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2025 NFL Draft: John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan discuss drafting CJ West, Kurtis Rourke

headshotby:Alec Lasley•about 17 hours•

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The San Fransisco 49ers dipped into the Indiana football program for two of its final day selections in the 2025 NFL Draft — picking defensive lineman CJ West and quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

West was selected in the fourth round while Rourke was picked in the seventh round — both on Saturday.

This became the first time since 2008 in which multiple players from the Indiana football program were drafted in the same NFL Draft.

Following the end of the 2025 NFL Draft, San Francisco 49ers general manger John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan discussed their decision to pick CJ West and Kurtis Rourke.

Trending: Where 5 Indiana football players signed undrafted free agent deals following NFL Draft

On Kurtis Rourke:

JOHN LYNCH: “(He was) A guy that we really liked and I think displayed a lot of his toughness –played a lot of the year on a partially torn ACL. It was a previous ACL that was done in 2022 and kind of a re-tear, but toughed it out, played through it, had surgery after the season. We took him with the understanding that he’s not gonna likely be cleared until training camp — but we just felt like there was a lot of talent, a lot of ability. The guy plays the game the right way. You can’t have enough good quarterbacks and we wanted to add him to the mix, and were able to add him in the 7th round and excited to do so.”

KYLE SHANAHAN: “Loved his size. Loved how he throws. Loved how he plays the position. Just especially watching him this year, I don’t think it was coincidence how good of a year they (Indiana) had with the type of quarterback they had. Did it the whole year with a broken finger (thumb), a torn ACL and still was really, really impressive.

“We’re in a situation where getting a guy with a torn ACL, he probably won’t be cleared by training camp, but it’ll be close. But it’s not an issue for us right now because obviously with Brock (Purdy) and Mac (Jones) and love Tanner (Moredcai), too.

“Thought it was just a very good, valuable pick for us for a guy who might not be ready for another year because I think he’s about seven months out (from surgery) because he got done after the season. We were in a situation where we could take him, and I think he would’ve gone a lot higher if he were healthy.”

On CJ West

JOHN LYNCH: “Adding another guy to the mix in CJ. We had some departures this offseason, and we felt it was important to restock — and not just with guys, we wanted to put guys that fit our vision for what we want that room to be … CJ, I think, if we’re talking about him, extremely stout, sturdy, but also has the quickness and strength to play in the other team’s backfield. Makes a lot of splash plays in the other team’s backfield.

“I had the chance to watch him live this year when we went back to Ohio State, Indiana was there, made an impression in that game. But more so his film, his body of work has really stood out and we just felt was a really good fit. Another add to the D-line we’re building.”

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