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The 49ers Must Make Defensive Line their Top Priority in this Draft

They need lots of young, talented pass rushers who are cost-effective.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

In the past two years, the 49ers have drafted just one defensive lineman -- Robert Beal Jr., arguably the worst player on their 53-man roster. He has one career sack.

Compare the 49ers to the Rams. In the past two years, they've drafted Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner and Byron Young. Those are their four starting defensive linemen, and this season they combined to record 28.5 sacks.

Just last week, the Rams sacked Sam Darnold a whopping nine times in a 27-9 playoff win over the Vikings. Meanwhile, the 49ers watched from home in part because their defensive line is subpar. It's just Nick Bosa and a bunch of veteran journeymen and young players who make no impact. And that's because the 49ers haven't drafted good defensive linemen other than Bosa since John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan joined the franchise in 2017.

Here is the full list of defensive linemen they've drafted:

Robert Beal
Drake Jackson
Kalia Davis
Javon Kinlaw
Nick Bosa
Kentavius Street
Jullian Taylor
Solomon Thomas
D.J. Jones
Pita Taumoepenu

That's horrendous. Even Trent Baalke was better at drafting defensive linemen. Remember, he drafted DeForest Buckner, Arik Armstead and Aldon Smith.

This year, the 49ers have the 11th pick in the NFL Draft -- that's prime position to take a defensive tackle or a defensive end who will be on the team for 10 years and go to multiple Pro Bowls. Both Georgia edge rusher Mykel Williams and Kentucky defensive tackle Deone Walker. The 49ers could take one of those two prospects or someone else they prefer on the defensive line. But they can't afford to pass on this position again.

They need lots of young, talented pass rushers who are cost-effective.

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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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