San Francisco 49ers: Three options at edge rusher in the first round of the draft

Harold Landry, Boston College

Of the three players, Harold Landry is the only one that the San Francisco 49ers have publicly shown interest in. Landry’s draft profile is essentially the antithesis of Marcus Davenport’s.

Landry is less of a freak athletic prospect, but is more renown for his production in college. Landry put up monstrous numbers in both his sophomore and junior seasons at Boston College, earning him All-American and All-ACC honors. Despite this he elected to return to school for his senior year. Because of injury Landry failed to replicate his junior season’s production but still earned a spot on the All-ACC defense.

San Francisco 49ers

Landry lacks the elite size you get from a player like Marcus Davenport, but makes up for it with his speed and burst off the line. His pass rushing skillset is comparable to players like Vic Beasley and Bruce Irvin. Because of this lack of size, he may also struggle in the run game to start his career, keeping him off the field on early downs.

That burst and speed is also a part of his weakness. Landry is criticized for relying too heavily on speed on the edge and doesn’t string together pass rushing moves as well. This is the same problem Vic Beasley had. Beasley wasn’t great his rookie year, but broke out during his second season after having a year of NFL experience under his belt, using that time to fine tune his pass rushing technique.

It would be no surprise if Landry goes through that same process. For some team’s this would be a problem, but not if the San Francisco 49ers were to select him. The 49ers are not in a must win now situation, so having their first round pick take time to reach his potential is not a huge deal.

If the team is indeed interested in drafting Landry after their visit with him, that opens up an opportunity to trade down and acquire an extra draft pick. Landry could be taken at nine, but he could also likely be taken at around 16 or so. Depending on what other teams show interest in trading up, it would be no surprise if the team makes a move to trade down and select Landry.