All 49ers

The 49ers' Primary Need Entering the 2025 NFL Draft

The 49ers have tons of needs, but which one is most dire?
Grant Cohn|
Jan 29, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch watches drills with San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel RJ Gillen during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images
Jan 29, 2025; Mobile, AL, USA; San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch watches drills with San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel RJ Gillen during Senior Bowl practice for the American team at Hancock Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have tons of needs, but which one is most dire?

They could use another cornerback, but they already have two starters -- Deommodore Lenoir and Renardo Green. Green still is young, but he was quite good as a rookie last season. Finding a dominant third cornerback would be nice, but a luxury.

The 49ers could use another offensive tackle considering Jaylon Moore just signed with the Chiefs, Colton McKivitz is entering the final season of his contract and Trent Williams is turning 37 in July. But technically, the 49ers still have two starting offensive tackles under contract, so this position isn't a dire need yet.

The 49ers could use another defensive end opposite Nick Bosa, but they still have Yetur Gross-Matos' cap number will be $9.473 million next season -- sixth-highest on the team. Higher than Christian McCaffrey's cap number. So, the 49ers technically have two starting defensive ends.

What they don't have is a starting defensive tackle. Not a good one. They have Jordan Elliott, who has started 44 games the past three seasons, but he's not good and he's not getting paid much more.

After him, the 49ers have a bunch of backups. We're talking Kevin Givens, Kalia Davis and Evan Anderson.

Which means the 49ers' primary need entering the upcoming draft is defensive tackle. They need to come away with one, preferably two plug-and-play starters at the position. Otherwise, they'll be in a world of trouble.

More 49ers news

Subscribe to Grant Cohn's YouTube channel

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast

Published
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.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News