Why Robert Beal could quickly develop into the 49ers' latest fifth-round hit
The former Georgia edge has the tools to make an early impact.
The fifth round of the NFL Draft has been the money round for the 49ers during the Kyle Shanahan-John Lynch era.
George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga and Deommodore Lenoir. They were all picked in the fifth round. Kittle and Hufanga have earned All-Pro nods in their careers, Greenlaw is one of the better linebackers in the NFL and last year saw Lenoir blossom into a solid starter at cornerback.
This year, the former fifth-round pick who will be under the most scrutiny is right tackle Colton McKivitz, set to step in as Mike McGlinchey’s successor after the 2018 first-round pick left in free agency.
San Francisco’s two fifth-rounders from this year’s draft won’t have anything close to the same level of pressure on their shoulders. Corner Darrell Luter Jr. and edge Robert Beal Jr. should both have the chance to learn and develop behind their more experienced teammates in their rookie season.
Such is the talent on the Niners’ roster that the days of several rookies being pressed into service are long gone. Of the two, though, it is Beal who appears more likely to see the field.
San Francisco has tremendous talent on the edge in Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa and expected second-year starter Drake Jackson — whom the 49ers will be hoping can take a year-two leap — but there is certainly room for competition behind them.
The 49ers signed Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant in free agency after they lost Samson Ebukam, Charles Omenihu and Jordan Willis from their defensive front. The former Clemson duo have each spent four seasons in the league and totalled just 14.5 sacks between them (Ferrell: 10, Bryant: 4.5). Ferrell has dramatically failed to live up to his status as the fourth overall pick in 2019 and both he and Bryant will be looking they can become the latest successful reclamation projects of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.
But there lack of production to this point and the low level of investment the Niners have placed in their services leaves both open to being usurped by Beal.
And there is plenty of reason to suggest he could quickly develop into another fifth-round hit and leapfrog Ferrell and Bryant on the depth chart.
Beal only tallied 10 sacks in his college career at Georgia, yet there was a specific trait he displayed that led the 49ers to believe they can turn him into a productive pass rusher at the highest level.
Speaking at their post-draft press conference, Lynch and Shanahan revealed Beal had the best score of all draftable plays in a metric the 49ers developed that measures get-off, putting a grade on what a pass rusher does in the first couple of steps of his rush.
Said Lynch:
“Our analytics, let’s see if anyone can guess. We have a, I tell our analytics guys all the time, [Research & Development Manager Matt] Ploenzke and his group, go watch the coaches. Get in there and let’s come up with measurables that are what we coach, and GTFO is something [Defensive Line Coach] Kris Kocurek is always screaming. Do you guys know what it is? Yeah, so he had the highest GTFO grade in the draft. So, we’re really fired up about that.”
The acronym shouldn’t take much deciphering, and Kocurek likely won’t need to give Beal much encouragement in practice to ‘get the **** off’ the ball.
But there is much more to Beal’s game than simply speed off the snap.
As I detailed in this video breakdown of Beal, he is a rusher who has several pitches in his arsenal.
He does an impressive job of translating his speed to power and can win inside and out with his bull rush. Beal, whose arms measured in the 86th percentile for edge defenders, does a consistently impressive job of beating defenders to the punch and getting his hands inside, and he has refined his rip move to an extent where it is extremely effective.
Also possessing a long-arm move that is a staple for most pass rushers and the ability to flatten to the quarterback, Beal not only has the explosiveness the 49ers desire from their edge rushers, but an excellent foundation of moves for Kocurek to build on.
But it isn’t just the pass-rushing potential that will have had the 49ers hopeful Beal can quickly become a key part of their edge rotation.
The Niners have two primary demands of their edge defenders. Explosively rush the passer and set the edge against the run.
Beal, who in his most productive college season had 7.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in 2021, displayed signficant promise pointing to reliability in the latter regard.
Stout at the point of attack, Beal has demonstrated a proclivity for holding his ground against linemen and against double teams from tight ends. He deals with such a double team on this play from last year’s season opener with Oregon.
Despite the tight end closest the line initially being the low man, Beal is able to at least claim a stalemate in the leverage battle. He plays with a wide base to avoid being blown off the ball and succeeds in becoming the low-man as he helps shut the play down for no gain.
Later in the season against Kentucky, Beal shed a block from a guard with consummate ease to record a run stop.
As is so often the case when he rushes the passer, Beal beats the lineman to the punch. On this occasion, he is the low man immediately after the snap and makes excellent use of his leverage advantage.
Beal gets his head to guard’s inside shoulder to make sure he has eyes in the backfield and, as the running back takes the split zone run to the outside, utilises his powerful hands to easily disengage from a lineman who is at that point playing off-balance with too much forward lean. Beal finishes the play by absorbing the contact from the back and making a solid tackle.
Performing similar feats against NFL offensive linemen will obviously be substantially more difficult. Still, Beal clearly has an understanding of how to deliver effective run defense as an edge defender.
In Kocurek he has landed with D-Line coach with a proven track record of getting the best out of explosive athletes and fine tuning their skill sets to turn them into players who can give teams productive snaps against the run and the pass.
With a superb get-off, an effective bull rush, two further moves in his pass-rush armoury, and some encouraging run defense snaps under his belt in college football’s premier conference, Beal heads to the pros better prepared to meet the demands of playing edge for the 49ers than may be expected of a player of his draft status.
One of the more unheralded players on a dominant Georgia defense, Beal’s selection by the Niners understandably attracted little fanfare. However, his skill set — if harnessed properly — could allow Beal to play impactful rookie snaps and command attention as the newest fifth-round find for a team whose success is in part a product of their remarkable day-three drafting.