49ers hold pre-draft meeting over FaceTime with Notre Dame S Jalen Elliott

Justin Melo of USA Today has been on top of all of the pre-draft visits. Per Melo, the San Francisco 49ers met with Notre Dame safety Jalen Elliott via FaceTime. Elliot is 6’0”, 205 pounds. The senior ran a slow 40-yard dash at 4.8. That alone will scare a lot of teams. Elliot’s 3-cone drill and broad jump were impressive. He ran a 6.87 and jumped a 10’4”, but his vertical was average at 34” and Elliot’s short shuttle was 4.3.

Elliot finished his senior season with 49 tackles, two interceptions, and two pass breakups. His junior year was more productive. Elliot finished with 67 tackles, four interceptions, and seven pass breakups. Sports Info Solutions graded Elliot as a versatile backup with positional flexibility to play both cornerback and safety. Here was their blurb on Elliott:

Elliott is a smart safety with enough physicality and athleticism to grow into a versatile reserve defender in various situations, especially if his press-man skills continue to develop.

Elliott projects to be a backup strong safety with slot coverage versatility at the next level, who can cover at multiple levels of the defense and also defend the run. His surprising success from the slot at the Senior Bowl opened eyes and broadened his potential He projects as a good special teams contributor in a number of potential roles.

That’s good info on Elliott. Perhaps the 49ers view him as a developmental slot cornerback with K’Wuan Williams contract up after 2020. Before you mention his 40, how many times did we see Williams further than 20 yards down the field last season? You can probably count the number on one hand. Playing in the slot is all about short-area quickness and mixing it up against the run. Here are some clips from Elliott: