49ers NFL Draft – The Time is Now

Given the players that General Manager John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan have signed this offseason, it’s evident that the 49ers believe the 2023 season can exercise the recent playoff ghosts of the current regime.

Many experts point to the quarterback debacle in Philadelphia this past January, where Shanahan called just five passes in the second half of the NFC Championship, despite a double-digit deficit. Without a functioning quarterback on the roster, San Francisco watched helplessly, suffering its first loss in an astounding 18 weeks.

It seems, however, that many forget that San Francisco is a Jaquiski Tartt dropped interception and a Jimmy Garappolo overthrow from possibly winning not one but two Lombardi trophies in 2019 and 2021.

With three NFC Championship appearances in the past four seasons, San Francisco is primed and focused on bringing the Bay Area its first Super Bowl victory since Steve Yong clinically dissected the then-San Diego Chargers nearly 30 years ago.

19 of 22 starters return for Shanahan, including Pro Bowl players across multiple positions. In addition to signing standout defensive tackle Javon Hargrave from Philadelphia in the off-season, the current betting NFC betting favorites in Las Vegas added depth pieces at important positions, including quarterback Sam Darnold from Carolina. More importantly, though, the 49ers inked nine players on the offensive and defensive lines combined, buffeting a weakness exploited by Philadelphia.

While their free agency success seemingly solidifies San Francisco as a legitimate Super Bowl contender for the 2023 season, it certainly muddles the direction the front office will take in the upcoming NFL Draft. With no current picks in the first two rounds, it seems unlikely that the 49ers, who are primed to win now, will find an immediate starter in the later rounds of the draft, especially given the fact that, aside from maybe right tackle, most positions are locked up by returning players.

With 11 total draft picks and certainly not 11 roster spots to fill, it would behoove Lynch and Shanahan to package draft picks from rounds three through seven to move up in the draft to obtain a higher caliber player at a position of need.  Where on this roster can San Francisco improve upon, and what players/positions in this draft class fit those needs?

Option 1: Use draft capital from 2023 and 2024 to move up and select one of the following offensive players.

OL Cody Mauch

With the departure of 69-game starter Mike McGlinchey, San Francisco’s most glaring question mark is at Right Tackle. There seems to be one of two directions for Shanahan to go in: A) Start the winner of the preseason battle between younger players such as Colton McKivitz or B) Move Spencer Burford or Matt Pryor to Right Tackle. To be honest, neither option is ideal, but it is the reality the 49ers sit in after spending the majority of their free agency money on the defensive side of the ball.

Mauch is a quick mauler who, like Lane Johnson, added 70+ pounds in college, growing into an NFL body. He can play both inside and out, giving San Francisco multiple scenarios to examine.

TE Tucker Kraft

Every 49ers fan usually has two thoughts regarding the tight end position outside of an infatuation with George Kittle:

1. Why put Tyler Kroft on an island vs. Haason Reddick?

2. Why can’t Kyle Juszczyk just play off the ball tight end or wing when Kittle is in-line?

The answers are certainly not as simple as it seems. What is simple to see, though, is that San Francisco needs an upgrade over Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley.

Standing 6-5 and 255 pounds, Kraft, seven years younger than Kittle, looks like a poor man’s Rob Gronkowski, and he would cost Lynch the least amount of draft capital of the players on this list.

HB Jahmyr Gibbs

Surprise, Surprise.

This option could be too expensive if teams value Gibbs as a first-round player. Also, the 49ers already have $ 12 million wrapped up in arguably the best running back in the league Christian McCaffrey.

But look at it this way.

When Shanahan had the Falcons averaging nearly 34 ppg and 6.7 ypp, he used a one-two punch in the backfield with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. Freeman was the starter, but Coleman earned more than half the reps of Freeman.

 If one looks at the recent trend over nearly the past decade, the leading rusher for the past nine Super Bowl winners averages just 185 carries a season. There were 27 NFL running backs, including McCaffrey, that ran for more than 185 carries this past year. When you combine Shanahan’s punishing system with the amount McCaffrey factors into the passing game, it only makes sense to conclude that the less you have to rely on CMAC during the season, the fresher he will come January.

The 49ers have averaged six-to-seven different running backs taking significant carries in games over each of the past three seasons. Backup Elijah Mitchell cannot seem to stay healthy, while young role players like Jordan Mason and Tyrion Davis-Price are both inexperienced and more suited power backs.

Enter in Alabama’s Jahmyr Gibbs, a 5-10, 200-pound spitting image of Alvin Kamara, and possibly even McCaffrey himself. Gibbs, who blazed the NFL combine with a 4.36 forty-yard dash, enters the league at just 21 and thrives in the outside zone and running back screen game – two major components to Shanahan’s modern West Coast system. Against the nation’s top competition at both Georgia Tech and Alabama, Gibbs averaged 16 total offensive touches a game for 108 yards, nearly 7 yards per touch. Both Kamara and McCaffrey averaged almost identical averages during their collegiate campaigns.

For More 49ers Content

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