The 2025 NFL Draft will be critical for San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch. After an offseason purge that saw several key contributors depart—and with the team significantly reducing future cash spending—the 49ers must restock their roster with young, affordable talent. All of it comes in preparation for a shift in how the roster is built.
San Francisco is preparing to make quarterback Brock Purdy the highest-paid player in franchise history, which will inevitably reduce financial flexibility at other positions, especially compared to the luxury the team enjoyed while Purdy was still on a rookie deal.
While Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have hit on several draft picks during their tenure, there have also been some notable misfires. The most significant remains the decision to trade a haul of draft capital to move up and select quarterback Trey Lance in 2021, a mistake that was fortunately offset by the selection of Purdy with the final pick in the 2022 draft.
During an NFL Network segment with analyst Daniel Jeremiah and ESPN's Mina Kimes, Gregg Rosenthal questioned whether this upcoming draft could be pivotal for Lynch's job security (h/t to Peter Panacy of Niner Noise).
Rosenthal pointed out that San Francisco leads the NFL in dead money this year. Over The Cap estimates that nearly $81 million in cap space is tied up in players no longer on the roster.
"It's crazy because, the 49ers, they still have a lot of great players," Rosenthal said, "and I don't want to discount them because ultimately, if you're power ranking the best teams over the last five years, they're probably number two to me, behind the Chiefs, even though they haven't gotten that Super Bowl title.
"And yet, this is absolutely a transition year, and John Lynch has to earn that money. And he's done such a great job over the years, but you do wonder if they had another bad year, this has been an arranged marriage, him and Kyle Shanahan, for a long time. Do they stay together forever? He's almost talked about wanting to move on."
Kimes chimed in, stating that Lynch has largely avoided heavy criticism for the Lance pick, a move that could have cost other executives their jobs, thanks to the unexpected (and very fortunate) emergence of Purdy.
"Things just worked out for them," Kimes said, noting that the lack of draft capital from the Lance trade contributed to the team's disappointing six-win 2024 season. Injuries, of course, played a role as well.
"It's weirdly like it's taken a second to hit the roster," she continued, "but I actually think we are seeing it a little bit in the roster now because they haven't had a lot of picks in the past, and now they have all these holes on their team."
Despite the brutal 2024 campaign, team owner Jed York expressed complete confidence in Lynch and Shanahan earlier this year.
"There's no one that I respect more and trust more than John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan to get us back on track," York said in February.
Still, that confidence could be tested if the 49ers endure another underwhelming season in 2025.