{"id":851565,"date":"2026-04-03T16:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851565\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:48:18","slug":"49ers-news-niners-shown-extensive-interest-in-top-kicker-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851565\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers news: Niners shown \u2018extensive interest\u2019 in top kicker prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The San Francisco 49ers are less than a month away from the 2026 NFL Draft, where they currently hold six picks, including four in the fourth round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">After a quality offseason so far that included a couple of key signings in free agency and a trade for starting defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, the 49ers are in a good place entering the draft with just a few needs left on the board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With the draft coming up, now is usually the time that visits start to take place with top draft targets, and six have been reported so far by CBS Sports: Memphis offensive tackle Travis Burke, Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., Texas Tech edge rusher Romello Height, Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston, SMU wide receiver Jordan Hudson, and Texas Tech wide receiver KC Concepcion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Wide receiver has been a big focus for the 49ers on these visits, which is interesting as the team added both Mike Evans and Christian Kirk at the position in free agency. But, wide receiver could be the best player available at No. 27 and the 49ers are doing their homework.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It seems the 49ers are doing their homework across the board, though, as NFL reporter Aaron Wilson revealed that San Francisco is among the teams to have shown interest in Houston Cougars kicker Ethan Sanchez, who was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist last season and an All-Big 12 honorable mention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Additionally, fellow reporter Ryan Fowler shared that the 49ers have shown extensive interest in Sanchez, who competed at Houston\u2019s Pro Day and was 9 of 12 on field goal attempts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe Eagles, Commanders, Falcons and 49ers have shown extensive interest in Houston kicker Ethan Sanchez, per sources,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/_RyanFowler_\/status\/2039764609389765075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2039764609389765075%7Ctwgr%5E145d91669586d4a5725ef80670de5f495680235f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.49erswebzone.com%2Farticles%2F200054-reaction-surprising-pre-draft-interest-kicker%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fowler tweeted.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The news comes as a bit of a surprise, given that the 49ers extended Eddy Piniero on a four-year, $17 million deal with $10 million in guarantees. Now, the contract wasn\u2019t market-setting by any means, but it is still a very respectable deal for a kicker that was 28 of 29 on field goals in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Piniero\u2019s 2026 and 2027 compensation is fully guaranteed, so it seems unreasonable for the 49ers to get out of his deal before then. So perhaps it really is just due diligence on Sanchez, who was 21 of 26 on the year in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But, the fact that multiple reporters are sharing the 49ers\u2019 interest is pretty noteworthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers are less than a month away from the 2026 NFL Draft, where they currently&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,6,1161,252,1138,1137,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-851565","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-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-draft","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116341801462903876","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851565","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=851565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}