The son of red and gold nobility may very well end up in the Bay Area as the San Francisco 49ers get ready for the 2024 NFL Draft.
On his Instagram account, NFL Hall of Famer and former 49ers player Brenden Rice responded with a single phrase to a prediction that he would play for his father’s former team, the 49ers:
Rice was able to see the projection because of an Instagram fan edit, but this isn’t an unexpected development. On Monday following the 49ers’ overtime loss in the Super Bowl, The Athletic released a three-round mock draft. In it, they projected that the 49ers would take Rice with the 98th selection in the third round. Although Brenden is wearing No. 81 on the fan Instagram, Nick Baumgardner, NFL Draft analyst for The Athletic, even questioned whether Jerry would allow his kid to wear No. 80.
However, Baumgardner’s second statement—that Brenden Rice “would know his way around the area”—couldn’t be more untrue. According to a 2019 Cronkite News article, Brenden was born in 2002 to Jackie Edwards, not during Jerry’s 2009 divorce from his previous wife Jacqueline.
The piece from Cronkite News, which ran in 2019, when Brenden was a senior in high school, states that Brenden was raised in Chandler, Arizona, and “has never been under the same roof as his father.” Although Brenden and Jerry didn’t have a close relationship at first, it developed over time and has been stronger ever since Brenden started college, spending two years in Colorado before moving to USC for the final two seasons.
In addition, the father-son team came together last fall to sign a sponsorship contract. Brenden received a name, image, and likeness (NIL) deal for Breathe Right nasal strips, which Jerry famously wore during his career, and the two of them shot a commercial together.
If the Niners signed the son of their enduring franchise legend, that would make for an interesting narrative, but don’t think it would be done just for the father-son bond. Brenden, a 6-3, 210-pound receiver, had the second-most receptions (45) and yards (791) on the team in 2023 and led USC with 12 touchdowns.
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