Working with Joe Staley is just a cherry on the top
ESPN’s draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has released his final mock draft ahead of the NFL draft in Detroit. At pick 31, Kiper Jr. selected OT Roger Rosengarten from Washington.
Kiper said this about his selection:
I’m going to stick with my projection Mock Draft 3.0, as Rosengarten could challenge Colton McKivitz for snaps at right tackle. Rosengarten didn’t allow any sacks in his 1,158 pass-blocking snaps for the Huskies. He also has some familiarity with one of San Francisco’s stars, as Christian McCaffrey’s dad, Ed, was his high school coach for two seasons at Valor Christian in Colorado.
It’s noteworthy that Kiper highlighted Rosengarten’s connection to the former 49er and the news of Rosengarten working out with former 49er great Joe Staley.
I asked Kiper to explain his selection further and whether the selection was more of reading tea leaves with 49ers connections rather than a proper fit for the 49ers.
That’s an additional couple of points, but I just liked the kid and liked the way he played. And it’s a kind of an area where you said, okay, they could look to upgrade that spot. Rosengarten made sense to me at 6’5 and a half, 308 pounds. And you look at that 4.92 and the 30 vertical, but the bottom line is how does he play offensive line?
Numbers don’t mean a whole heck of a lot. I remember Jason Fabini was around like a 5.5 and had a heck of a career in the NFL. So I’m not going to get enamored with the player just because of that, but it showed you what type of athlete he is in addition to being a blindside protector of Michael Penix, Jr.
Kiper Jr went on to explain that he believes Rosengarten is better suited for right tackle as flipping to left tackle requires “a totally different skill set.”
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