49ers General Manager John Lynch has a plan. It’s not a secret plan. It’s the only plan left after San Francisco trimmed all the fat during NFL free agency almost two weeks ago. The team will eat about $100 million in dead cap space, which means players who no longer are employed by the 49ers but because they were either cut, released, restructured or traded before the completion of their deals, they will still count on the spread sheet for 2025 and for some, beyond.
Rather than tell you where the used to be 49ers need help, I’ll tell you where they likely are done looking, quarterback. With new contract hopefully in hand soon, no question Brock Purdy is the starter. 2021 Patriots first-round rehab project Mac Jones, will be the number two. Other than that? The 49ers have varying degrees of need ranging from it would be nice to WTF at every other position group on the roster, with an emphasis on getting back to smash mouth football in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
John Lynch said at Stanford’s Pro Day this week the obvious, the way back is through the 2025 NFL draft where the team has 11 picks.
What else can they do at this point? It seems unless you’re a core special teamer or a fan favorite like Kyle Juszczyk, the 49ers don’t have much interest in even the scraps left in free agency. They’ve signed several special teams types since the frenzy started and kept a few of their own cheaper players. Speculation on short term vets like former 49ers defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, who could help a depleted line or former Jets veteran linebacker CJ Mosley, who played for Robert Saleh in New York and could be a temporary solution for the loss of Dre Greenlaw, seem to be of no interest to the cost cutting 49ers. 2025 isn’t a rebuild, it’s a financial reset, I think there’s a difference, but I’ll let you know in September for sure. As you can see below, of the players the 49ers signed in the offseason during the first wave of free agency, Farrell, Weeks, Neal, Grant, Gifford and Pinnock will likely make most of their impact on special teams.
With not many more veterans likely coming aboard before the draft, this is what the 49ers lineup looks like per Pro Football Focus. Keep in mind as you look at the grades next to each player, below 70 is not good, 70 is average. 80 is above average, 90 is exceptional. The 49ers have two players in their front seven (Bosa and Warner), with exceptional grades, the rest are graded below average or much worse. On offense, Kittle, Jennings, Williams and Purdy are graded well, Aiyuk likely will be if/when he returns. McCaffrey was the highest graded offensive player by PFF in 2023 and should bounce back. They need help at center and right guard, but should score points with some health and a few tweaks.
I show that graphic to give you a visual on how much work the 49ers need to do in the draft, especially on defense. In order of importance, which doesn’t mean that’s where they will draft first, because they likely learned a valuable lesson when they panicked and grabbed DT Javon Kinlaw to replace DeForrest Buckner in the 2020 draft to fill a need, the 49ers should emphasize the following position groups:
- OL: Although the 49ers shy away from picking offensive lineman early, they will grab a tackle if they see one they like. They took Mike McGlinchey with the 9th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. The pick at #11 will likely give them a chance to grab a blue chip tackle. This could accomplish three things which makes it the most importance position for the team heading into the draft. First, they could take a tackle to replace Colton McKivitz at RT, who would then move over to left guard to replace the departed Aaron Banks. Many within the 49ers organization think McKivitz would be a nasty guard. Right tackle is better, left guard is better and ideally San Francisco has their left tackle of the future when Trent Williams retires. Williams is 37 and this could be his last season. The names to remember are Will Campbell from LSU and Armand Membou of Missouri. Membou would be my choice because of his athletic ability, some say he reminds them of Trent Williams. It would be nice to upgrade at center, because while current starter Jake Brendel is rated fairly well in the run game, his pass blocking grade is poor and he allows too much middle pressure which forces Brock Purdy to make blind or compromised throws given his lack of size.
- DL: As you can see in the graphic above, the once vaunted 49ers defensive line is trashed. I have no issue with allowing Maliek Collins and Leonard Floyd to walk. If you look at the numbers, they were not effective last season and their salaries didn’t match their lack of production. On the inside, Elliott and Givens are career rotational pieces and former second round pick Drake Jackson has been a bust. Robert Beal is hanging around, but he hasn’t done much. The NFL draft is deep on the interior of the defensive line and they come in all shapes and sizes. The edge class is deep as well and flashes at the top with Abdul Carter of Penn State. Others who are maybe undersized but could fit include James Pearce Jr (Tennessee), Mike Green (North Texas), Mykel Williams (Georgia) and Arkansas super freak athlete Landon Jackson, who is huge at 6’7″ 280. The 49ers have to come away with at least one interior lineman if not two and an early round edge.
- WR: If the 49ers keep Brandon Aiyuk, which I expect, that helps, but he will possibly be out with a knee injury until midseason. Debo Samuel wasn’t very good last season and his loss is more in name than actual value. Ricky Pearsall is still an unknown. Only 2-3 wide receivers will likely go in the first round with Arizona’s 6’5″ Tetairoa McMillan likely first with Luther Burden of Missouri and Emeka Egbuka from the WR factory at Ohio State the consensus top three. Stanford’s Elic Ayomanor could sneak in early at 6’2 210 pounds, he could be an “X” to replace Aiuyk at least early in the season if new 49er DeMarcus Robinson can’t handle the chore. Overall, the class is more depth than star driven. I like Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel of Iowa State, Jaylen Royals of Utah State and size guys Savion Williams (6’5″ 225) of TCU and Tory Horton (6’3 195) of Colorado State as second day prospects.
- LB: Dee Winters and Jalen Graham were given shots to replace Dre Greenlaw last season and could not. Greenlaw was the only real big loss to me in free agency this offseason and there is no one currently on the roster who can do what he did for this defense. The 49ers should have read the market better on him. Either way he’s gone and Fred Warner needs a partner on the second level. The problem with rookie linebackers in general is they move forward just fine. Run, hit, tackle. In the NFL though, teams test you moving backwards, as in the pass game and most rookies not named Fred Warner struggle. Warner was a safety/rover type in college at BYU and had above average pass defense skills coming in. Is there another player like him in the 2025 draft? Not likely. The 49ers won’t spend the 11th overall pick on an off ball linebacker, Patrick Willis, who went 11th overall in 2007, isn’t in this draft. Names who will go early include Demetrius Knight Jr. (South Carolina), Carson Schwesinger (UCLA), Chris Paul Jr. (Old Miss), Jeffery Bassa (Oregon) and Barrett Carter (Clemson). Of that group, I like Carter, who tailed off after a solid sophomore year for the Tigers and Schwesinger. Both are undersized athletic types which is in vogue as versatile defenders in today’s NFL. You have to be able to move in space.
- DB: I like the secondary in general. I think Lenior is solid at one corner spot, Mustapha likey would have beaten out new Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga at strong safety and Renardo Green, last year’s 2nd round pick, was solid as a rookie. I think they need a veteran free safety to settle the young guys down like Tashaun Gipson did for this secondary a couple years ago, plus I think Brown’s lack of speed is an issue in the deep zones, (see Vikings game last season). The 49ers could also use a third corner when Lenior goes inside to the slot. Tre Brown was brought over from Seattle and he wasn’t terrible for the Seahawks, but he was average and hurt a lot.
- RB: We’re all holding our breath on Christian McCaffery’s achilles and for some reason the 49ers honored Jordan Mason’s request to get more time elsewhere when they traded him to the Vikings for a bag of stale chips earlier this week. Mason led the NFL in rushing early in the season in 2024 and was a great zone runner. Ike Guerendo is an intriguing prospect with his blend of size and speed but he is very raw. Under John and Kyle the 49ers have been better finding running backs in the late rounds or as free agents. Just not the 3rd round please. Do Ty Davis Price or Trey Sermon ring any alarm bells? I doubt the 49ers would dip into the running back pool as early as the second or third round given their many needs. Think more 5th round and later. I love both Ohio State backs and 49ers fan Cam Skattebo of Arizona State, but they’ll be gone when the 49ers get around to the back field. Devin Neal of Kansas is interesting, Jaydon Blue (Texas) has speed, Trevor Etienne (Georgia) isn’t as well thought of as his brother, but he can catch it and is quick, Ollie Gordon (Oklahoma State) had a great junior year, but struggled as a senior on a bad team and ran slow (4.62) at the combine, that’s a slipping name to watch. At 5’11 216 and a tough running style, the 49ers would like Montrell Johnson of Florida, who could be a late round or FA grab.
- TE: The 49ers biggest offseason outside free agent signing was Luke Farrell of the Jaguars. Ferrell is purely a blocking tight end with 12 catches on 17 target last season, both career highs. He was only targeted once in the red zone. He was the second best pass blocking tight end in the NFL last season according to PFF. That leaves the eternal search for a pass catching #2 TE to George Kittle and this is a very deep class for that. The 49ers don’t have the luxury to grab Tyler Warren (Penn State), who will likely go in the top 20 picks, and Michigan’s Colston Loveland is likely a first rounder as well. Elijah Arroyo (Miami) is 6’4″ 245, can catch, doesn’t block, Terrance Ferguson (Oregon), Gunnar Helm (Texas) and Mitchell Evans (Notre Dame) could finally fill the #2 pass catcher role. My favorite sleepers are Harold Fannin Jr. (Bowling Green) who caught 117 passes last season but is undersized and Jalin Conners (Texas Tech), who is big at 6’5″ 265 and caught 97 passes in his career at Arizona State and Texas Tech.
Now the question is, can Lynch and company pull off a super draft to save the offseason? In order to do so, they may need impact like the 49ers received from their best draft of all-time in 1986. In 2025, the 49ers need stars and depth. In 1986, they got both.
You can see with my chicken scratch added, the 49ers took 13 players in the 1986 draft. They hauled in eight players who contributed at a high level. Hall of Famer, Charles Haley led the way, but Tom Rathman, Tim McKyer, John Taylor, Steve Wallace and Don Griffin were full-time starters and impact players on Super Bowl winning teams. Defensive lineman Kevin Fagan and Larry Roberts were key rotational pieces on those teams. The 2025 49ers need that kind of depth and talent going into this draft, they’ve left themselves no other choice. The 49ers have featured some great drafts through the years, but none matched 1986 in terms of talent and depth.
Lynch and Shanahan have had some solid drafts and are especially known for nailing picks after the first round. Deebo Samuel (2nd Round), Fred Warner (3rd), George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw (5th), Brock Purdy, Jauan Jennings (7th), are some of the many gems the 49ers unearthed during their Super Bowl runs. 2019 was probably their best draft and they’d have to even be better than this to get back on track in 2025.
Lynch and the 49ers have had their misses too since taking over in 2017. Their first draft featured Solomon Thomas 3rd overall (Patrick Mahomes went 10th), and trading back into the first round to get LB Reuben Foster. In 2018, the year they took Warner in the 3rd round, they took WR Dante Pettis 56 picks earlier in the 2nd round. In 2020, it was DT Javon Kinlaw 14th overall in an attempt to replace traded DT DeForrest Buckner. In 2021 one of the worst NFL trades of all-time was giving up first round picks in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for the right to draft QB Trey Lance out of North Dakota State. Lance is currently a free agent after spending the last couple seasons with the Cowboys in Dallas. A major misread by the organization that has contributed to why they are where they are today. Those picks would have provided at the very least cheap labor and upside potential and outside of Brock Purdy, the last pick #262 in 2022, the 49ers got very little out of the 2022 and 2023 drafts.
Given the track record of peaks and valleys with the current 49ers regime in the NFL draft, it may not be the wisest choice to put all the 49ers eggs in the 2025 draft basket. Given the offseason so far though, it’s the only choice they’ve got. Here’s to 1986.