Riley Nowakowski-TE/FB-Indiana

If they are contemplating a Juice replacement, Nowakowski should be at the top of the list. A fullback turned tight end turned full back that is an absolute menace as a blocker. 6'1", 245, built like a brick s**thouse but still capable of running routes and being a weapon in the passing game. He had almost 400 yards receiving for Indiana this past season.

It always seems like the 49ers never draft the players that the WZ identifies as a perfect fit in Shanny's offense. Juice has been really good t his year, but he's going to be 35 years old in a few months. It might be time to start looking for his replacement.

This is way more on the nose, I mean Indiana's OC is named Mike Shanahan. Its a sign.

Also Juice is really unique in terms of his size, his skillset and everything else and Nowakowski might be the closest to fitting that template out of anyone I've seen over the past five or six years. Indiana uses him like a combination of Juice/Kittle anyways.

I havent watched much college ball this year, but the Indiana story is really fun to see!

I really expected to see a white dude when I clicked on this! lol
Looking forward to the draft cycle in the upcoming months to enlighten my ignorance

Love this guy. He also used to be a LB-er in Wisconsin, so I think he also has ST upside on kickoffs and field goals. Main nit on him is that he'll be 24/25 year old rookie. So he should be available day 3, if not UDFA.

Created a thread on fullbacks earlier in the season so I love to see this. Our run blocking just isn't the same and hasnt been for years. McCaffrey covers a lot. Hope there is a renewed commitment to get guys ready to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Love that he can block, run a bit, and catch. Would be an immediate game day player if he's on special teams as well.

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:
Created a thread on fullbacks earlier in the season so I love to see this. Our run blocking just isn't the same and hasnt been for years. McCaffrey covers a lot. Hope there is a renewed commitment to get guys ready to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Love that he can block, run a bit, and catch. Would be an immediate game day player if he's on special teams as well.

Juice is also not the same, has clearly fallen off and is mostly getting by on name recognition at this point. They need to get younger and hungrier.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:
Created a thread on fullbacks earlier in the season so I love to see this. Our run blocking just isn't the same and hasnt been for years. McCaffrey covers a lot. Hope there is a renewed commitment to get guys ready to dominate at the line of scrimmage. Love that he can block, run a bit, and catch. Would be an immediate game day player if he's on special teams as well.

Juice is also not the same, has clearly fallen off and is mostly getting by on name recognition at this point. They need to get younger and hungrier.

Definitely not the same. People keep saying CMC has slowed down, and maybe he has. But we used to be able to put anybody back there and make good yardage. As I stated, CMC has been covering for a lot for a few years now. Without him last year, we still ran the ball okay, but our main backs weren't consistent. I think the run blocking falling off is an overlooked need. Hoping for a elite blocking FB and TE in the draft. The good news is we may be able to satisfy both needs late in the draft. The Luke Farrell signing has been a failure. I want to get back to 2019 level dominance while still maintaining our current level of pass protection if not improving it (LG and C positions specifically).

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:
Definitely not the same. People keep saying CMC has slowed down, and maybe he has. But we used to be able to put anybody back there and make good yardage. As I stated, CMC has been covering for a lot for a few years now. Without him last year, we still ran the ball okay, but our main backs weren't consistent. I think the run blocking falling off is an overlooked need. Hoping for a elite blocking FB and TE in the draft. The good news is we may be able to satisfy both needs late in the draft. The Luke Farrell signing has been a failure. I want to get back to 2019 level dominance while still maintaining our current level of pass protection if not improving it (LG and C positions specifically).

The nice thing about Nowakowski is that you could bring him as a blocking TE for a year and even keep Juice around, making an easier transition. Or you bring him in to play fullback and add a blocking tight end while hopefully signing someone like Likely in FA to play the lead TE spot.

I believe he has 300+ ST snaps in his CFB career