One position the San Francisco 49ers will surely consider heavily with the 27th pick in the NFL draft is a defensive lineman.
The 49ers were the worst team at getting to the quarterback last season, registering only 20 sacks. Losing Nick Bosa to a torn ACL played a significant role in that.
However, the 49ers can't chalk it up to that. They have to ask themselves how they can avoid that happening again, and one way to about it is by drafting a defensive lineman.
That is likely the thought process NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah had when he released his latest mock draft. Jeremiah has the 49ers using the No. 27 pick on Texas Tech defensive tackle Lee Hunter.
49ers draft Lee Hunter
Lee Hunte
Texas Tech's Lee Hunter runs to the sideline after making a tackle against BYU during the Big 12 Conference championship football game, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2025, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
"Hunter can hold the point against the run and he showed flashes of his upside as a pass rusher at the Senior Bowl," wrote Jeremiah. "Recent Super Bowl winners have featured waves of defensive linemen they can rotate. Hunter joins 2025 draft picks Alfred Collins and CJ West to form a talented young trio on the interior."
This is not a bad idea from Jeremiah at all. The 49ers can't go wrong at all if they draft Hunter. Strengthening the defensive line is always crucial.
As Jeremiah said, Hunter performs well against the run. Pro Football Focus has him graded highly as a run defender. He's registered 80 defensive stops in his college career.
But his downside is that he's not as impactful as a pass rusher. The fact that Jeremiah needed to mention he flashed as one at the Senior Bowl means he didn't do much of it in college.
The 49ers would be banking on Hunter's upside, which is what they did with Mykel Wiliams. They drafted Williams, who can immediately help the run with the hope that he can develop an effective pass rush.
Maybe Hunter follows the same path, and that entices the 49ers to draft him. The thing is, where is he going to fit to get some pass-rushing reps to increase his skills?
Williams kicks inside on pass-rushing downs, and Hunter is exclusively inside. Unless the 49ers move Williams back and forth on pass-rushing downs, then Hunter will mainly be a run defender.
Is that satisfactory for a first-round pick at No. 27? Probably not. If that was a second-round selection, then by all means. The 49ers' main priority should be to draft a player with polished pass-rushing ability.
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