How does 49ers draft look, 2 weeks on? Depends what you think of win-now strategy
The San Francisco 49ers draft class has been one of the most talked about throughout the NFL even while John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan and Co. elected to wait until the opening pick of the second round to make their first selection.
Did they reach for Ole Miss receiver De’Zhaun Stribling? Did they whiff with another running back taken in Round 3 with Kaelon Black like so many times before? Did they add any meaningful help along the offensive line with later-round picks Carver Willis and Enrique Cruz Jr.?
The team will have its first on-field look this weekend at rookie minicamp.
Those questions have internet analysts and draft prognosticators skeptical to say the least. San Francisco received some of the lowest grades for their eight-man draft class among the 32 NFL teams. The common theme of those grades: the 49ers took a number of players too early relative to where the media thought they would get picked.
“Depends on whose consensus. We got consensus in this building,” Lynch told reporters after the draft. “That’s the consensus I care about.”
There are obvious caveats here. On the one hand, internet draft grades are part of the pro sports content machine, next to meaningless before these rookies take their first snaps. On the other hand, Shanahan and Lynch have lost the benefit of doubt when it comes to drafting, and that reality has hurt the 49ers’ reputation — particularly if they’re viewed as drafting players earlier than they should.
Outside the unprecedented luck of Brock Purdy becoming a franchise quarterback as the last pick in the 2022 draft, current safety Talanoa Hufanga (now on the Denver Broncos) is the only other Pro Bowler the 49ers selected in their last five classes, which includes the huge whiff on quarterback Trey Lance. The team invested three first-round picks in Lance with their trade-up in 2021.
To be sure, the jury’s out on players like Mykel Williams, Ricky Pearsall, Upton Stout, Alfred Collins, CJ West and other recent years’ draftees who could grow into a winning core moving forward. If not, the 49ers will have a hard time reaching their Super Bowl aspirations when they inevitably have to replace the star power of Christian McCaffrey, Fred Warner, George Kittle, Trent Williams and Nick Bosa down the line.
Winning is more difficult without landing star-level players in the draft, which is what the 49ers did so well from 2017 to 2020 but have struggled to replicate since.
Is the 49ers draft philosophy the right one?
The debate raging about whether the 49ers reached for players or drafted deftly will be settled in the years to come. What’s certain: their draft board differed significantly from the media’s.
The belief inside the building is San Francisco drafted players to fill specific roles, which is a more narrow approach than drafting the best players available regardless of fit. The thinking was they added players who can help the team win a Super Bowl after reaching the divisional round of the playoffs last season despite being among the NFL’s most injured teams.
They didn’t add players with plans to take a patient approach.
“If we can find eight guys to make our (53-man roster), you get a lot better,” Shanahan said. “That’s why you get in some spots and you’re like, ‘Man, I really want to take this position.’ But the best available here, I don’t think could beat out who we have. Whether you want to get better or not at the position. It doesn’t always show that way.
“And I think we really did good in free agency. So, I think it’ll be a challenge for all eight of these guys to make our team. I think we have a chance for a couple guys possibly to start or have a chance to start. And I think a number of these guys can be a big part or have a chance to start two years from now when you have some unrestricted free agents that we lose. So overall I hope all eight guys just contribute.”
The 49ers made significant moves well before the draft, adding future Hall of Fame receiver Mike Evans and trading for Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, who’s been one of the most disruptive interior pass rushers in the NFL. They also made moves on the margins in signing receiver Christian Kirk, swing tackle candidate Vederian Lowe, interior offensive lineman Brett Toth, and veteran defensive backs Jack Jones and Nate Hobbs.
An older draft class
Notable in the 49ers’ effort to find “win-now” players is the age of their draftees. All of their picks spent at least four years in college. Stribling and Cruz were in college for five seasons.
Pass rusher Romello Height, Black and offensive linemen Carver Willis spent six. Defensive tackle Gracen Halton, cornerback Ephesians Prysock and linebacker Jaden Dugger spent four.
Critics of adding older prospects argue that those players have already reached their ceilings and are less likely to develop into stars if they weren’t stars in college.
The other side of that is what played out for the 49ers at quarterback. The 49ers drafted Lance after just one season as a starter in college. Purdy started four seasons and appeared in 48 games in college before coming to the NFL and was able to hit the ground running when he became the starter midway through his first year.
Not all prospects and situations are the same. But the Purdy and Lance dichotomy has been informative for the 49ers, who managed a 12-5 regular season record in 2025 and advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs, and who know that in 2026 they will face a fiercely competitive NFC West division topped by the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks and a Los Angeles Rams team that made it to the NFC Championship Game.
This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 2:10 PM with the headline "How does 49ers draft look, 2 weeks on? Depends what you think of win-now strategy."
