49ers Draft Rewind 2023: Dee Winters breaks out of this group…three years later

It’s time to reflect on the San Francisco 49ers’ previous drafts again. Thanks to YouTube poster and 49ers fan Marvin49, we have videos of each draft. We’ll look at every year during the Kyle Shanahan era up to 2025. Today, it’s 2023.

Three years later, the 2023 draft class feels incomplete at best and a contributor to the 49ers’ contract woes in 2025 at worst.

So how did we get here? The 49ers went into this draft without a first or second rounder, burning those picks on Trey Lance and Christian McCaffrey, respectively. Nine picks, all in the third round or later. Just moderate expectations, what could go wrong?

A class defined by a kicker. And Ronnie Bell. At least, that’s what would be said until Dee Winters had his terrific 2025 — we’ll get to that.

No first-rounder. No second-rounder. Three third-rounders and a handful of late picks. Here we go.

Penn State safety Ji’Ayir Brown came in as the first pick of the class after the 49ers acquired his pick from the Vikings. He flashed early, stepping into the starting role when Talanoa Hufanga tore his ACL late in 2023 and held up through the Super Bowl run. Year two was messier — Hufanga came back, the rotation got crowded, and Brown was in and out. Entering 2025, the 49ers drafted fifth-round rookie Marques Sigle, who beat Brown out for the starting job before the season even started.

To be fair, he did carve out a big nickel role. He worked his way back into the starting lineup and was improving. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury in the Wild Card round against the Philadelphia Eagles ended his postseason. Brown finished the regular season with 76 tackles, two interceptions, and six pass deflections — respectable numbers for a guy who started the year with question marks. Whether he’s the long-term answer at safety is still genuinely unclear.

Up next is the star of the draft and, for very painful reasons, Jake Moody. He looked the part: a kicker with a big leg who won a lot of games for Michigan. His rookie season started well because the 49ers were so dominant that they rarely needed field goals to win. Then they did — and Moody had issues. Then there’s the extra point he missed in the Super Bowl, a point that may have changed the landscape of that game.

His second season brought injuries and inconsistency, forcing the 49ers’ hand to bring in competition for his third season in the form of Greg Joseph. Kicker Kombat came and went rather quickly, with Joseph getting cut before the preseason was even over. Apparently, Moody was all set and ready to go for his third season.

Then Week 1 happened.

At Seattle, Moody went 1-of-3 on field goals — missing wide on a 27-yarder and having a 36-yarder blocked. Two days later, he was waived. A kicker who apparently made the decision during the offseason competition easy survive a single game.

Moody signed with the Chicago Bears practice squad three days later, got activated in Week 6, and walked into Washington, hitting a 38-yarder as time expired to win the game for the Bears, and set a Bears franchise record for most successful field goals in a debut. He went 4-of-4 the following week against New Orleans before going back to the practice squad. Washington then poached him in November, and he finished the season 19-of-23 on field goals — 82.6% — across three teams. He re-signed with the Commanders in March.

Alabama tight end Cameron Latu missed his entire rookie season with injuries, showed nothing in 2024, and was waived before the season started. He eventually landed with the Philadelphia Eagles and notched one notable moment — a blocked punt in Week 4.

South Alabama cornerback Darrell Luter Jr.’s 49ers tenure will be remembered for one moment — a punt hitting his leg in the third quarter of Super Bowl LVIII. The Chiefs scored on the very next play and took the lead. Luter stuck around and played all 17 games in 2025, posting 28 tackles and a tackle for loss. Nothing to erase the memory of that punt, though.

Georgia linebacker Robert Beal Jr. spent most of 2025 as a roster-shuffle casualty; a waiver here, a practice-squad signing there. He played seven games and finished with 14 tackles and zero sacks. The defensive line injuries that plagued the 49ers in 2025 — Nick Bosa out, Bryce Huff hurt — may have been what kept Beal alive on the roster. He signed with the Miami Dolphins in March.

If this class has a saving grace, it walked in as a sixth-round compensatory pick that nobody circled on draft day. TCU linebacker Dee Winters paid dividends in 2025 in a way no one saw coming three years ago.

With the loss of Dre Greenlaw to free agency, a massive question mark hung over who could be Fred Warner’s sidekick for the 2025 season. Winters took the job and never looked back. Through the first three games of 2025, his tackle numbers were nearly identical to Greenlaw’s first three games of the 2023 season. When Warner went down with a season-ending injury in Tampa Bay, Winters had to carry even more of the load. He did. His game-sealing pick-six against the Indianapolis Colts is the highlight that sticks.

Was that fun? Ok, now to close this one out:

Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis played six games in 2025, contributing primarily on special teams. He’s still in the building. That’s the ceiling.

If Jake Moody is the 1A remembered for this class, Ronnie Bell could be 2A. His ball security issues as a punt returner were alarming from the jump — two near-fumbles in three weeks as a rookie, saved only by the ball going out of bounds or his forearm grazing the turf before it came loose. A game-costing drop against the Los Angeles Rams in 2024 was the culmination of two years of unreliable hands. Bell was waived in November 2024, bounced through Detroit’s practice squad, then landed in New Orleans — where he caught a touchdown in a Week 18 loss to Atlanta.

We end with Jalen Graham, the simplest of the three stories. One tackle as a rookie. Practice squad. Washington Commanders practice squad, back to San Francisco. He’s been in the organization for three years without leaving a mark on the field. Simple, ain’t it?

So, where does that leave the 2023 class three years out? A legitimate starter in Winters. Brown showed enough in the second half of 2025 to stay relevant, even if his long-term role is still unsettled.

And Moody is making kicks, but for Washington.

Pick Breakdown

Round 3 – No. 87 – Ji’Ayir Brown, S, Penn State
Round 3 – No. 99 – Jake Moody, K, Michigan
Round 3 – No. 101 – Cameron Latu, TE, Alabama
Round 5 – No. 155 – Darrell Luter Jr., CB, South Alabama
Round 5 – No. 173 – Robert Beal Jr., LB, Georgia
Round 6 – No. 216 – Dee Winters, LB, TCU
Round 7 – No. 247 – Brayden Willis, TE, Oklahoma
Round 7 – No. 253 – Ronnie Bell, WR, Michigan
Round 7 – No. 255 – Jalen Graham, LB, Purdue

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