Arizona slot receiver Jacob Cowing drafted by San Francisco 49ers in fourth round of NFL Draft

Former Arizona slot receiver Jacob Cowing was selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the 135th overall pick in the fourth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday. 

Cowing became the first UA wide receiver drafted since Juron Criner in 2012. Cowing is the highest-selected Arizona receiver since Mike Thomas in 2009. Cowing is the second Arizona player drafted this year, joining first-round offensive lineman and Green Bay Packer Jordan Morgan.

It's the first draft Arizona has produced multiple picks in the first four rounds since 2010, when tight end Rob Gronkowski and defensive tackle Earl Mitchell were drafted in the first three rounds. 

Cowing, a Maricopa native, is the first Wildcat drafted by the 49ers since defensive end David Wood in 1985. 

Cowing is the second wide receiver drafted by the San Francisco 49ers this year, along with former Florida Gator and Arizona State Sun Devil Ricky Pearsall. They join a wide receiver room that currently has standouts Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk.

With Phoenix-area product Brock Purdy at quarterback, the 49ers averaged the second-most yards (398.4) in the NFL last season, and fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Cowing is now the second ex-Wildcat on San Francisco's roster for the upcoming season, along with linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. 

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Before becoming a Niner, Cowing ended his career seventh all time in college football’s bowl subdivision (former Division I-A) with 4,477 career yards and ninth with 316 receptions. The slot receiver’s two touchdowns in the Alamo Bowl earned him offensive MVP honors for the bowl game and boosted him to first in program history in single-season touchdowns (13). Cowing’s 175 catches in two seasons at the UA placed him fifth on the school’s all-time receptions list.

Cowing, a two-year starter at Arizona after beginning his career at UTEP, displayed NFL-level speed at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis with a 40-yard dash time of 4.38 seconds, the 10th-best at the draft combine — fifth-best among wide receivers. Former Texas receiver Xavier Worthy, who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.21 seconds, an all-time record at the combine. NFL's "Nex Gen Stats" tracked Cowing at 14.96 miles per hour in the first five yards of the 40-yard dash — the best at the combine. 

Following an uber-productive college career and impressive showing at the combine, the 5-8, 168-pound Cowing entered the NFL Draft pool as a potential steal on Day 3 of the draft.   

"A lot of people question my height and stuff like that, but that's what my life has been ever since I first started playing football," Cowing told reporters in Indianapolis. "I like to use that as fuel to my fire, go out there and prove everyone wrong, and continue to be me, play my game and go out there and have fun with it."