Most mock drafts during this past cycle had the San Francisco 49ers selecting an offensive tackle in one of the first three rounds. Analysts were convinced that the Niners wanted to upgrade in the immediate future or find a replacement for Trent Williams down the line.<\/p>\n
Not only was that not the case, but the 49ers only used one of their 11 picks on an offensive lineman, and it was their second to last pick in the seventh round.<\/p>\n
General manager John Lynch said, \u201cThere were a number of times that we were interested in adding, and it just didn\u2019t come our way. And you\u2019ve got to stay true to where you have guys graded, not take guys just to take them but to take guys that you\u2019re interested in at that point. And it just never really aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 49ers weren\u2019t in a position to draft an offensive lineman in the first round after tackles Armand Membou and Kelvin Banks were drafted in front of them. We should\u2019ve known they didn\u2019t prioritize offensive in general in this draft when they selected Alfred Collins in the second round.<\/p>\n
The icing on the cake was a linebacker to begin the third round. Interestingly enough, only four offensive linemen were drafted in the third round. I believe that speaks volumes to the talent level of this class at that position and why we didn\u2019t see the Niners use any of their top 100 picks on one.<\/p>\n
There was no way to undersell how thin and largely untalented the defensive line was headed into the draft. We knew defensive line would have multiple additions, and that\u2019s precisely what happened.<\/p>\n
Lynch continued, saying, \u201cThere were a number of times Kyle [Shanahan] and I were talking about that at the end that just didn\u2019t align, one of those deals, and you don\u2019t want to force things. And so, it wasn\u2019t our time for that other than Connor, and we\u2019ll move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that the draft is over, the Niners could sign a free agent without being penalized in the comp pick formula. The list of free agents isn\u2019t all that appealing. Then again, when Shanahan was asked who the swing tackle would be, he couldn\u2019t give a straight answer, saying, \u201cWe don\u2019t tell you all our plans, so we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the first year of Colton McKivitz as a starter, the 49ers had their most prolific offensive season during the Shanahan era. Statistically, McKivitz improved against the run and the pass from Year 1 to Year 2. McKivitz has one year left on his extension. It\u2019s a prove-it year for McKivitz, but 2025 is his.<\/p>\n
May the best man win between Ben Bartch, Matt Hennessy, and whoever else gets thrown into the fire \u2014 Austen Pleasants and Spencer Burford will duke it out for the swing tackle spot.<\/p>\n
If the argument for drafting an offensive lineman earlier is, \u201cOne injury away,\u201d well, the same is true for Dee Winters, who was on the injury report more often than not last year. And drafting a safety\/nickel type in the third and fourth rounds made a whole lot of sense after we found out about Malik Mustapha\u2019s injury that could cause him to miss upwards to half of 2025.<\/p>\n
Could the 49ers have selected somebody for depth purposes along the offensive line earlier? Sure. But Robert Saleh was the one who needed to inject talent at multiple levels of the defense. The 49ers needed to draft two defensive linemen with their first two picks for the argument \u201cone injury away\u201d to be equal on that side of the trenches.<\/p>\n
This has never been a team driven by its offensive line. The same cannot be true when you\u2019re talking about the defensive line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
49ers GM John Lynch says, \u2018It just never really aligned\u2019 when asked about why the team waited so long to address an offensive lineman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":51601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n