The San Francisco 49ers' roster, despite the issues surrounding Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams that continue to hang over the team, remains in largely excellent shape going into the 2024 season.
As such it is difficult to find too many areas where the Niners could use reinforcements following cutdown day.
One area where the 49ers are surprisingly light, however, is on the defensive line.
The D-Line has traditionally been a strength for San Francisco and the 49ers' starters up front are still among the best in the league. The depth behind a front four of Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Maliek Collins and Leonard Floyd is, however, largely uninspiring.
San Francisco will look to Yetur Gross-Matos, if he recovers from a knee sprain in time to start the season, to provide a pass-rush boost off the edge and from the interior, the former Carolina Panther possessing the versatility to play both spots.
But the 49ers could use a boost at both edge and defensive tackle, and they were presented with a potential opportunity to add at the latter position by their former Bay Area neighbors the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday.
The Raiders waived 2023 third-round pick Byron Young, cutting bait with the former Alabama defender after just six regular-season games in his brief career. The 49ers are well down the waiver order at 31 but, if they get the chance to sign him, it's one they should look to take.
With only four tackles and, per Pro Football Focus, one pressure in those games, Young's stats do not suggest he is a player on whom the 49ers should focus.
He also lacks the explosiveness the 49ers typically seek from their defensive linemen. Yet with arms over 34 inches long and 11-inch hands, what Young does have is an understanding of how to win with length and power.
The 49ers got a demonstration of what Young can do during the final preseason game against the Raiders last young when he sacked Brandon Allen in the second quarter after beating veteran tackle Chris Hubbard with a pass rush on which his impressive hand usage came to the fore.
Still only 23, Young would be an enticing project for defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, whom the 49ers would back to coax consistent production out of a highly drafted talent who also displayed his ability to hold his ground in the run game in the preseason finale.
The Raiders clearly accepted Young as a sunk cost and felt it was time to move on. San Francisco, having had some recent success with other former Raiders in Arden Key and Clelin Ferrell, has the chance to prove Las Vegas' mistake was a failure of coaching in being unable to properly develop him.
Given the lack of compelling options behind Hargrave and Collins, the 49ers would be wise to grasp that opportunity and snag a young player with plenty of potential and a lot of football ahead of him.
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