Another cut in a draft class that had a lot of cuts.
Spencer Burford, Nick Zakelj, Kalia Davis, Brock Purdy. Combined, they have 65 starts—36 of which belong to Purdy. And they are all that remains of the San Francisco 49ers’ 2022 draft class.
The most recent casualty? Second-round pick Drake Jackson, waived on Friday. It’s safe to say the 2022 class wasn’t particularly successful. Remove Purdy from that list, and only Burford has more than 10 starts—none of which came in 2024.
Things can still change: Burford has received praise and will compete for a starting spot, but he’s also in year four of trying to lock it down for good.
The class didn’t have depth, either, as the attrition rate makes clear. If it did, most of those picks might still be on the team. The depth they do have is starting more games than they probably should to hold down the fort—or can’t even get on the field. At face value, the 2022 draft helps explain why depth has been a recurring problem.
Not like it was easy; this was the second of two consecutive drafts in which the 49ers would not have a first-round selection. Those were packaged up in a deal to the Miami Dolphins to move up and draft Trey Lance in 2021. Purdy would be the do-over from that botch.
Everything else? Burford’s blocking in pass protection is a good summary if you watch the Super Bowl. Zakelj has started two games in 2024 and spent his first two years trying to simply suit up. Davis has looked OK in limited spurts, but has been battling injury after injury. And Purdy remains the only player from that group you can say—without hesitation—will start in 2025.
And the 2023 class could be worse. The 49ers didn’t have a second-round pick then. Due to the Christian McCaffrey trade, they didn’t start their draft until the third round, where they took Jake Moody. This name will go along with the likes of Cameron Latu and Ronnie Bell.
The 2022 class gave the 49ers a franchise quarterback—one taken at the very end of the draft, who offered a mulligan for the franchise quarterback they traded two future firsts (and change) to get just a year earlier.
But one quarterback doesn’t fix the depth issues everywhere else. That’s where the cracks started to show.
And that’s why a single injury to this team in the last couple of seasons can and has led to a massive tidal wave of problems.