The 49ers' offensive line is one spot the team needs a lot of help, and an undrafted free agent could offer that help.
The San Francisco 49ers had an interesting 2024 NFL Draft, taking eight players, starting with Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall in Round 1 and finishing with Purdue safety Sanoussi Kane. Additionally, the 49ers signed eight undrafted free agents once the draft ended, and Michigan center Drake Nugent is the one most likely to make the team’s final 2024 53-man roster.
Why 49ers undrafted free agent Drake Nugent will make the 2024 roster
A lot has been made of the 49ers wide receiver situation this offseason. Brandon Aiyuk is angling for a massive new contract and that led to speculation that the team would either trade Aiyuk to avoid paying him or trade Deebo Samuel to make room on the balance sheet for the 2020 first-round pick.
With Kyle Shanahan running the offense, it’s no surprise that the skill position players get most of the publicity in the offseason. However, the state of the offensive line is arguably a bigger problem that San Francisco must fix heading into next season.
In 2023, the 49ers' O-line finished 21st in the league, per PFF’s final grades. Left tackle Trent Williams was the second-highest-graded tackle in the NFL last year (behind the Detroit Lions Penei Sewell) and right guard Jon Feliciano was fifth at his position at 79.8. But the rest of the line was pretty rough.
Williams’ opposite tackle, Colton McKivitz ranked a brutal 47th in the league with a 65.2 grade, and platooning left guards Aaron Banks and Spencer Burford ranked 60th (52.8) and 64th(50.3), respectively. Center Jake Brendel was a middle-of-the-pack 16th(66.3).
In addition to the supporting cast not performing very well, Shanahan and the 49ers also have to address the fact that Feliciano is 32, Brendel is 31, and Williams turns 36 in July.
The 49ers did take steps to deal with these issues in the 2024 NFL Draft, selecting Kansas OL Dominick Puni in Round 3 and USC OL Jarrett Kingston in Round 6. Puni started at LT, RT, and LG in college while Kingston made starts at all four non-center positions.
Puni and Kingston are excellent picks to help with the 49ers’ O-line needs, and they should both make the roster and at least Puni should compete for a starting spot, likely at left guard.
All that leaves center depth as the remaining question mark, and the 49ers took a swing at that with undrafted free agent Drake Nugent.
Nugent started 39 games at center for Stanford and Michigan over the last three seasons. He was a team captain for the Cardinal and in his one season with the Wolverines, the team won a national championship and he was named a finalist for the Rimington Trophy and First-team All-Big Ten Conference.
At just over 6-foot-1, 298 pounds with 33-inch arms, Nugent doesn’t have the ideal size or arm length the NFL is looking for in top-tier prospects.
That said, Nugent does have a lot of things going for him.
He was a championship-level shot putter in high school, so his strength is incredible. He is also smart and technically sound at the center position. He anchored one of the best lines in college football history this season, and he is a leader on the field. Plus, his dad was a star QB at Colorado State before getting a cup of coffee in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts in the 1980s.
Maybe Drake Nugent isn’t ready to start this season, but he should make the 49ers roster as the backup center to Jake Brendel. And whether Brenedel is just average again this season and Nugent gets a shot or he sits a full year, Nugent could get a shot in 2025 as the team’s starting center as Brendel gets to his mid-30s.
Overall, this was a smart signing by Shanahan and the 49ers in the undrafted free-agent market that could pay off as soon as this season.
