No kicker. No third-round running back. No reach for a wide receiver in the second round. And Scot McCloughan liked the 49ers’ top pick. We’ll take it (But yeah, he’d have taken Neyor over Bergen).
And the takes are rolling in.
We’ve seen mixed feelings about the San Francisco 49ers draft, but there’s one we (well, I) always look forward to, and that’s what former 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan thought of the 2025 draft. He joined up with The Athletic’s Matt Barrows to give his annual breakdown of the team’s picks, and as always, it’s worth the read.
For longtime fans, McCloughan needs no introduction. Some still argue that the excellent 2010 draft—Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati—had his fingerprints all over it. And if you need one more reason to take him seriously, he helped draft Frank Gore.
Last year, McCloughan was high on Dominick Puni but was a bit more modest with first-rounder Ricky Pearsall.
This year, he was far more optimistic about the 49ers’ first selection of Mykel Williams, even seeing it as a no-brainer.
“I like him a lot,” he said of Williams. “He’s a no-nonsense player. He’s been on really good defenses, and he was one of the better players on those really good defenses. He’s been around a lot of big games, and he showed up. Even if he’s not a starter on Day 1, he’s in the rotation no matter what…
“Everybody says that — ‘Sacks, sacks, sacks!’” he said. “It doesn’t matter. What matters are disruptions. The quarterback runs out of the pocket because (Williams) gets back there, and somebody else makes the sack. Or he’s throwing the ball away.”
The Alfred Collins pick has seemed a bit polarizing; some have loved it, others have seen it as a reach. McCloughan thought Collins went right where he was supposed to be, seeing him as a mid-second-round pick. Though he doubts Collins will ever get the pass-rushing ability he lacks.
“He’s a tough guy, a run stopper,” McCloughan said. “He’s not going to ever be a good pass rusher. But he plays hard. He’ll help them this year, I guarantee it.”
The one interesting note McCloughan made was of undrafted free agent Isaiah Neyor, thinking he was a better pick than seventh-rounder Junior Bergan:
“He has some traits that are cool,” he said. “I would have taken him instead of (Junior) Bergen in the seventh (round). That’s just me. But maybe they had him locked into a deal.”
The draft is always a gamble, and we won’t know much until these guys play. That said, there are a few positives we can confidently walk away with on things the 49ers didn’t do:
1: They did not draft a running back in the third round
2: They didn’t take anyone nursing a knee injury
3: They didn’t draft a kicker
The only real gripe? The team still hasn’t found its Trent Williams successor—or at least hasn’t shown their hand. That could change in 2026, but it’s the one glaring box left unchecked for now.