A look back at some former 49ers combine performances

There have been a few videos from current San Francisco 49ers performing at the NFL Combine when they came out of college. John Lynch has done a fantastic job of drafting athletes, and you’ll see that from the numbers below. One thing to keep in mind if you’re going to be paying attention as the weekend goes on, just because a player is fast doesn’t mean he’s a good athlete. Pay more attention to the short shuttles and 3-cone. Even the vertical and broad jumps are better indicators of athleticism than straight-line speed. Change of direction remains king in the NFL, though.

Speaking of, as the wide receivers and tight ends work out on Thursday, Kyle Shanahan has a type at wideout:

Shanahan said earlier this week that he admired the way Deebo Samuel loved to be around the game of football, so I’m sure he was willing to forgive going a blink of an eye over seven seconds in the 3-cone drill.

The real takeaway of that tweet was Emmanuel Sanders’ combine numbers. He ran a 4.41 40-yard dash and had a broad jump of 10-foot-5. Wow. We knew Goodwin was a super athlete. Marquise said he’s going for the gold in the long jump during the 2020 Olympics. Goodwin ran a 4.27 in the 40-yard dash. He can fly.

Who could forget Mitch Wishnowsky last year running a 4.63 40-yard dash? George Kittle ran a 4.52 with a bloody cotton swab in his nose because why wouldn’t he?

Here is Deebo from last year:

And Emmanuel Sanders:

Now that everyone knows who he is, Raheem Mostert ran a 4.34 40-yard dash. He had a vertical jump of 40”, and had an 11-foot broad jump. That is what you call an explosive athlete.

You don’t find offensive linemen jumping over 30 inches in the vertical often, but Laken Tomlinson did. Tomlinson jumped 31.5”. Ideally, your linemen run a sub-8-second 3-cone dash. Person, Richburg, and Brunskill all did. Staley and McGlinchey didn’t run at the combine.

Ahkello Witherspoon’s athleticism will keep him in the NFL for a while. He ran a 4.45 40-yard dash, jumped over 40.5” in the vertical, and ran a sub-7-second 4-cone. Every test Witherspoon did was above average. People pretend Richard Sherman is a “bad athlete” because he ran a slow 40, but out of college, Sherm was above average in both shuttles and jumps.

People knocked Nick Bosa because he wasn’t an “elite” athlete. The same was said for DeForest Buckner. For defensive linemen, if they are destroying the person trying to block them over and over, they’re a good football player. Don’t overthink it this weekend.