps and perhaps even keep his place on the roster in what is the final year of his rookie contract.
Bosa and Williams are obviously guaranteed 53-man roster spots, barring injury. Yetur Gross-Matos, a free-agent signing last year, is likely to join them. He and Sam Okuayinonu, who impressed in 2023, bring valuable inside-out versatility that should secure their spots.
Given the 49ers usually carry around 10 defensive linemen and at least five are likely to be defensive tackles, that puts Jackson in a potential battle with the likes of Robert Beal Jr, Alex Barrett, Tarron Jackson and Jonathan Garvin for a place on the 53.
Beal topped the 49ers’ in-house metrics measuring explosiveness ahead of the 2023 draft, in which they took him in the fifth round, but he has just one sack in 18 career games. His advantage in a prospective battle for a roster spot is tied to him being a superior run defender, but Jackson arguably has more advantages in his positional flexibility and his more expansive pass-rush armory.
The question the 49ers will...
