Kyle Shanahan chuckled, flashed an uncharacteristically warm smile, and turned to John Lynch before I was done with my question on Friday night, because Shanahan couldn’t hide what he was feeling and truly didn’t want to.
He and Lynch have been through some things this offseason — mostly the painful parade of productive and popular veteran players heading out the door to other teams as the 49ers made huge cuts to their payroll. From what I’ve heard, Shanahan and Lynch haven’t been complaining to the financial people about the exodus and have largely understood why it happened.
But it was zero fun to sit and watch their glittering roster get sliced up like that, with no major additions coming back the other way. At some point, I imagine that Shanahan was in a version of NFL shock.
So yeah, Shanahan laughed knowingly when I asked if Thursday and Friday — when the 49ers selected four interesting defensive players in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft — were a little more fun for the coach and GM than everything that happened in March.
“I told John today was the first day I kinda exhaled since free agency,” Shanahan said after sharing that look with Lynch.
Maybe first-round pick Mykel Williams, selected Thursday, won’t turn into the next Myles Garrett. It’s quite possible that Friday’s picks — defensive tackle Alfred Collins, linebacker Nick Martin, and cornerback Upton Stout — won’t all be difference-makers this season, next season, or for any season.
And every decision-maker after every pick says that they got exactly the player they were targeting just when they wanted him, just like Lynch and Shanahan said on Friday … with more picks to come to finish off the draft on Saturday. But the mood in 49ers HQ during this draft isn’t about a 100% hit rate or guaranteeing any instant fix to all the holes that opened up last month.
This was about the simple act of adding talented names to their thin defensive line and linebacking depth charts. This was about feeling good about the scouting and evaluating process and feeling some amount of luck to be able to add these players. And finally, this was about having some hope again.
“You know, you lose a lot of guys, whenever that happened, two months ago, a month ago, a month and a half … but you come into work, you look at your board, and there’s a lot of empty spots,” Shanahan said. “You’re studying the draft, but you don’t know how it’s gonna pan out. There’s a lot of empty spots there that we would love to fill (in the draft). But if they’re not there, then you go other positions and stuff.
“So I was really hoping we could fill out a lot of those spots. And we did today. Which, it’s the start of it. But you’ve gotta have some people there. Now let’s have some competition and hopefully we add some more tomorrow. But definitely it’s good to have some guys here because we lost a number, more than we ever have before.”
Did the 49ers draft four possible Day 1 starters? You’ve got to believe that Williams is inked in as Nick Bosa’s bookend at defensive end and will remain there unless he struggles badly in camp or gets hurt. Given that the 49ers have no starting-level veteran defensive tackles on the roster, Collins should, at the very least, immediately move into the defensive tackle rotation. And the same is pretty much true for Martin at weak-side linebacker next to Fred Warner. Stout might have more competition to get into the three-cornerback rotation, but if he has a great camp, he’ll certainly have a chance to earn playing time.
There have been years — just last year! — when the 49ers didn’t go into the draft expecting that anybody from the class would be an instant starter. Or all that they needed immediately was a kicker — like two years ago. Rookies mostly had to fight their way over a few years against established veterans.
But a string of injuries forced most of the 2024 rookie class into key roles last year. This offseason’s discardings will do the same for this group. And suddenly, the 2025 49ers will have two draft classes playing humongous roles. Not coincidentally, their cash commitment is much, much lower.
That should be scary for Shanahan and Lynch. It’s definitely challenging. But this draft isn’t the time for warnings. It’s a time for optimism — the first time for this since … err … last July?
“It’s a good foundation,” Lynch said. “This was a huge weekend for our organization. We love our core of guys. But there’s a lot of opportunity on our roster right now. There’s also a lot of necessity, I think, to infuse with youth and some quality young players. … We’ve got a lot of work still to do.”
Taking four rookies in a row to start a draft also shows a lot of confidence that they’ll know what to do with them — which, of course, is a nod to returning defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who surely had a lot of input in these selections.
And yes, Shanahan and Lynch went into the first two days determined to draft entirely on the defensive side. They said they were open to taking an offensive player in the first three rounds if somebody they loved slipped through the cracks, but that didn’t happen. They stuck to the plan and drafted defense down the line because they knew they had to.
“We hoped so,” Shanahan said. “You always want to address your bigger needs — but you don’t just draft to address needs, it’s gotta fit right. We hoped it played out that way, because we needed to do that. Starting with the first pick to the next three, it all worked that way.”
They’ve added talented young players. They need these guys. Maybe, with this group added to Bosa, Warner, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, and all the offensive talent, this is an important turning point for this franchise.
Let’s see how it works out. I think Shanahan and Lynch needed to get to this point to begin to see the light at the end of this tunnel. It’s been a while in the darkness.
