49ers NFL 2023 Draft Round 3 Selections

By Scooter_McG

Day 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft is in the books and the 49ers have made their first 3 picks of the NFL draft. They started the day with picks 99, 101 and 102, but traded up from 102 (adding picks 164 and 222) to pick 87.

Here's a review of the 49ers draft picks on Day 2.

Brown is a player the team had in for a visit and clearly liked him enough to feel they needed to move up to grab him. He's a highly instinctive safety prospect whose game is largely based on his football IQ getting him into good positions rather than relying on his athletic traits which are fairly average for a safety. 

Brown was a playmaker for the Nittany Lions, recording 10 INTs over the past two seasons as well as 3 forced fumbles, 9 pass breakups, 4.5 sacks and 153 tackles. His testing numbers at the combine were pretty pedestrian, but he plays faster on the field due to his ability to read the play. However, his instincts and average athleticism can get him in trouble when he gets too aggressive and doesn't have the speed to recover from false steps. 

Brown also has some versatility to his game, able to line up in multiple alignments, including single high, split safeties, in the box or in the slot.

Brown will most likely sit behind Tashaun Gipson and Talanoa Hufanga this year, but the expectation should be that he will team up with Hafanga longer term. 

Dear oh dear oh dear. Yes, the 49ers drafted a kicker in round 3. Yes, it was their second pick in the draft. Yes, it was a terrible pick. 

Look, maybe Jake Moody is the second coming of Justin Tucker (who, ironically, was undrafted). If he is then great, every team wishes they had a Justin Tucker. But history is very clear on this - the vast majority of good kickers are not drafted before day 3. And no matter how Shanahan wants to try and sell it as effectively a 4th round pick, it was a day 2 pick. And no Kyle, most kickers are not drafted in the 4th round. Heck, many of the best kickers in the NFL weren't drafted at all. And kickers that get drafted have a bad habit of not getting a second contract with the team that drafted them. 

Long story short, kickers are pretty easy to replace and generally get better as they get older... like, after their first contract. So drafting one isn't usually the best way to get strong production from a kicker. In fact, the kicker they just traded for, Zane Gonzalez (who was drafted in 2017 and is now on his 5th team) is probably only now getting to around the right age for a kicker to be hitting their stride. 

Anyway, ridiculous pick aside, Moody does bring a big leg to the table and an impressive college resume, in particular in 2021 and 2022, including a school record for points scored in a season last year (147). He will presumably beat out Gonzalez for the kicking job, given where he was drafted, so at least they drafted a player that will contribute. As to how much better than Gonzalez he will be (if at all), well, that's debatable.

The 49ers rounded out their 3rd round draft picks by adding TE Cameron Latu, a player I had in my mock draft and someone I think was an underrated prospect in the draft process. However... round 3 does feel a bit high for him. 

Latu's testing numbers don't jump out, but on film he looks very smooth and does a nice job getting open. Like Brown, he's another smart player whose football IQ is noticeable on the field in the way he sets up defenders against man coverage and finds soft spots against zone. He also has good hands and tracks the ball well. 

He's on the smaller side at just over 240lbs, and while willing he isn't the best blocker. He also has some work to do in ironing out some kinks in his route running. However, it is worth keeping in mind that Latu came to Alabama as a DE and had to learn the TE position during his time at college, which suggests there is also still quite a bit of room to grow into the role. 

I can see Latu getting some time split out in a role similar to the one they tried with Jordan Reed in 2020, but injuries prevented us from ever seeing that experiment come to fruition. 

Summary

All in all, I believe the three players selected by the 49ers today will contribute in 2023 and beyond. Moody should even start this year (snigger). But it certainly feels like there was some meat left on the bone with some of these picks, and that depth at OL, DE and CB remains a concern.