49ers focus on the trenches in Day 3 of NFL draft

The San Francisco 49ers will be busy Saturday at the start of the third and final day of the NFL draft.

The 49ers are scheduled to have five picks, all in the first two rounds. The picks: Nos. 107 (fourth), 127 (fourth), 133 (fourth), 139 (fourth) and 179 (fifth).

Fourth round (No. 107): Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma

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Halton (6-foot-3, 293 pounds) was a part-time player for the Sooners who ranked second on the team last season with 30 quarterback pressures while playing 32.5% of the defensive snaps. Halton, 22, who played 31% of the snaps in 2024, had 8.5 sacks in his final two seasons, 3.5 as a senior to finish his four-season career at Oklahoma.

General manager John Lynch indicated the 49ers had at least a third-round grade on Halton, who was selected with the seventh pick of the fourth round.

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“Surprised he lasted that long,” Lynch said. “And really thrilled to pounce on him when he got there.”

Halton will join the 49ers’ defensive interior that’s been recently overhauled. Last year, the 49ers used a second-round pick on Alfred Collins and a fourth-rounder on CJ West. In March, they acquired defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa from the Cowboys for a third-round pick. Odighizuwa and Collins are the projected starting defensive tackles in 2026 with West serving as a key backup.

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The 49ers hope Halton works his way into the rotation after he made seven of his 10 career starts as a senior. A team captain who was a second-team All-SEC pick in 2025, Halton is known for his initial burst at the snap.

He began playing football in elementary school as a running back in his native San Diego and he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.82 seconds, which was the third-fastest among defensive tackles at the combine. His 20-yard shuttle (4.79 seconds), which measures short-area quickness, ranked fourth among his position group. Lynch pointed to his 36-inch vertical jump.

“That translates to the film that you watch,” he said. “He’s off the ball and he’s in the opposing team’s backfield. And that’s just who we kind of want to be.”

Halton was recruited as a four-star defensive end before Oklahoma moved him inside. He had just 21 tackles and didn’t make a start in his first two seasons.

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“I had to learn all the techniques, everything else, to get on the field,” he said.

Alabama center Parker Brailsford, a fifth-round pick of the Browns on Saturday, termed Halton the toughest player he faced last season due to his sudden first step. When asked to describe his game after he was drafted Saturday, Halton began with “explosive” and said he possessed a “hungry mindset.”

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world,” Halton said. “The dogs prevail.”

After they had an NFL-worst 20 sacks in 2025, the 49ers’ feelings about last year’s defensive interior were made clear during free agency in March. They didn’t re-sign their starting defensive tackles, Kalia Davis and Jordan Elliott, and didn’t bring back Kevin Givens, who had made 14 starts and averaged 278 snaps a season since 2020.

The 49ers aggressively pursued defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers before the eight-year veteran signed a three-year, $63 million deal with the Titans. After missing out on Franklin-Myers, they dealt the No. 92 pick in this year’s draft for Odighizuwa, who signed a four-year, $80 million deal with the Cowboys in 2025.

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— Eric Branch

Fourth round (No. 127): Carver Willis, OL, Washington

At long last, the 49ers drafted some O-line help. Willis, 24, was Washington’s starting left tackle last season and Kansas State’s starting right tackle the season prior. But the Niners may view him as a guard, a position he did not play in college, given his shorter arms (32 ½ inches at the combine) relative to prototypical tackles in the NFL.

Willis told reporters after being selected Saturday that every team he met with throughout the pre-draft process mentioned a move inside, to either guard or center.

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The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked him as the No. 19 guard in this class.

“That’s something every team talked to me about,” said Willis, who got guard reps at the Senior Bowl. “I’m happy to do it, no matter where they need me on the line. I’ve kind of said this whole time, I just want a shot in the playbook.”

The 6-foot-5, 303-pounder added that his lone season at Washington introduced him to the “exact same offense” as the 49ers.

“It was a more fast-paced, more fun offense, and I think I fit that scheme really well,” Willis said. “I’m very grateful to be part of that same offense going forward.”

Left guard is a glaring need for the Niners, no longer with Ben Bartch, last season’s Week 1 starter at the position, and Spencer Burford, who made nine starts there in the regular season and manned the spot in both of the team’s playoff games. Bartch and Burford signed elsewhere in free agency.

After the Niners went without drafting a potential replacement on Day 1 and 2, Lynch noted his hope for 2025 seventh-rounder Connor Colby to make a jump. Colby slid in for six starts when Bartch went on injured reserve early in the season, before being replaced by Burford. The 49ers also added other modest options at left guard during free agency, signing Robert Jones and Brett Toth to one-year deals.

“We’ll start him off inside,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Willis. “See if he can do it there, and give him the chance to try to earn that (left guard) spot.”

— Noah Furtado

Fourth round (No. 133): Traded to Ravens for 2026 fifth-round pick (No. 154) and 2027 sixth-round pick

Fourth round (No. 139): Ephesians Prysock, CB, Washington

Prysock is a big-bodied corner — he’s 6-foot-3, 196 pounds and has 33 1/8-inch arms — who made 42 career starts in a career that included two seasons at Arizona before he transferred to Washington.

In his final three seasons, which included 39 starts, Prysock had 21 pass breakups and two interceptions. In 2025, Prysock committed six penalties, four for pass interference and two for holding.

“I feel like I’m a long, versatile guy … that has the skill set to be one of the greatest cornerbacks,” Prysock said.

Prysock could provide depth as a rookie while contributing on special teams after he played on punt coverage during each season of his four-year career.

The 49ers’ starting cornerback are Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green. Prysock will compete for backup snaps with a group headlined by Jack Jones, 28, and Nate Hobbs, 26, who were signed this offseason and have combined to make 81 career starts. The 49ers added Prysock with an eye to the future. Jones, Hobbs and another backup corner, Darrell Luter, aren’t signed beyond 2026.

“Prysock is awesome because he’s got such size and length,” director of scouting Josh Williams said. “And for a bigger guy he moves like a guy who’s small. He’s a tough competitor. He fits us.”

Prysock said he polished his skills his final two seasons in practice by facing wide receiver Denzel Boston, a second-round pick of the Browns on Friday.

“He took my game to another level,” Prysock, “just going and competing every day.”

Prysock indicated NFL teams had not discussed a potential move to safety, and Williams said the 49ers view him as an outside cornerback. Safety appeared to be a position of need for the 49ers, but they didn't use any of their eight draft picks on the position.

The 49ers’ top three safeties are Malik Mustapga, Ji’Ayir Brown and Marques Sigle, the latter two of whom were benched in 2025.

When asked if the decision to not draft a safety was a vote of confidence in their current group, Lynch indicated they could sign an undrafted rookie.

“This thing's still going on, we've got some (rookie) free agents and all that,” Lynch said. “We've got a group that we really do like. But (it was) kind of the way the (draft) board fell, it just didn't work out … The work's not over.”

— Branch

Fifth round (No. 154): Jaden Dugger, LB, Louisiana

Linebacker appeared to be a well-set position with the return of Dre Greenlaw, affirmed by the trade of Dee Winters, but the 49ers took Dugger at the apparent urging of K.J. Wright. A former linebacker himself who played 11 seasons in the NFL, won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks, and was named to one Pro Bowl, Wright was promoted to linebackers coach this offseason after two years as a defensive quality control coach for the Niners.

Most notably, Wright and Dugger are physically difficult to tell apart. Wright at the 2011 combine: 6-foot-3 3/8, 246 pounds and 34 7/8-inch arms. Dugger at Louisiana’s pro day: 6-foot-4 ¾, 242 pounds, 35-inch arms.

Lynch eventually did the math: “I remember a draft meeting where K.J. was becoming extremely convicted on the young man, and I said, 'Wait just a sec, throw up K.J.'s card.' We got this cool tale of the tape. I said, 'You’re trying to draft yourself,' and I think he was. If we come anywhere close to (Wright), it’d be a really good thing.”

Dugger made 125 tackles, including 13 for a loss, at Louisiana-Lafayette last season. His first two college seasons were spent as a safety at Georgetown, an FCS program.

Without likening his upside to an established All-Pro player, Fred Warner also transitioned from safety to linebacker.

Dugger, who reportedly ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash, said he doesn’t know yet how the Niners intend to use him. He played in an outside linebacker role, which included edge alignments, in his first season with the Ragin’ Cajuns but moved inside to middle linebacker in 2025.

The 49ers seem primed to pair Fred Warner and Greenlaw as their every-down linebackers. Then there’s Tatum Bethune, Nick Martin and Luke Gifford. Bethune can play all three positions, from the inside “Mike” to weak-side “Will” to strong-side “Sam.” Gifford opened last season atop the depth chart at Sam, a rotational role. Martin, a 2025 third-round pick, almost exclusively repped at Sam and Will.

“I pretty much do anything,” Dugger said.

NFL.com projected him as a priority undrafted free agent.

“I was kind of getting anxious,” Dugger said. “My agent told me to expect like the fourth to fifth (round), so I knew I was in that range where I could possibly be picked. But I know how things can go. You might not get picked where you’re expected to.”

— Furtado

Fifth round (No. 179): Enrique Cruz, OT, Kansas

The streak is over: The 49ers have drafted an offensive tackle for the first time since they selected Jaylon Moore in the fifth round in 2021. Probably? Lynch said tackle is Cruz’s likely NFL position is tackle, but he could have the ability to transition to guard.

Cruz (6-5, 313 pounds), who made 30 career starts, was the fastest offensive lineman at the combine, reaching a speed of 20.60 mph while running the 40-yard dash in 4.94 seconds. Cruz also had the fastest 20-yard shuttle (2.88 seconds) and highest vertical jump (35 inches).

“Is that all valuable for an offensive tackle? We’ll see,” Lynch said. “But it speaks to the type of athlete he is.”

In 2025, after four seasons at Syracuse, Cruz transferred to Kansas and boosted his draft stock while starting 12 games at right tackle and earning honorable-mention Big 12 honors. In 2024, Cruz played just 33 snaps after losing his first-string job. He started 13 games at left tackle in 2023.

Draft analysts view Cruz as best-suited for a zone-blocking scheme, which the 49ers run, due to his movement skills. The 49ers view Cruz as a project they could patiently develop. All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, 37, signed a restructured two-year, $50 million deal Monday that will keep him under contract through 2027. The 49ers signed swing tackle Vederian Lowe to a two-year, $9.25 million deal in March.

Lynch said the 49ers became more intrigued by Cruz when offensive line coach Chris Foerster, a 33-year NFL veteran, returned with a positive review after putting Cruz through a pre-draft workout.

“I think that was a big step for us,” Lynch said.

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