The San Francisco 49ers are in the midst of conducting their top 30 player visits, which can be seen as an indication of their draft intentions or as a smoke screen to throw other organizations off. The latest round of visits has been with wide receivers. Denzel Boston, Omar Cooper, Jr, and KC Concepcion have all visited Santa Clara. For those keeping score at home, Mykel Williams was a top 30 visit last season and ended up as the number 11 pick for San Francisco.
If you blindly chose any mock draft,
you’ll see Concepcion’s name penciled in for pick 27 a ton.
Who is KC Concepcion, though?
Height: 6’ 0’’
Weight: 196 lbs
Arm: 30 1/4’’
Hand: 9 1/4’’
The simple reasoning for analysts connecting the Texas A&M receiver is his YAC ability. Sure, his comparison to Deebo Samuel is probably the most overused pro comp, but is Concepcion a gadget receiver, or is there more to his game?
Putting Concepcion in the box as a receiver who plays closer to the line of scrimmage due to highlights floating around on social media is a mistake. That is certainly one part of his game and is a strength, but Concepcion is a smooth route runner at almost every level. Yes, he has some drop issues, but that can be cleaned up and possibly written off as a one-year aberration.
Matt Harmon of Reception Perception and Yahoo Sports has a glowing scouting report of Concepcion.
“He demolishes man and press coverage, is a reliable target against zone coverage, and makes plays above the rim and with the ball in space. You really can’t ask for much more out of a Round 1 receiver prospect.”
Last season, Concepcion wasn’t asked to attack the deep third of the field with his lowest percentage of routes being corner (2.5%), post (6.3%), and nine routes (11.7%). However, his success rate on those routes is above 65 percent.
The intermediate is where Concepcion excels, with success rates of 82.4% on out routes, 80.4% on digs (Shanahan’s specialty), and 88.9% on curl routes. His route percentage on digs is 20.3%, his highest percentage for any route.
Concepcion feels like a glove and hand fit for this offense. The buzz is growing around the former Aggie. The question becomes: Will he be available that late in the first round?
