Washington defensive end Javon Kinlaw was originally taken with the 14th pick in the 2020 draft by the San Francisco 49ers. As anyone paying attention knows, Adam Peters was a key component of the front office that selected him. This piece is a look back at the circumstances surrounding the drafting of Kinlaw, to see if we can glean what the 49ers front office, and perhaps even Peters, saw in Kinlaw when they took him out of South Carolina during the “COVID draft.”
In May 2020, Kinlaw’s former coach heaped a ton of praise on the recently drafted player, but he was also frank about what he saw as a weakness: A lack of range in his pass rush moves.