NFL draft prospect who may be able to solve 2 problems for 49ers defense

The 2025 NFL draft is going to be crucial for the next era of San Francisco 49ers football under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

After a slow free agency period where San Francisco didn't bring in any major assets while losing a handful of starters, they have a slew of holes to fill atop their depth chart with overall roster depth remaining an issue. One prospect in this year's draft who may be able to solve multiple problems for the 49ers defense is Syracuse hybrid safety/linebacker Justin Barron. Barron had a visit with the 49ers at the Senior Bowl according to the Draft Network's Justin Melo.

Barron wasn't invited to the NFL combine, but his path to the NFL draft makes him an interesting late-round prospect.

The multi-sport high school athlete landed at Syracuse as a wide receiver after playing receiver and safety in high school. He spent most of his freshman season playing special teams, and made a position change to the secondary because of personnel issues according to the Syracuse athletics site.

In Year 2 he started nine of the 12 games he played at the team's "rover" position, which worked as a safety/linebacker hybrid. With an opening at Will linebacker and safety, Barron may give the 49ers a Swiss Army knife type of defender who can fill responsibilities of both roles. Creative defensive coordinators can utilize players like Barron to disguise coverages and blitzes in ways they can't with less athletic players roaming in the second level.

Barron has some work to do in coverage if he's going to maximize his versatility. He also had a major problem with missed tackles. According to Pro Football Focus, he missed 61 total tackles in his career and finished with a missed tackle rate of 17 percent.

In his career, Barron played 62 games with 47 starts on defense after joining the school as a wide receiver. He racked up 156 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions, 16 pass breakups and three forced fumbles.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Syracuse LB/S Justin Barron should be 49ers NFL draft target

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