N
ow that the NFL Draft is over, teams are starting to put together the finishing on their rosters before workouts begin. The San Francisco 49ers, who were aggressive in rebuilding their defense, announced that they released former second round pick, Drake Jackson, on May 8.
Jackson, the team’s first selection in the 2022 draft, has struggled to stay healthy during his time in San Francisco, playing in only 23 total games in the three seasons he was on the team. He missed all of the 2024 campaign with a knee injury that he sustained near the end of the 2023 season.
Jackson and the 49ers Part Ways
This offseason, Jackson has worked tirelessly to ensure that he is healthy, even posting on his Instagram story earlier in the week that he was ready to wreak havoc on the field. But unfortunately, the direction of the team combined with missing a whole season made it hard to keep him around, with the 49ers choosing to instead let him get a fresh start. Jackson’s release was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who said that he was cut with a failed physical designation. However, he is likely to be healthy in time for training camp in the event that he ends up signing with a team.
“49ers are waiving former second-round pick Drake Jackson with a failed physical designation, per source,” Schefter said. “Jackson is still rehabbing a knee injury but is expected to be cleared by the start of training camp.”
Entering the final season of his rookie deal and carrying a cap hit of nearly $2 million going into 2025, it was already looking increasingly unlikely that he would stick around past this season. In the 23 games he played with the team, Jackson logged 21 total tackles, six sacks and an interception. His most memorable game with the 49ers came during week one of the 2023 season, where he had three sacks in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Jackson Adds to the List of Failed Early Round Picks
During the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era, many draft picks have gone on to become focal points in San Francisco, with players like George Kittle and Fred Warner well on there way to becoming 49ers’ legends. But in the midst of all the gems, the 49ers have been very unlucky with some of their early round selections. Jackson’s release means that none of the 49ers top draft picks between 2020-22 remain on the roster. This includes 2020 14th overall pick Javon Kinlaw and 2021 third overall pick, Trey Lance.
The unfortunate part about Jackson though is that even though he has the talent, his injury recovery was a difficult process, and it did not sound like the 49ers brass was confident about this long term availability. General manager, John Lynch, spoke in February about Jackson’s injury and said that while he had no setbacks, he was having trouble fully recovering.
“It’s been a tough injury… those quad tendon repairs,” Lynch said. “And that’s why you’ve got to really think long and hard before you have that [surgery] because it doesn’t just make it go away. … I guess Drake has had—not setbacks—but just trouble coming back from it. So, it’s not been the most encouraging thing. Hopefully, it takes a turn for the positive because we’ve seen, Drake, when he’s healthy, he can be a real effective player for us.”
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