49ers undrafted free agent gem: Jimmie Gilbert, LB, Colorado

The San Francisco 49ers were a blast to watch in GM John Lynch’s first draft, but after the draft, his work continued with Jimmie Gilbert out of Colorado…

John Lynch shook up the 2017 NFL Draft by trading back one spot with the Chicago Bears, drafting Stanford star defensive lineman Solomon Thomas. He then made another bold move at the end of the night, jumping ahead of the New Orleans Saints to take Reuben Foster as he was talking to the Saints on the phone!

Lynch’s first round antics set the stage for a pretty darn good draft class, and he continued his great work after the draft, making some of the best undrafted free agent signings across the spectrum of the NFL. Those signings included Colorado pass rusher Jimmie Gilbert, who is my top undrafted gem for the Niners (although I also love running back Matt Breida).

Next: Matt Breida, the best RB you've never heard of (2015)

Next: Matt Breida, early NFL Draft look (2015)

But enough about Matt Breida, this article is about Jimmie Gilbert.

Gilbert was shockingly left off of the NFL’s massive invitation list at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine. I don’t know of many third-team All-Americans who don’t get invited to at least participate, much less guys who have intriguing athleticism and are coming off of the best season of their collegiate careers.

Gilbert went undrafted for a reason. There’s simply no way at nearly 6-foot-5 he is going to play an every-down role at the next level, because he played last year at 215 pounds. He was able to bulk up to around 230-235 pounds for the offseason interview process, but he has to prove he can carry more weight at the next level.

All of that said, Gilbert added a pretty substantial amount of weight in a short amount of time and was able to maintain his speed and quickness (under 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash) and his explosiveness (37-inch vertical jump) at the Colorado pro day.

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Scouts had to be impressed by Gilberts’ playmaking ability as a senior at Colorado, where he racked up 14 tackles for loss and 10 sacks to go along with a whopping six forced fumbles and seven quarterback hurries.

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There were only two other players in the entire country last season with six or more forced fumbles, and Gilbert did it in the Pac 12.

His speed off the edge is evident, but it’s his length and ability to lean around the edge that make him an interesting player at the next level. Coming off of the edge with the types of athletes the 49ers now have up front on their defensive line is going to make the transition to the NFL a lot more smooth for Gilbert.

I always love watching pass rushers at work and you can always tell if a player is just a natural or if they simply benefit from the hard work of the players around them. Gilbert is one of those guys that is just such a fluid athlete and his path to the quarterback is so natural. He maybe deserved a late-round flier but because he’s a DE/LB hybrid who is built more like a tall, lean wide receiver, NFL teams rightly questioned his ability to translate his game to the next level.

Still, San Francisco is getting a pretty nice gem here, and I think if Gilbert can keep that weight on and remain explosive, he will have a lot of success rushing the passer in sub packages and in obvious passing situations.

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