The 49ers are in an interesting spot in the 2024 NFL draft. With the No. 31 pick they’re on the outside looking in at some of the top offensive tackle prospects to fill their biggest need, but they’ll also have opportunities to grab a potentially very good player who falls through the cracks with runs on quarterbacks, OTs and wide receivers.
While cornerback, tight end and safety could all be considered crucial needs for the 49ers, it’s hard to imagine them going that route given how they’ve operated in past drafts. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have typically prioritized their front seven in the first round, only straying from that when a clear need arises on the offensive line, receiver and quarterback.
This year could be a year where they view OL as a dire need that allows them to go beyond their defensive front seven. They don’t have a long-term answer at right tackle, and the last time they had that scenario they went and got an offensive tackle. Beyond that though the situations where they went with WR and QB don’t quite apply this year.
They don’t need a starting WR as badly as they did the year they traded up for WR Brandon Aiyuk, and QB Brock Purdy appears to be their franchise signal caller.
They’ve never prioritized another position in Round 1, which makes it hard to believe they’ll do so again in 2024. A safe bet on predicting the 49ers pick is that they’ll pick an OL, DL or LB. Anything beyond that would be a pretty steep departure from the norm.
Here’s a quick history of their first-round picks under Lynch and Shanahan:
2017: DL Solomon Thomas, LB Reuben Foster
We can learn a lot about how the 49ers view their team-building by how their first draft went. They were a roster devoid of talent, and tried building out through the front seven first.
2018: OT Mike McGlinchey
In their second draft, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan jumped to the other side of the ball and snagged McGlinchey out of Notre Dame to bookend their offensive line with left tackle Joe Staley.
2019: DE Nick Bosa
This was a layup after the Cardinals took quarterback Kyler Murray No. 1 overall. Bosa is the third front-seven player drafted out of four in the first round of the last three drafts.
2020: DL Javon Kinlaw, WR Brandon Aiyuk
A skill position player makes an appearance! The 49ers actually traded up to snag Aiyuk, but it was only after they lost WRs Kendrick Bourne and Emmanuel Sanders in free agency. If they lose Aiyuk this offseason in a trade, it’s easy to see them going WR at the end of the first round. It’s worth noting though they also traded DT DeForest Buckner this offseason and replaced him with yet another first-round DL in Kinlaw. Four drafts, five first-round picks, four players in the front seven.
2021: QB Trey Lance
The trade up for Lance could’ve been a catastrophic whiff. San Francisco took aim at QB once it was clear Jimmy Garoppolo wasn’t their franchise signal caller. After a rough 2020 campaign, the 49ers were in the top 15 of the 2021 draft and had a chance to jump up and pick a QB. They were correct in assuming they wouldn’t be in position for any such trade up again in the near future. Their deep playoff runs would’ve left them at the end of the first round of 2022 and 2023 if they hadn’t moved those selections to trade up.
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