Will McDonald IV-EDGE-Iowa State

Length, tremendous motor, explosive first step and plenty of speed to boot. If the 49ers are going to stick with the Wide-9, McDonald would be a great fit. Extremely productive in college, four year starter that racked up 34 sacks, breaking Von Miller's Big 12 career record. If you know about Purdy and you know about Iowa State then you understand what McDonald was working with in terms of his team continually being on the short end of the talent stick.

For all of the upside, McDonald is still a work in progress, he didn't pick up football until his junior year in high school and thus is still developing as a pass rusher. Being undersized, there's going to be a lot of teams hesitant to play him at DE, which may make him available later on in the draft then his talent might support. I can see him winding up anywhere from the late 1st all the way to the mid 3rd round.

The former high school basketball and track star has lived up to the hopes of the Iowa State staff when it recruited McDonald, a 2021 first-team All-American. He tied for the Big 12 lead in sacks for the second straight season with 11.5, breaking his own single-season school record, to go with his 14 TFLs and five forced fumbles.

"He's an elite athlete who can do backflips standing still and has videos jumping over cars. All of that along with sacking the QB," Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said of the 6-3, 236-pound edge rusher. Campbell expects McDonald will vertical-jump 42 or 43 inches when he goes to the combine and should broad jump around 11 feet.

I like it. I like it a lot. Especially if he is there in the 3d.

Tough talent to evaluate. Really athletic - explosiveness and flexibility stand out - but he was often used out of position, and is massively undersized. It was a successful year for a lot of undersized dedicated pass rushers this year, led by Hasson Reddick and his 16 sacks, but McDonald is undersized even by undersized 34OLB standards, let alone 43DE. I'd be hesitant to pull the trigger too early, but might be BPA with one of our 3rds. I do think this team still needs more speed along the DL.

With regards to draft value, I'd rather take a gamble on the traits of Nolan Smith, though I'm not particularly high on him in the top 64 pick, or go for Drew Sanders for his versatility as a will linebacker who can rush the passer in sub packages if I'm looking for an undersized speed rusher near late day one early day two

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:
Tough talent to evaluate. Really athletic - explosiveness and flexibility stand out - but he was often used out of position, and is massively undersized. It was a successful year for a lot of undersized dedicated pass rushers this year, led by Hasson Reddick and his 16 sacks, but McDonald is undersized even by undersized 34OLB standards, let alone 43DE. I'd be hesitant to pull the trigger too early, but might be BPA with one of our 3rds. I do think this team still needs more speed along the DL.

With regards to draft value, I'd rather take a gamble on the traits of Nolan Smith, though I'm not particularly high on him in the top 64 pick, or go for Drew Sanders for his versatility as a will linebacker who can rush the passer in sub packages if I'm looking for an undersized speed rusher near late day one early day two

Guys like Nolan Smith and Drew Sanders will be long gone by the time the Niners pick unless they trade up to the early second round at the minimum. Depending on what happens to the Niners depth at DE based on Bosa getting the bag and teams potentially taking Omenihu or Ebukam away in free agency, this kid would be a great developmental prospect with one of our late 3rd round picks. Niners could still have Bosa, Jackson and Willis at the minimum for all downs while McDonald becomes the designated pass rusher.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:
Tough talent to evaluate. Really athletic - explosiveness and flexibility stand out - but he was often used out of position, and is massively undersized. It was a successful year for a lot of undersized dedicated pass rushers this year, led by Hasson Reddick and his 16 sacks, but McDonald is undersized even by undersized 34OLB standards, let alone 43DE. I'd be hesitant to pull the trigger too early, but might be BPA with one of our 3rds. I do think this team still needs more speed along the DL.

With regards to draft value, I'd rather take a gamble on the traits of Nolan Smith, though I'm not particularly high on him in the top 64 pick, or go for Drew Sanders for his versatility as a will linebacker who can rush the passer in sub packages if I'm looking for an undersized speed rusher near late day one early day two

Guys like Nolan Smith and Drew Sanders will be long gone by the time the Niners pick unless they trade up to the early second round at the minimum. Depending on what happens to the Niners depth at DE based on Bosa getting the bag and teams potentially taking Omenihu or Ebukam away in free agency, this kid would be a great developmental prospect with one of our late 3rd round picks. Niners could still have Bosa, Jackson and Willis at the minimum for all downs while McDonald becomes the designated pass rusher.

The second part of my was more in response to the OP stating that McDonald can go as high as the late 1st. I agree that Smith and Sanders are both well out of our range.

I like this kid.. but he's a reach in the 9th round.

Iowa State = underrated. You can get a super star who can carry your team.

Length as expected is very good.

Saw that spin move in 1 on 1s at the senior bowl. Got the length/speed. The speed to power really isn't there though.

Gotta watch more, I know SF likes that speed to power in their rushers.

I did a couple of Mock drafts and he is going very early in the 2nd RD.