{"id":873398,"date":"2026-04-24T09:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873398\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:39:16","slug":"49ers-news-sometimes-the-best-picks-are-the-ones-you-dont-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/873398\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers News: Sometimes, the best picks are the ones you don\u2019t make"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">McNeil-Warren has playmaking skills that the 49ers are lacking, including an ability to force fumbles. Also, he was called for just one penalty in his four-year college career\u2026.Bisontis (6-5, 315) has the size, strength and athleticism to fit the 49ers\u2019 system. He would immediately step in and fill out the last open spot in the 49ers\u2019 starting lineup.\u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sports\/49ers\/article\/evaluating-49ers-first-round-trades-draft-day-2-22223153.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Evaluating 49ers\u2019 first-round trades and who they might draft on Day 2 (paywall)<\/a><br \/>\u201cFurtado: Boston. I could\u2019ve seen the Niners taking him No. 27 overall. I\u2019m fairly confident he was one of the guys Shanahan referenced as an option at No. 30 who ended up sliding to the second round. He can be an understudy to Evans, 32, and still contribute from Day 1. The 49ers paid Aiyuk to be their WR1 at the X position for the foreseeable future. Evans is probably the best fill-in they could have hoped for. Boston projects as a long-term solution. He isn\u2019t fast, but he\u2019s a big red-zone target with strong hands and a frame that should enable him to block well enough for Shanahan\u2019s liking. Of course, an argument can be made to prioritize pass rush first. The thing is, Boston won\u2019t fall to No. 58, where other viable speed rushers will be. I think he is closer to a first-round talent than those still available at the edge position. Offensive guard, safety and (definitely) corner can wait.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Branch: Howell. The 49ers had an NFL-worst 20 sacks last season (you might have heard about this) and Howell is still available after an 11-sack season in which he earned SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors. So why did the unanimous All-American fall out of the first round? That\u2019s easy. His itty-bitty arm length (30\u00bc inches). That\u2019s not helpful when it comes to fending off long-limbed NFL offensive tackles, but Howell has rare burst and there\u2019s something to be said for his production against elite competition. It\u2019s not as if he tore it up in the Big Sky Conference.\u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The big-bodied Boston (6-foot-5, 212 pounds) had 125 catches for 1,715 yards and 20 touchdowns in his final two seasons. Howell was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year after he had 11 sacks in 2025. Howell likely fell out of first round due to his arm length (30\u00bc inches), a key measurement for pass rushers. Howell\u2019s arms were the shortest among defensive linemen at the combine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McNeil-Warren has playmaking skills that the 49ers are lacking, including an ability to force fumbles. Also, he was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,52307,7,6,1161,252,1137,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-873398","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-49ers-links","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116459022845952395","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873398","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=873398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}