{"id":131347,"date":"2025-06-15T08:05:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T08:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/131347\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T08:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T08:05:15","slug":"49ers-sign-4th-round-draft-pick-cj-west-to-4-yr-5-2m-rookie-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/131347\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers sign 4th-round draft pick CJ West to 4-yr, $5.2M rookie deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/article-770x433-6bb4eb48cb8aff80830d48b384a81822.webp.webp\"   width=\"770\" height=\"433\" alt=\"Story Photo\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" alt=\"read tracker\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1749974715_530_ad-read-counter\" class=\"ad-block advertisement adblock ad-container read-tracker\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The San Francisco 49ers have officially signed former Indiana defensive tackle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WestCJ00.htm\" data-playername=\"CJ West\" title=\"CJ West stats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CJ West<\/a> to his rookie contract. Selected in the fourth round (No. 113 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft, West becomes the latest addition to finalize his deal from the team&#8217;s incoming rookie class.<\/p>\n<p>With West now under contract, only second-round pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/C\/CollAl01.htm\" data-playername=\"Alfred Collins\" title=\"Alfred Collins stats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alfred Collins<\/a> remains unsigned among the 49ers&#8217; 2025 draft selections.<\/p>\n<p>West is part of a major offseason effort to reshape San Francisco&#8217;s defensive line. Alongside Collins and first-round pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WillMy00.htm\" data-playername=\"Mykel Williams\" title=\"Mykel Williams stats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mykel Williams<\/a>, the trio is expected to strengthen the unit following the departures of several veteran contributors.<\/p>\n<p>According to Over The Cap, West&#8217;s four-year deal is worth approximately $5.21 million. It includes a signing bonus of about $1.01 million and carries a 2025 salary-cap hit of roughly $1.09 million.<\/p>\n<p>West (6-1, 316) registered 40 tackles (eight for a loss), two sacks, a pass defensed, and a forced fumble through 13 games in 2024, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/cj-west-1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports Reference<\/a>. Over his five collegiate seasons, he recorded 150 tackles (27 for a loss), nine sacks, two passes defensed, and two forced fumbles, transferring from Kent State to Indiana in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>All rookie contracts are set at four years under the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which extends through the 2030 season. Only first-round picks come with a team option for a fifth year, which doesn&#8217;t apply to West.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The No. 1 criteria when scouting defensive linemen is to find the guys that hate to be blocked, and West falls into that category with his fast, strong hands and high energy level,&#8221; Dane Brugler of The Athletic wrote in his player analysis. &#8220;He can win gaps with his quickness but has some tweener play traits, as he lacks the mass or length desired for the nose and his pass-rush process is underdeveloped when playing over the B-gap.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Overall, West doesn&#8217;t have the size measurements to fit every scheme, and he needs to continue connecting the dots as a pass rusher, but his natural leverage, play violence and ascending instincts are of NFL quality. Similar in ways to Poona Ford, he has the goods to become a valuable part of a defensive line rotation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tCBS Sports analyst Chris Trapasso recently highlighted several rookies drafted outside the first round who could make a significant impact during the 2025 NFL season. One name on his list: San Francisco 49ers fourth-round pick CJ West, a defensive tackle who&#8217;s expected to play&#8230;\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWhile Brock Purdy&#8217;s agent negotiated with the San Francisco 49ers, the salaries of other top NFL quarterbacks were naturally a key consideration. However, the 49ers made it clear early on that they weren&#8217;t interested in resetting the quarterback market, meaning Purdy was never&#8230;\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWide receiver Jordan Watkins has emerged as one of the most intriguing rookies from the San Francisco 49ers&#8217; offseason program\u2014at least in the limited practices open to the media.<\/p>\n<p>The 49ers selected Watkins in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft after he totaled 142&#8230;\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tWould the San Francisco 49ers rethink their 2024 draft strategy if they could go back, knowing how a disappointing season played out? Bleacher Report&#8217;s Kristopher Knox explored that hypothetical for every NFL team, rewinding the clock and projecting how the 2024 NFL Draft might&#8230;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images The San Francisco 49ers have officially signed former Indiana defensive tackle CJ West to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,583,7,1493,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-131347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-alfred-collins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-mykel-williams","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114686350638484409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}