Rotoworld ranks 49ers’ UDFA class 11th in NFL

We’ve seen UDFA’s shine in the NFL dating back to Warren Moon, and I’m sure even further since I can remember. The San Francisco 49ers have had their share of success in the UDFA pool, hoping to do the same again in 2020. Rotoworld ranked each UDFA class in the NFL. I liked this line from author Thor Nystrom about UDFA’s in the article: “What I want to impress upon you is that the UDFA process is integral and highly underrated. The teams that do it well steal at the margins. Businesses that crush at the margins inevitably become the richest. Ask Bezos.”

To rank the UDFA’s across the league, Thor assigned a 1-10 point value to each UDFA, based on his rankings. Here’s how he explained how points were assigned:

Here’s how I did that. I assigned a 1-10 point value to each UDFA, depending on where I had him ranked. Ten-point players were ranked in my pre-draft top-200, nine-point players’ threshold started there and stopped at Round 7 grade, eight-pointers were top-300 guys with UDFA grades, seven-pointers were ranked between 301-350, and so on and so forth.

The 49ers came in at 11th. They were tied for seventh in “top-5” grades. Here was Rotoworld’s blurb:

Like the Saints, the Niners had a small draft class (five players, including only two taken before Round 5), and this may have helped them in the UDFA process. It certainly did at defensive back, a position they curiously didn’t touch in the draft despite an acute need. DeMarkus Acy and Jared Mayden will both have a shot to make the roster. Senior Bowl czar Jim Nagy is a noted fan of Mayden’s.

San Francisco also didn’t take a running back and ended up grabbing two of the better runners who didn’t get picked. Baylor’s JaMycal Hasty is a human banana peel who runs fearless. Salvon Ahmed, who arrived at Washington with considerable hype but underwhelmed, may compete with him for San Fran’s RB3 role.

Nagy will hype up any player that attended the Senior Bowl, so take that line about Mayden with a grain of salt. That’s not to say Mayden won’t make the roster. If he does, it won’t be because of Nagy’s words.

If SPARQ is your thing, JaMycal Hasty had the sixth-highest adjusted SPARQ score in the NFL Draft. The signs keep pointing in Hasty’s favor, and what he brings to the table, receiving skills out of the backfield, is precisely what Kyle Shanahan is looking for.

I don’t know that he’ll have an impact in 2020, but Chris Finke, another SPARQ darling, feels like the type of receiver the 49ers want to groom. If not at receiver, then perhaps as a returner. If you can find two UDFA’s that can make this roster, then John Lynch and the scouting staff deserve all kinds of credit.