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Should the 49ers Draft an Edge Rusher with the 11th Pick in Round 1?

Given the 49ers' history, maybe they should address their run defense in free agency and draft the best edge rusher available.
Grant Cohn|
Sep 14, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Texas A&M Aggies defensive lineman Nic Scourton (11) looks toward the sideline against the Florida Gators during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Sep 14, 2024; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Texas A&M Aggies defensive lineman Nic Scourton (11) looks toward the sideline against the Florida Gators during the first half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have more needs than they can address in one offseason and it's hard to say which need is their biggest.

The 49ers certainly need to improve their offensive line -- Trent Williams is old and everyone else except Dominick Puni is expendable.

They also need to improve their defensive line -- Javon Hargrave will be a free agent in March, and Leonard Floyd, Maliek Collins and Yetur Gross-Matos all will be free agents next year.

The 49ers' run defense has been so bad the past two seasons, they could decide to take a defensive tackle with the 11th pick, but John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have a miserable track record of drafting defensive tackles in Round 1. So far, they've taken Solomon Thomas and Javon Kinlaw -- two busts.

The 49ers' pass rush also has been sub par, particularly this season. That's because Nick Bosa is the only pass rusher they have who scares anyone. So they could take a pass-rusher, too. And maybe they should.

Whenever the 49ers take a defensive end with a top-15 pick in Round 1, that player is good. Since 1970, the 49ers have taken four defensive ends in the top 15: Nick Bosa (62.5 career sacks and counting), Aldon Smith (52.5 career sacks), Andre Carter (80.5 career sacks) and Cedrick Hardman (122.5 career sacks).

Given the 49ers' history, maybe they should address their run defense in free agency and draft the best edge rusher available.

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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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