Welcome: McKivitz, Woerner, Jennings
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Round 5, Pick 153: OT, Colton McKivitz, West Virginia
A right tackle for most of his career who also moonlighted a bit at guard, McKivitz was moved to left tackle for the 2019 season and flourished, garnering second-team All-American honors and being named Co-Big 12 OL of the year alongside Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey (a potential first-round draft pick next year).
A self-described “civilized redneck,” McKivitz was a four-year starter for the Mountaineers (47 starts are third-most in school history), which means a lot of experience and a whole lot of sightings of Matt McKivitz, his dad, who became low-key famous for his homemade game day hats.
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Even the rando in the back has questions.
As an offensive lineman for a team that I didn’t watch and who has no All-22 film, I don’t really know anything else about him. But this is the general consensus from a combination of draft experts…
McKivitz has good height for a tackle (6-6, 306 pounds) but his relatively shorter arms made some teams peg him as a guard only. When in-line, he’s got good body control and has decent feet, but despite his basketball background, his lack of ideal hip flexibility and knee bend means he plays too upright at times, which can result in struggles in space and on the second level. But he’s got heavy hands, a strong upper body to lock onto defenders, and a mean streak that shows in how he finishes his blocks — a trait which should endear him quickly to any offensive line coach.
While that breakdown may not seem like a player who’s a perfect athletic fit for our outside zone scheme, McKivitz’s consistency, intelligence, and work ethic are all top notch. Shanahan’s offense is notoriously complicated, and smarts along the offensive line is something the Niners prioritize more so than most. As a near-50 game starter who was capable of playing all five positions along the offensive line at West Virginia and garnered major post-season honors despite playing on an offense that ranked 119th out of 130 FBS teams in yards per game, McKivitz is a blue-chipper between the ears and as good a bet as any to grasp the mental side of things in a hurry. Plus, his positional flexibility means he’s got swing value as a backup across the line.
Lynch seems awful high on him, talking like he was a potential option to start at left tackle if the Trent Williams deal didn’t go through. While I wouldn’t go that far, this staff has proven that they know what they want in offensive linemen and can develop those players. McGlinchey is a rock, Justin Skule played much better than any sixth-round rookie should have last year, Laken Tomlinson was a theoretical bust before settling into his role as a steady performer at left guard, Daniel Brunskill was picked from the AAF, excelled at two positions, and may start in 2020, and even Weston Richburg—when healthy to start last year—has excelled (it’s just the durability and ensuing salary that are questionable). If any Niners position room other than running back gets the benefit of the doubt when acquiring players it’s the offensive line.
While McKivitz and Skule are both heady prospects with physical limitations that project them better as swing tackles than starters, McKivitz has more high-end production to his name and his mean streak in the run game should give him the versatility to bounce inside. While his high-end experience and intelligence give him a shot to contribute beyond his athletic limitations, for now, McKivitz will slate in somewhere in our swing tackle rotation and as a backup guard with the potential for more down the road. Perhaps, as soon as next year, when the uncertain status of Trent Williams’ contract could leave Shon Coleman, Skule, and McKivitz (plus any new additions) vying for the starting left tackle spot of the future.
Round 6, Pick 190: TE, Charlie Woerner, Georgia
A four-star prospect out of high school, recruiting sites were unanimous in his praise but mixed on where to put him. Depending on who you asked he was listed as an athlete, tight end, or receiver, but always a consensus top 100-150 prospect. While that profile typically lends itself to big, tall guys whose lack of blocking ability mean they’re eventually moved out wide to an X receiver and are listed as a “tight end” in name only, Woerner’s career went the exact opposite direction.
Playing in Georgia’s conservative, run-heavy (and bad) offense, Woerner became the Bulldogs’ blocking specialist, lining up inline, as a wing, in the slot, or even out wide, but doing so mostly to pave the way as a run blocker. His 34-376-1 receiving line is for his career, not a single season, and even if it were the latter, it would still be pretty meh, but his blocking ability shows up on tape and should translate to the next level.
While not particularly exciting, there aren’t many college tight ends with NFL size who have the athleticism, technique, and mentality in the run game as Woerner’s shown on tape. That should translate particularly well to our offense, as he’s shown the ability to pull-off a number of difficult blocks from all over the field.
Here he is in the slot, road-grading a safety (Jalen Elliott, UDFA to the Lions) on a stretch play…
Or out of the wing, with a second-level arc block like we ask out of our split stretch looks…
Or a simple effective down block on one of Notre Dame’s highly-touted defensive ends.
Considering the difficult paths and blocking angles that we ask Kittle and Juice to pull off to spring our potent run game, it’s clear to see how Woerner could fit as a sub/backup for the former and perhaps also the latter.
But what does he bring as a receiver? As a former top 150 wideout who ran a solid 4.78 forty at the combine and has nearly the exact same height and weight as Kittle, it’s easy to hope that Georgia’s stale offense (much like Iowa’s) depressed Woerner’s stats and he could be in for a breakthrough. But unfortunately, that seems pretty unlikely. First off, Kittle is much much more athletic than Woerner. Second, when you watch Woerner’s tape you see a guy who has decent straight line speed but is the opposite of dynamic in the open field. He lacks separation, doesn’t change up his route tempo to set up defenders, shows little wiggle in his game, and makes short, choppy steps to slow down and change directions. In fact, he actually looks stiffer as a receiver than he does as a blocker. Maybe Jon Embree can unlock something in him, but it would require a top-down rebuild of how he moves as a receiver.
So while there’s certainly a chance for Shanahan to scheme him open off play action passes, Woerner was brought in more to replace Levine Toilolo and Garrett Celek. He is first, foremost, and likely almost exclusively a blocking tight end. And while his relative lack of size (6-4.5, 244 pounds) makes it seem like he’s better suited for duties on the wing, in the slot, or potentially even in the backfield, he’s a gritty dude with some time to pack on weight; he’ll find a way to make it work inline against power ends too.
With tight end depth an off-season priority, Woerner’s strong value on special teams, and the fact that two of the four tight ends from last year have either departed (Toilolo) or retired (Celek), Woerner will be given every chance to make the roster, and his blocking likely gives him a leg-up on the higher-upside, more-receiver-leaning Daniel Helm in the competition for the third tight end spot. Unless the Niners decide to keep four tight ends on the active roster (which they did last year but while Celek was on the PUP list), the loser of said battle will likely be stashed on the practice squad.
7th Round, Pick 217: WR, Jauan Jennings, Tennessee
For the second straight year we’ve snagged one of PFF’s biggest draft steals in the last two rounds (Tim Harris, 6th round), but in this case the prospect’s fall was (mostly) due to factors outside of his injury history.
At 6-3, 215 pounds, Jennings is immediately one of our bigger wideouts, and he actually plays larger and nastier than his size would indicate. He lined up inside and out for the Volunteers and is, without a doubt, one of the toughest and most physical receivers in the country (so much so that—like Jalen Hurd last year—he was his team’s wildcat quarterback). He translates that physicality to the passing game as well, where his tough running and leg churn make him incredibly difficult to tackle in the open field. While Aiyuk led the nation in yards after the catch, Jauan Jennings led all FBS receivers in broken tackles (30), and it’s not hard to see why.
While his lackluster combine showing certainly hurt his stock (4.72 forty, 29” vertical), he does a better job of getting separation and creating after the catch than those numbers would indicate. He turns up field quick, has a natural sense of space, and—again—is hard to tackle unless you get a full body on him. Thus, he’s got the spacial awareness and vision to fall forward and get hidden yards with or without contact.
When the ball’s in the air, Jennings shows nice adjustment skills. He’s got enough hip fluidity to snag passes outside of his frame and make plays in bad-ball and contested catch situations, and he uses his size well to wall off defenders both on slants and plays down the field—making him particularly intriguing in the red zone.
So why was Jennings available in the seventh round? Well… a loaded wideout class didn’t help. There was clearly going to be some value found in the later rounds if you were flexible enough in what you were looking for. And while he plays faster than his testing numbers, his top speed is just adequate. He’s a long-strider, not particularly sudden, and is far from an easy athlete like Raheem Mostert or Brandon Aiyuk (guys who can accelerate with a burst that seems like they’re barely even trying). Jennings’ separation is never going to be great, and he’ll have to clean up his route running and movement efficiency in order to get open in the NFL. He also missed the entirety of the 2017 season due to a fractured wrist in the opener that led to a redshirt.
But the main reason Jennings slipped was due to questions about “emotional maturity.” In draft circles, that term is thrown around a lot, and it can mean a number of different things. Sometimes it means that a player is lazy, or that they lack a pro-like preparation and training outlook, or simply that they have yet to tap into their potential because they’re young and still haven’t bought into the idea that they can’t get by on physical talent alone. In general, scouts are asking if the player is ready to go from a college kid to a professional and deal with everything that comes with that jump. Sometimes it’s just about no longer being a college kid, and the red flag is forgotten the second the player steps into a pro locker room and becomes more serious about his craft. Other times, the accumulation of problems lead to an immediate flameout (Joe Williams). In Jennings’ case, I’m leaning towards (and hoping for) the former, but here’s what we’re dealing with.
At the end of the 2017 season, Jennings was kicked off the team after he went on an expletive-filled social media rant about the Tennessee coaches. During the IG video, he accused the staff of being “lying-ass, fake-ass, snake-ass” coaches after they’d apparently led him to believe he’d be able to play in the season finale but held him out anyway. While the coaching staff was fired soon after and Jennings was reinstated by Jeremy Pruitt when he took over the job, that’s still a red flag. It’s also not aided by the fact that—at the end of the 2019 season—Jennings was suspended for the first half of the bowl game for engaging in the long-standing Volunteer tradition of stepping on the head of another player (which he claimed to be an accident). Thus many scouts consider him—in the parlance of a lieutenant in an eighties cop movie—a “loose cannon.”
Now, is there some context to these issues? Sure. In the video, he’d been out since week one with a wrist injury, and it’s not out of the question that the coaches—given this was a staff led by known piece of shit Butch Jones—were stringing him along in his rehab with the pitch of him playing in the final week of the season despite never intending to actually let him on the field. After all, this is the same staff that Jalen Hurd—after 26 touchdowns over three years—approached to switch from RB to WR, and—after their steadfast denial—he chose to transfer to Baylor and sit out a year. If Jennings was never going to play regardless of how hard he worked in rehab and how much he pushed himself, then yeah, frustrations are understandable. Also, when Jones and interim Brady Hoke were let go at the end of the year, new coach Jeremy Pruitt came in and asked every single player on the team if they really needed Jauan on the team moving into 2018. The answer was unanimously yes, and so he was reinstated. As for the head stomp?
Who knows. You could see how it could be unintentional as he’s turning with someone grabbing on him. Or you could see how it was intentional as he was pissed off at the dude he just tackled who he was clearly jawing with on the ground. We’re in Draymond territory here (although I will contest Draymond should not have been suspended in the playoffs and that the Warriors got fucked in multiple ways that series).
Either way, Jennings brings some risk, and while his draft slot and the specifics of his red flags make him a less risky proposition than, say… a quarterback with a known gambling problem that everyone hates (Johnny Manziel) or someone with a history of legal problems, it’s at least worth tempering expectations given the question marks.
In terms of fit, I would expect Jennings to be groomed mostly in the same role as Jalen Hurd—a big slot who hybrids like a wideout/tight end. While smaller than Hurd and not the same blocker, Jennings is a much more polished receiver, and it’s easy to see how his style will make for a quick transition to the position. His profile screams physical overachiever. The Niners want guys who can bang inside the box and consistently swallow up defensive backs in the run game, as well as a receiver-leaning sub for when Kittle takes a break or is working in-line or out of the wing, and Jennings could provide just that. I’d also expect him and Hurd to get some reps at X receiver, particularly in the red zone. The Niners like Bourne there a lot, but it’s not hard to see how the size of Hurd and Jennings could have a few different roles inside the twenties.
Injuries to both Deebo Samuel and Richie James throw a wrench in what was already set to be an excellent wide receiver competition once the Niners report in July. One or both of the injured players could be back by the beginning of the season—and James was likely on the outside of the roster looking in—but the injuries make it more likely that the Niners enter this season with seven wideouts. Samuel, Bourne, and Aiyuk are locks. Hurd is likely as well. If Trent Taylor is actually healthy, he should be good, but if injuries flare up then his traditional slot receiver spot could go to Travis Benjamin or UDFA Chris Finke. Forgotten man Dante Pettis could still see a third-year resurgence, which we should be hoping for even more now with Samuel hurt. If all of that goes according to chalk, then we’d still have Jennings, Benjamin, Poindexter, Thompson, and James competing for a seventh roster spot. In that case, Jennings likely has the edge since he presents a more unique positional fit, but we’re a long ways away from roster cut downs, and a fully healthy Jalen Hurd could relegate him to the practice squad to start the year.