The former 49ers general manager joined The Athletic’s Matt Barrows to discuss the prospects he likes.
After the draft it’s time to see what everyone thinks of the San Francisco 49ers. We’ll be sorting things out through the coming days, but one thing I’m always curious about is what former 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan thought of the 49ers picks.
McCloughan joined The Athletic’s Matt Barrows to go over the 49ers and the 2024 49ers draft. In the past, McCloughan has been on the money. He never liked the Dante Pettis pick (which isn’t a shocker because it was a polarizing pick with fans) and also the Jauan Jennings pick in 2020.
Keep in mind this is the guy instrumental in drafting Frank Gore. So McCloughan knows a thing or two.
This year, McCloughan hyped up fourth-round pick Jacob Cowing.
“He’ll tear up rookie minicamp, seven-on-seven, all that stuff,” he [McCloughan] said of Cowing. “You’ll be like, ‘Wow!’ you wait and see. He’ll blow your mind. He’s fast and quick. He’s like a little bolt of lightning — gone!”
This goes in line with what a lot of draft analysts were saying of Cowing, namely his route-running ability.
McCloughan also suggested Cowing may have a shot at punt returner. There were some thoughts that maybe Ricky Pearsall might be the punt returner during his rookie season. If Cowing wants to fight for the job, some competition never hurt anyone and we all know the 49ers need help at punt returner. They had Ray-Ray McCloud who left in free agency and a rookie Ronnie Bell. McCloud was decent, but Bell had severe ball security issues and is lucky he didn’t lose more fumbles than he did.
McCloughan was also a fan of third-round pick Dominick Puni:
“I think he’ll end up being a guard,” McCloughan said. “He’s really good with his hips and feet. Really good. But I’m not so sure he can’t be a left tackle when it’s all said and done … if he gets stronger.”
Unfortunately, McCloughan wasn’t as high on first round pick Ricky Pearsall. That’s not saying he didn’t like the shiny new 49ers wide receiver. Just didn’t have near as much praise in his discussion with Barrows.
McCloughan was the GM of the 49ers from 2008 to 2010. In 2010, McCloughan departed months before that year’s draft, but that was the year the 49ers got offensive linemen Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati (which would lead to them being one of the best offensive lines in football) and linebacker NaVorro Bowman. It’s speculated a lot of his scouting and board was used in this draft due to the time between him and Trent Baalke. The 2011 draft, which was the first for Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh’s partnership as general manager and head coach respectively, is speculated to have been a board that may have had some remains from McCloughan’s tenure. A board Baalke operated off of that got the 49ers Aldon Smith, Colin Kaepernick and others.
Overall, the 49ers draft is one that has some optimism in the picks. In previous years, we’ve seen the team get torn apart around this time. Mostly this was due to them not having a first (and in last year’s case, a second) round pick to round out the roster.
And there’s always the Atlanta Falcons who stole the “what the hell are they doing” award with some of those decisions.
How are you feeling about this a week later?
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