Steve Young shared his insights on the San Francisco 49ers' wide receiver situation and offensive line during a recent appearance on Bay Area radio station KNBR. Heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, there was speculation about potential trades involving top wideouts Brandon Aiyuk or Deebo Samuel. However, despite rumors swirling across the league, no deals materialized.
Aiyuk and Samuel remain on the roster, but doubts linger about their long-term presence, especially after wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was selected with the No. 31 overall pick.
Aiyuk is due a contract extension, and Samuel is already among the highest-paid players at the position. Keeping both on the roster beyond the upcoming season might prove challenging, especially with quarterback Brock Purdy set to become the team's highest-paid player next year.
"It's a precursor to the inevitability, right?" Young commented on the "Murph & Markus" show. "That we can't keep everybody. We can this year. So that's where people are like, 'Hey, wait, I can deal with this, but I'm not going to deal with it until I have to.'"
Young stressed the importance of maintaining talent at key positions like quarterback, edge rusher, and the offensive line, the latter of which was considered a significant need for the 49ers heading into the draft. Despite expectations of targeting an offensive tackle in the first round, San Francisco opted for two guards later in the draft.
"We looked at numerous guys throughout the process," general manager John Lynch explained after the draft. "I think when you're drafting 31st, it's oftentimes hard to find a tackle that you really love. And we like our tackles as they stand right now."
While Young sees the value in adding Pearsall as another weapon to take advantage of the middle of the field, he acknowledged that the selection might not have addressed a significant need. At least, not an immediate one.
"We already have that guy," Young remarked. "So we have an extra guy. So you can make an argument that we have an extra guy if Ricky's gonna come in and be as good or near good as [others who have produced in that role]. Can we use three of them? Well, yeah. That just gives Kyle that much more flexibility.
"You can say to yourself, by October, and Ricky's fully integrated into the system, there might be too many people with [TE] George [Kittle] and [RB] Christian [McCaffrey] and then [WR] Jauan [Jennings]. You've got a lot of guys.
"And so, what didn't we get better at? Hopefully, we will get better at offensive line. You saw it in the Super Bowl. You saw it toward the end of the season. That's the thing that's going to be a big difference maker, more so than even at receiver. I think that offensive line beats receiver as far as importance in what you have to have in the league."
However, Young also noted that the Pearsall selection makes sense when considering the future of the receiver position and the challenges of paying top-tier money to two wideouts while maintaining an overall talented roster. If Samuel or Jennings depart next year, Pearsall will be an asset.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Young below.