The San Francisco 49ers saw something in Bryson Eason that no other team did, and when the 6-foot-2, 323-pound defensive tackle didn’t hear his name called in the 2026 NFL Draft, they pounced.
Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport predicts it’s a move that could start paying off in big ways after he put Eason on his list of undrafted players who he thinks will make 53-man rosters this fall.
“Bryson Eason entered his collegiate career as a big linebacker,” Davenport wrote on July 23. “He will leave it as a far bigger defensive tackle. And he will try to win a roster spot with the San Francisco 49ers as a potentially versatile asset along the defensive line. At 6’2″ and 323 pounds, Eason is most assuredly a space-eater. But as his 5.09-second 40-yard dash time shows, Eason didn’t lose all of his quickness when he got bigger. What kept him from getting drafted is that his technique and knowledge of his new position haven’t caught up to his new frame just yet. Eason’s path to making the team would admittedly be easier were he an edge-rusher, but the 49ers were reportedly very aggressive about adding Eason after the draft—including a sizable contract guarantee. He’ll have to earn it in camp, but a reserve role at defensive tackle is there for the taking.”
Bryson Eason Played 6 Seasons of College Football
Eason, a Memphis native, started his college career at the University of Tennessee as a linebacker before putting his hand in the dirt after 2 seasons and seeing immediate results.
He showed a knack for making plays behind the line of scrimmage in 4 seasons at defensive tackle, with 20 TFL, including a career-high 7 TFL in 2024.
NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein had Eason projected as a 6th-round pick in his pre-draft evaluation.
“Sixth-year senior who came in as an oversized linebacker but has filled out and embraced his role inside,” Zierlein wrote. “Eason uses leverage and play strength to sit down and occupy blocks, but he has the short-area quickness to play in gaps. He’s missing the size/length of a natural two-gapper but he’s not often pushed around by single blocks. Though not a plus pass rusher, he has the athleticism to be better than his 2025 pressure rate suggests. Eason excels at the dirty work and projects as a backup on the interior.”
49ers Made Trade to Improve at Defensive Tackle
According to ESPN’s Seth Walder, the Dallas Cowboys trading away defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers was the 1 of the worst moves of the NFL offseason.
“The Cowboys chose the wrong D-tackle to deal, as Odighizuwa is younger and makes less than Clark, plus is arguably better than the veteran at this stage of their respective careers,” Walder wrote on June 30. “The Cowboys would have gotten less draft capital for Clark, but I don’t think they fared particularly well with the Odighizuwa deal and wonder if they didn’t trade Kenny Clark, who was part of the Micah Parsons deal, due to the optics.”
By the time the 49ers became the destination for Odighizuwa, they’d already tried to send him to another team to land an elite edge rusher.
“The Cowboys are trading DT Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers, multiple sources tell me,” NFL insider Jordan Schultz wrote on his official X account on March 11. “The disruptive Odighizuwa had 17 sacks, 34 TFLs and 2 forced fumbles during his tenure in Dallas. The Cowboys discussed trading Osa Odighizuwa to the Raiders in a package for Maxx Crosby last week before the deal ended up in Baltimore. Now it’s the 49ers who get him.”
The deal also rid the Cowboys of Odighizuwa’s massive salary — he signed a 4-year, $80 million contract extension in March 2025.
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