The San Francisco 49ers made a concerted effort to bolster the defensive line in the 2025 NFL Draft. After parting ways with three vets (Javon Hargrave, Leonard Floyd, and Maliek Collins) during free agency in March, the 49ers selected Mykel Williams (EDGE, first round), Alfred Collins (DT, second round), and CJ West (DT, fourth round) with three of their 11 picks in the draft.
With the 49ers adding those players, they become younger and have potential starters from Day 1. However, San Francisco still felt the need to add more depth off the edge and took a flyer on acquiring former Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Bryce Huff last month.
The additions of Williams and Huff, plus the return of Yetur Gross-Matos, are not good for former fifth-round pick Robert Beal Jr, who is likely on the roster bubble heading into training camp.
49ers DL Robert Beal Jr. is on the Roster Bubble Ahead of Training Camp
Beal Jr. had a good opportunity to make some waves earlier this month at mandatory minicamp with Williams and Gross-Matos both not participating. According to Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area, Williams was dealing with a hamstring injury, but was seen doing individual work on Tuesday under the watch of the team’s medical staff.
Meanwhile, Gross-Matos has some “wear and tear” on his knee, but Chan reports that the vet should be fine by training camp next month.
Despite both players not being involved in minicamp, we didn’t hear much of anything about Beal. In fact, the last thing we heard about the 25-year-old defender was that he was injured in OTAs in May, per Grant Cohn of San Francisco 49ers on SI.
The 6-foot-4 defensive lineman was banged up during his rookie season and was placed on IR at the end of training camp with a hamstring injury. He appeared in four games, playing 39 defensive snaps.
Last season, the second-year defender appeared in 14 games but missed the final three games with an ankle injury. Despite missing some time, Beal recorded 17 combined tackles and played 148 defensive snaps.
According to Pro Football Focus, Beal had a 52.4 pass rush grade (180th among 211 eligible EDGEs) and a 56.0 run defense grade (141st), which aren't spectacular numbers.
Looking at the 49ers' depth chart heading into training camp, Beal will likely be competing with Tarron Jackson and Sam Okuayinonu for one of the last roster spots at DE. San Francisco would love for him to win the job, but he needs to stay healthy. We already saw the 49ers move on from former second-round pick Drake Jackson earlier this offseason.
Beal doesn’t want to join Jackson on the list, but his chances to make the 53-man roster don’t look good for the former Georgia Bulldog.