It looks like the San Francisco 49ers are committing to a philosophical change in the way they construct their defense.
This was evident when the club used a second-round pick in the 2024 draft on cornerback Renardo Green and then extended fourth-year CB Deommodore Lenoir to a five-year contract midway through the 2024 season. It was a different kind of investment in cornerback than we've seen from a club that typically emphasizes its defensive line and pass rush.
A new first-round mock draft from our friends at draft Wire illustrates how this works A possible change in team building style could manifest itself in the 2025 draft.
At draft Wire, the 49ers continue to commit to their secondary, signing East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel.
Revel is listed at a massive 6-foot-3, 193 pounds. In 24 games with East Carolina, he recorded 71 tackles, four tackles for a loss, 1.0 sacks, three interceptions and 16 pass breakups. He also blocked two kicks during the 2023 season.
While he ticks a lot of boxes as a prospect, including a physical style of play that should fit well with San Francisco, he does have one red flag regarding a serious injury. Wallow tore his cruciate ligament during training in Septemberwhich puts his status for the start of the 2025 season in question and raises questions about how well he would play after recovering from that injury.
On the other hand, the 49ers could find themselves in a situation where they can afford to take a talent who falls off the draft board due to injury. With Green and Lenoir assume that they can keep two starting positionsthe 49ers could put Revel into action.
For 49ers fans, the idea of taking a player who suffered a torn ACL may be daunting given some of the organization's failures in that area in the early to mid-2010s, but Revel is a top talent who could round out a round excellent young group of cornerbacks.
