If the 49ers hadn’t selected Chris Borland with the No. 77 pick in May it doesn’t sound as if the Wisconsin linebacker would have slipped any further in the draft.

This morning, Washington’s Jay Gruden – the coach of the team with pick No. 78 – acknowledged he was a big Borland fan.

“He’s one of those guys that you’d love to have on your squad,” Gruden said. “We looked at him very closely in the draft and really liked him a lot. He’s a good player. Very tough, very physical guy and has natural instincts for the position.”

If the 49ers hadn’t selected Borland, could he have been with Washington?

“Absolutely,” Gruden said. “He was high on our board. We liked him. But it just so happened they got him.”

Washington will face the one that got away Sunday when it visits the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Borland will arrive as the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week, an honor he received today for his 12-tackle, two-interception performance in a 16-10 win over the Giants.

It was the latest star turn for Borland, a third-round pick who is generating defensive-rookie-of-the-year buzz despite starting just four of 10 games. In his four starts, he has 55 tackles, two interceptions, a sack and a fumble recovery that was followed by the game-winning field goal in a 27-24 overtime win at New Orleans.

Fifty-five tackles in four games? That’s a 220-tackle-in-a-season pace.

Borland and Andre Carter (2001) are the only 49ers rookies to win the defensive-player-of-the-week honors. Borland and Philadelphia’s Ray Farmer (1996) are the only rookie linebackers drafted after the second round to be named NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

Meanwhile, Washington did get a promising linebacker in the draft. It selected Stanford’s Trent Murphy in the second round and the outside linebacker has nine tackles and two sacks in nine starts.

“Obviously, we’re happy with Trent,” Gruden said. “I know they’re happy with Chris.”

Twitter: @Eric_Branch