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Why the 49ers Must Draft an Offensive Tackle this Year

This year, the 49ers have the 11th pick, which means they have no excuse not to draft an offensive tackle they really love.
Grant Cohn|
August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Colton McKivitz (68) during the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
August 18, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Colton McKivitz (68) during the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Believe it or not, the 49ers haven't drafted an offensive tackle since 2021.

That player was Jaylon Moore, a fifth-round pick. In four seasons with the 49ers, he started just 12 games. In a month, he'll be a free agent.

Starting right tackle Colton McKivitz was a fifth-round pick in 2020. He has been a starter the past two seasons, and he is without a doubt one of the worst right tackles in the NFL. This season, he gave up eight sacks. Last season, he gave up 13 sacks. That's 21 sacks allowed in 34 games as a starter. He will be a free agent next year and the 49ers should not re-sign him.

And then there's starting left tackle Trent Williams. This season, he missed seven games with an ankle bruise that wouldn't heal. He injures his ankle almost every season and he will turn 37 in July. He currently doesn't have a backup, mostly because the 49ers haven't drafted the position in four years.

Last year after the draft, a reporter asked general manager John Lynch why he neglected the offensive tackle position yet again.

"I think when you’re drafting 31st, it’s oftentimes hard to find a tackle that you really love," Lynch said. "And we like our tackles as they stand right now. We like our depth with Jaylon Moore being a really talented guy who can play the swing role. Drafted Jarrett Kingston, who has some flex at tackle. We’ll continue to always try to improve ourselves and improve the depth of our team. But we’re excited about our O-Line group. I know a lot of people talk about that, but we feel pretty good about our group."

Spoiler: Kingston got waived after training camp.

This year, the 49ers have the 11th pick, which means they have no excuse not to draft an offensive tackle they really love. And if they find one they really love in Rounds 2 or 3, wonderful. But they can't disregard the position for the fourth draft in a row.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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