At worst, the San Francisco 49ers might have been the second-best team in the NFL last year. They proved that by representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. While the season didn't end the way the team hoped, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have moved past the disappointing defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs and are looking to improve their roster.
San Francisco owns seven draft picks, which it will use this week to bolster that roster. It hopes to add some starters at key positions in addition to creating more depth and building for the future.
The 49ers are in a win-now mode, but keeping in mind that the plan is to continue building toward long-term success. Still, you can't ignore that the team finds itself within a championship window, and those windows tend to close quickly if you make a mistake.
The 49ers don't have the draft equity they have become accustomed to in recent years. With just seven selections, and none between rounds one and five, Lynch, Shanahan, and company need to hit on as many draft picks as possible.
But is having just seven selections a problem? Lynch doesn't necessarily believe so.
The 49ers may lack picks in rounds two, three, and four, but the general manager views the situation differently than most, at least when it comes to that missing second-round pick.
"Looking back now, we don't have a second (round) pick," Lynch told reporters via his pre-draft Zoom conference call on Monday, "but I think our second round pick last year was a pretty good one, and that's Dee Ford.
"I understand that Dee didn't play as much as we would have wanted him to. His body didn't allow for that last year. What I do know is when he was [out] there, we were a different team. So, would we change that? Absolutely not. I don't think we're at the Super Bowl without that."
The lack of third- and fourth-round selections came courtesy of a trade for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who played in just 13 games with the 49ers before leaving via free agency for the New Orleans Saints. While some may see that as a wasted opportunity, Lynch does not.
It is worth noting that the 49ers acquired a fifth-round selection, giving them two, as part of the deal with the Denver Broncos for Sanders.
"I think Emmanuel made us better," Lynch explained. "He helped us get to the Super Bowl. So, do you trade that? Do you wish you had that back, at this point? No. You wish you had draft picks, but in my mind, it was worth it."
Lynch knows the 49ers have to make their seven (assuming it stays at that number) draft picks count because it will be tougher than ever for an incoming rookie to fight his way up the depth chart. It may even be tough to make the roster at all.
"We already have a lot of guys signed, so there's not a ton of roster spots," Lynch continued. "We have one of the better rosters in football, in my mind, and so it's going to be real hard for draft picks to make this (team), as well.
"I don't think it'd be a great year to have 10 draft picks. I think it's going to be hard to make this team, so we've got to make them count. That's the feeling every year, but especially this year with very few (picks).
"We've got to make every pick that we make, whether it be the number 13 pick, the 31st pick, if we were to move out of those, or they're our fifth- or sixth- or seventh-round picks, that we really make them count."
