John Lynch Explains why the 49ers Didn't Address Center or Safety in the NFL Draft
Center and safety were arguably top needs for the 49ers.
Going into the NFL draft, you would have thought that the 49ers would have selected a player at one of those positions. However, neither position got addressed. Now the 49ers are left with a question mark at center with the future of Alex Mack uncertain and a vacancy at safety opposite of Jimmie Ward.
Even with those positions looking suspect, the 49ers are not worried at all with how they operated the draft. Or at least, that is what John Lynch is feeling about it. At the post-draft presser on Saturday, Lynch was asked if center and safety were not addressed due to how the players fell or if they were just comfortable with those positions.
“I think a little of both." said Lynch. "And a free agent class that's come along that might include some candidates there as well and so you have these needs, but you also we have Jake Brendel who is not a household name but we have a lot of confidence in his ability, we have talked about [Alex] Mack's situation, we'll see where that ends up. Zakelj might have some flex there as well. So we're going to work through it and we'll find it. We'll find that answer.”
Lynch claims that it is "a little of both," but I claim that it was mostly because of how the players fell. The 49ers didn't have a pick until the end of the second-round. There were not any suitable centers or safeties to take around then. At least, not starting caliber ones. It makes no sense for the 49ers to reach and take a developmental player when that is meant for day three draft selections.
One thing that is clear to me with how the 49ers drafted is they took who they believed was the best player available. That is absolutely the correct way to go about the NFL draft. Anytime teams draft for need, it almost always become a reach. Sometimes the stars align where need and best player available match. But that isn't always the case.
For example, I did not like the third-round selection of Tyrion Davis-Price because he is a running back. The 49ers already took Trey Sermon in the third-round last year, so why would they double dip? However, there wasn't a clear center or safety that they could have drafted to hand the starting reigns to. So while they didn't address their clear needs, I give them credit for not reaching and playing the draft correctly.
