The 49ers find themselves in a spot where they don’t need to worry about positional need when they select 61st in this year’s draft. There isn’t one major need that stands above the others, so just getting a high-quality player in the building should be their lone priority. They do check a box with their pick in a mock draft from the Athletic when they take Auburn cornerback Roger McCreary.
McCreary has been a popular name off the board to San Francisco late in the second round. He doesn’t fit the prototypical CB archetype we’ve seen the 49ers go after the last couple years with a more compact 5-11,190-pound frame with 29-inch arms.
Via the Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner:
A press corner with SEC experience. Tough to beat that. McCreary (5-11, 190) doesn’t have great length and still has room to grow as a zone corner, but much like Ambry Thomas for the 49ers a year ago, McCreary would be a player who can come in and compete outside instinctively right away.
Having a CB like McCreary who can play press-man would give defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans some extra wrinkles to throw at opposing offenses. Should the 49ers want him to play zone though, they wouldn’t need him to start right away with Charvarius Ward, Emmanuel Moseley and Thomas all sitting atop the depth chart. Moseley is entering the last year of his contract though so finding a longer-term solution at corner could be a priority for the 49ers’ front office in the 2022 draft.
One thing that jumps out with McCreary is his competitiveness. He is, in NFL parlance, a ‘dawg.’ There’s an edge to the way he plays that makes him a lot of fun to watch. It’s easy to see how he’d quickly fit in an NFL secondary.
McCreary played in 39 games across four seasons for the Tigers. He racked up 135 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 30 pass breakups and six interceptions. In 2021 he was a First-Team All-SEC selection.
