Four Positions the 49ers Should Prioritize in the NFL Draft

With the NFL draft arriving, the 49ers have four positions that they should prioritize over the rest.

Nine picks is what the 49ers have in the 2022 nfl draft.

While it is quite a haul of ammo, they aren’t picking until near the end of the second-round at No. 61. Trading up is always a possibility to improve their position in order to reel in more assured talent. Whatever they end up doing, the 49ers have to find players that can reinforce some of their weak areas.

Here are three positions the 49ers should prioritize in the draft.

Center

The most obvious position the 49ers need to draft is center. It is still unclear whether or not Alex Mack is returning in 2022. Odds are that he is replicating what Joe Staley did in 2020 by keeping his retirement under wraps. Regardless of his status, Mack isn’t long for the NFL. If he does come back, then 2022 is most likely his final year. It makes targeting a center the most logical move. The 49ers will be addressing center for the future and possibly even for the upcoming season. Center has always been a pivotal position in the 49ers’ offense under Kyle Shanahan. It thrives off a center that knows what he’s doing.

John Lynch believes it is possible for a rookie to step in and start there, so I’m sure it’ll be one of their first positions he takes. A player such as Cam Jurgens or Cole Strange would be a fine draft selection. These are two players who the 49ers have officially had meetings with. Keep an eye on where they fall as the Niners would certainly like to reel in one of these players. Either way, they need to draft a center at some point. The last thing this team needs is Daniel Brunskill there.

Safety

Jimmie Ward needs a new partner. Barring a last minute deal, Jaquiski Tartt has played his final down with the 49ers. Moving on from Tartt will be tough. Despite his injury issues he always played at a fairly high level. He is a vastly underrated safety who can come into the box to defend and play high up in coverage. A safety who can do both or is great at one and has the capability of another is something the 49ers should look to draft.

Talanoa Hufanga had some flashes, but isn’t a player the 49ers should put all their chips on as the starter in 2022. They need someone who can step in immediately with great skills in coverage. San Francisco has met with SEVEN safety prospects, so it is clear they know safety is weak right now. Two of those prospects that they met with who I am enamored with are Nick Cross and Jaquan Brisker. Cross is a player the 49ers could fall upon in the mid-rounds, while Brisker might demand the 49ers to deal some picks in the second round for him.

Edge Rusher

I’m sure an edge rusher being listed is shocking to you. The reason it is here is so that the 49ers can provide Nick Bosa with someone who can be on the team for the foreseeable future. Someone who can stay aboard and be a solid “Robin” to his “Batman” in pass rushing. With Kris Kocurek as the wizard that he is, he can turn a mid-round edge rusher into an impactful player. You can never have too many pass rushers in this league. Having a strong rotation would make the 49ers an unfair force again. Plus, whoever the 49ers end up drafting, if that player does end up becoming sweet, then the 49ers have a perfect duo.

Another aspect is that extending Bosa could become something the 49ers don’t feel forced to do. Just look at how they’re going about extending Deebo Samuel. It’s a mess right now, and I’m sure if they had another great skill player that trading him would be fairly easy. It’s a stretch, of course, for this scenario to occur from a mid-round pick to become a promising impact player that makes extending Bosa an option. But it is certainly something the 49ers wouldn’t mind happening. Why cash out Bosa and dedicate a lot of the cap space to him if they can find a sweet edge rusher who is under a rookie contract for a few years?

Wide Receiver?

The only way wide receiver becomes a position of need for the 49ers is if they trade Deebo Samuel. While I don’t believe a trade occurs, I wouldn’t put it past the 49ers to do so. There’s a bit of a chance if not a decent one that it happens. This situation with Samuel is pretty bizarre and it feels like anything can happen. Since it can, looking into wide receivers is what the 49ers would have to do. One of the picks they end up receiving from trading Samuel would have to towards a receiver. 

They’re not just going to roll into the season with Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings as their top wide receivers. And there isn’t a veteran they could sign either as they are salary-cap strapped thanks to Jimmy Garoppolo being still aboard the roster. It’s tough to give out names of who the 49ers could look into drafting as it strictly depends on where they will be picking once they send Samuel off. All I know is that they will definitely need to select one once it becomes reality.