{"id":97799,"date":"2024-05-04T13:16:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T13:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playsetmusic.com\/?p=97799"},"modified":"2024-05-04T13:21:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T13:21:45","slug":"49ers-predicted-to-cut-ties-with-demoted-second-round-bust-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/49ers-predicted-to-cut-ties-with-demoted-second-round-bust-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers Predicted to Cut Ties with Demoted Second-Round \u2018Bust\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons that the\u00a049ers\u00a0spent last year on the hunt for a bookend defensive lineman to play in the spot opposite star\u00a0Nick Bosa\u2014a hunt that led to trades for Randy Gregory and Chase Young, which were short-term solutions\u2014could be found in a guy who was supposed to have been a 2022 draft steal,\u00a0Drake Jackson.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. (71) attempts to block San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Drake Jackson (95) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo\/Kirk Irwin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jackson was a fringe first-round prospect who was at least expected to go in the Top 50 of that draft, but was plucked from USC by the 49ers with the next-to-last pick of the second round. After playing 15 games and 33% of the team\u2019s snaps as a rookie, he got off to a stellar start to 2023, with three sacks in the first game against the Steelers.<\/p>\n

After that? Crickets. Jackson\u00a0registered four tackles the rest of the way\u00a0and, battling injuries and ineffectiveness, lost his job and did not play after Week 8.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, as\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Eric Branch\u00a0laid out the contours of the 49ers\u2019 2024 53-man roster, he projected Jackson getting cut by the team altogether, beaten out by undrafted free agent Evan Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson, their 2022 second-rounder was drafted to serve as Bosa\u2019s bookend. But his lack of development prompted their trades for pass rushers\u00a0Randy Gregory\u00a0and\u00a0Chase Young in October before they signed (Leonard) Floyd in March,\u201d Branch wrote this week.<\/p>\n

49ers Rebuilt the Defensive Line<\/h2>\n

In all, Branch projects the 49ers to keep nine defensive linemen, starting with Bosa and\u00a0interior star\u00a0Javon Hargrave.\u00a0New signees Maliek Collins, Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jordan Elliott are in the fold, too, with 2023 fifth-rounder Robert Beal and veteran backup\u00a0Kevin Givens\u00a0sticking, too. Anderson would also be in the mix.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s five new faces, though, joining the group after the surprise release of\u00a0Arik Armstead\u00a0in March.<\/p>\n

Jackson would be out after an underwhelming two seasons with the 49ers. The fan site Niners Noise ran a list of San Francisco players who could be \u201csafely called busts\u201d and Jackson was firmly among them.<\/p>\n

Around midway through last season, though, GM John Lynch at least held out some hope for Jackson, telling The Athletic\u2019s Tim Kawakami (via SB Nation), \u201cI wouldn\u2019t call it disappointment. I think he\u2019s going through some struggles that you see players go through. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think fighting through things, had a tremendous offseason, a very talented young man. Started the season with a bang, with three sacks, and the second year is an interesting year for players. I\u2019ve always thought that. And I think you continue to work and throw energy and time into a guy like Drake because of what he ultimately can become.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drake Jackson\u2019s Time Running Short<\/h2>\n

At some point, though, it will be time to simply cut ties with Jackson and if he does not show massive improvement between now and the end of camp, there just won\u2019t be room for him on a team that is intent on winning a Super Bowl now, and is not looking to throw energy at a young underachiever.<\/p>\n

As for other interesting cuts forecast by Branch, he sees the team cutting ties with some other prominent recent picks.\u00a0Spencer Burford, the 2022 fourth-rounder, would get the axe after failing to win a starting job on the offensive line, as would 2022 oft-injured third-round receiver\u00a0Danny Gray.<\/p>\n

Also on the Chronicle\u2019s hypothetical chopping block is another third-rounder, cornerback\u00a0Ambry Thomas, who was picked in 2021. The 49ers have two excellent corner options in\u00a0Deommodore Lenoir\u00a0and\u00a0Charvarius Ward, but badly need another option in nickel coverage or on the perimeter to allow Lenior to man the slot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons that the\u00a049ers\u00a0spent last year on the hunt for a bookend defensive lineman to play in the spot opposite star\u00a0Nick Bosa\u2014a hunt that led… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97802,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97799\/revisions\/97802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nfluyen.playsetmusic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}