The 49ers have long needed another tight end to pair with George Kittle. With the final pick of the third round in the 2023 NFL Draft, they tried to find one.
At pick 101, San Francisco selected Alabama’s Cam Latu.
Latu had a very solid junior year statistically when he had 26 catches for 410 yards and 8 TDs. He spent all five of his seasons at Alabama.
He is a decent, but unremarkable athlete in testing. The card below comes from ras.football:
Latu was seen as a Day 3 pick by most draft analysts and, while filling a need, is a bit of a head-scratcher given his tape. There were other tight ends on the board who had more well-rounded blocking tape and who had better production and/or athletic upside.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler gave him a fifth-round grade, while ESPN had him ranked as the 181st prospect on the board.
An argument in his favor is that he played in the SEC and faced serious competition. He had to block quite a few defensive line prospects who were drafted on Thursday and Friday, he just — in this writer’s view — didn’t look outstanding doing so, and didn’t flash the sort of athleticism shown by prospects like Cincinnati’s Josh Whyle, Purdue’s Payne Durham and Wake Forest’s Blake Whiteheart.
His receiving upside, especially in the red zone could be a major factor here. He’s god decent hands and isn’t stiff-hipped running his routes.
Latu will also be competing with the likes Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley. If he can’t beat them out for the No. 2 tight end spot like the currently-unsigned Tyler Kroft, it will be a head-scratching selection.
