Team Needs 2026 NFL Draft

Originally posted by DoseOfBosa:
1. DE
Bosa and Williams will both be recovering from serious injuries and Huff kinda sucks. Sam OK and Keion White are good in rotation, but not starters. We still need that speed rusher that Ford was, that we thought Huff was going to be. If David Bailey makes it past 15, we should trade up.

2. WR
Aiyuk is gone. Jennings is maybe gone. Pearsall is always hurt. Watkins and Cowing have done nothing. We might need to add 2 WRs.

3. DT
Collins and West have had their moments, but we're still getting ran over and no inside rush either. I would've liked to have seen Valdez and Anderson this season, but whatever. I would add at least two more DTs, maybe with those 4th round comps.

4. LG
Bartch is always hurt. Burford is Burford, but I'd actually re-sign him for depth/ competition because he's still only 25 and has now played three positions on the OL.

5. C
Brendel has actually improved this year, but he's 33 with 1 year left on his contract, so we're gonna need franchise Center soon, it'd be nice to have them redshirt a year.

6. LT
This goes to #1 need in my rankings if Trent retires. Pleasants can play in a pinch. A project LT in Rd3/4 might be a good investment (if TW stays).

7. RB
I'd like see Robinson get re-signed but it also looks like a good draft for RBs.

other positions:

QB -- sign Zach Wilson as the next reclamation project
TE -- Jake Tonges filled this need
LB -- Warner should be full health, the unit as a whole is better with him on the field. Martin is basically a rookie next year.
DB -- I like the group we have, they're all young, so they should be get better, and having a new pass rush would help
ST -- re-sign all three specialists and re-sign Skyy Moore

If Brendel has improved I somehow missed it.

BPA at these positions:

To me our biggest need is Edge. A pass rush specialist for sure that doesn't necessarily have to be good against the run. You don't have to draft him in rd 1 but you better get him in the top half of the draft.

WR is a need but I'd try really hard to address this in free agency.

Safety. No box safeties only playmakers who always seem to be around the ball.

OL - keep adding them. Going to need to pay the piper and address Trent Williams eventual retirement but he sounds like he still wants to play. Same can be said for fan favorite Jake Brendal

Originally posted by miked1978:
BPA at these positions:

To me our biggest need is Edge. A pass rush specialist for sure that doesn't necessarily have to be good against the run. You don't have to draft him in rd 1 but you better get him in the top half of the draft.

WR is a need but I'd try really hard to address this in free agency.

Safety. No box safeties only playmakers who always seem to be around the ball.

OL - keep adding them. Going to need to pay the piper and address Trent Williams eventual retirement but he sounds like he still wants to play. Same can be said for fan favorite Jake Brendal

Agree BPA with those positions, specifically WR and ER . WR seems to be deep, so would like to see them address that in the draft and bring Jennings back, but not sure how feasible that is.
For safety would like to see them address that in FA with a guy like Bryant and a rotational DL guy like Rankins . And if Seattle resigns Bryant I'd look to target love as the odd man out
OL ideally get a successor to Williams in the pipeline who could contribute off the bat at G and then a future C

Feels insane to type this, but the 49ers badly need LBs. Fred is going to be 30 years old coming off back-to-back seasons where he's been injured(one serious); Dee Winters isn't a long-term starter; Nick Martin ????

DE pass rusher is the biggest need. Bosa is triple ACL. May not be able to count on him in the future. It was a disaster without him. We don't have any other pass rushers. WR is a huge need and I hate this. Because they keep picking it and don't know how to pick it. Aiyuk is crazy and soon gone. Deebo left. Persall is made of GLASS. Jennings is good but slow and may also leave in free agency. We need speed, route running, good hands and DURABILITY here. LB is a need with the Warner injury at depth. We need S for coverage. They can run stop. But we have speed and coverage problems on the back end. Could use a high pick there. LG is a big need as is C. T for the future. Williams may retire eventually.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
DE pass rusher is the biggest need. Bosa is triple ACL. May not be able to count on him in the future. It was a disaster without him. We don't have any other pass rushers. WR is a huge need and I hate this. Because they keep picking it and don't know how to pick it. Aiyuk is crazy and soon gone. Deebo left. Persall is made of GLASS. Jennings is good but slow and may also leave in free agency. We need speed, route running, good hands and DURABILITY here. LB is a need with the Warner injury at depth. We need S for coverage. They can run stop. But we have speed and coverage problems on the back end. Could use a high pick there. LG is a big need as is C. T for the future. Williams may retire eventually.

Don't know how to pick a WR but then you name 4 that they picked and has produced. Can you maybe give them your crystal ball so they too can see 4 years into the future?

Originally posted by miked1978:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
DE pass rusher is the biggest need. Bosa is triple ACL. May not be able to count on him in the future. It was a disaster without him. We don't have any other pass rushers. WR is a huge need and I hate this. Because they keep picking it and don't know how to pick it. Aiyuk is crazy and soon gone. Deebo left. Persall is made of GLASS. Jennings is good but slow and may also leave in free agency. We need speed, route running, good hands and DURABILITY here. LB is a need with the Warner injury at depth. We need S for coverage. They can run stop. But we have speed and coverage problems on the back end. Could use a high pick there. LG is a big need as is C. T for the future. Williams may retire eventually.

Don't know how to pick a WR but then you name 4 that they picked and has produced. Can you maybe give them your crystal ball so they too can see 4 years into the future?

good luck

Originally posted by Heroism:
Feels insane to type this, but the 49ers badly need LBs. Fred is going to be 30 years old coming off back-to-back seasons where he's been injured(one serious); Dee Winters isn't a long-term starter; Nick Martin ????

LBer may be BPA when they pick in the 1st but we won't pick a MLB that high, Sonny Styles would be a good fit

Originally posted by ChaunceyGardner:

Originally posted by Heroism:
Feels insane to type this, but the 49ers badly need LBs. Fred is going to be 30 years old coming off back-to-back seasons where he's been injured(one serious); Dee Winters isn't a long-term starter; Nick Martin ????

LBer may be BPA when they pick in the 1st but we won't pick a MLB that high, Sonny Styles would be a good fit

Am I crazy for liking Whit Weeks?

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

Originally posted by ChaunceyGardner:

Originally posted by Heroism:
Feels insane to type this, but the 49ers badly need LBs. Fred is going to be 30 years old coming off back-to-back seasons where he's been injured(one serious); Dee Winters isn't a long-term starter; Nick Martin ????

LBer may be BPA when they pick in the 1st but we won't pick a MLB that high, Sonny Styles would be a good fit

Am I crazy for liking Whit Weeks?

Absolutely not, was wondering the same

Originally posted by miked1978:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
DE pass rusher is the biggest need. Bosa is triple ACL. May not be able to count on him in the future. It was a disaster without him. We don't have any other pass rushers. WR is a huge need and I hate this. Because they keep picking it and don't know how to pick it. Aiyuk is crazy and soon gone. Deebo left. Persall is made of GLASS. Jennings is good but slow and may also leave in free agency. We need speed, route running, good hands and DURABILITY here. LB is a need with the Warner injury at depth. We need S for coverage. They can run stop. But we have speed and coverage problems on the back end. Could use a high pick there. LG is a big need as is C. T for the future. Williams may retire eventually.

Don't know how to pick a WR but then you name 4 that they picked and has produced. Can you maybe give them your crystal ball so they too can see 4 years into the future?

Pearsall doesn't produce anything. He's always hurt. Aiyuk is as big of a head case as you can ever find in sports. Deebo was always injured and under performing. Not as great as some people think.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
Pearsall doesn't produce anything. He's always hurt. Aiyuk is as big of a head case as you can ever find in sports. Deebo was always injured and under performing. Not as great as some people think.

Pearsall produces when he's on the field. He's injured a lot yes but you can't predict injuries. He had no injury history in college but yet here you are blaming the front office for drafting a WR bc they got injured.

Aiyuk didnt become a headcase until it was time to negotiate his 2nd contract. How do you predict that? What i find crazy is you are in the other thread questioning why we didnt draft James Pearce when there was pre draft reports saying he was a head case in college. But here you are blaming us for drafting Aiyuk who became a head case 4 years after he was drafted. Make it make sense.

Deebo was the same way as Aiyuk. Not a peep from him until it was time to get a new contract.

Seems like you just like to complain and will complain about anything as long as it fits your narrative.

All that is needed is to not let Kyle have the final say on any selection.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
DE pass rusher is the biggest need. Bosa is triple ACL. May not be able to count on him in the future. It was a disaster without him. We don't have any other pass rushers. WR is a huge need and I hate this. Because they keep picking it and don't know how to pick it. Aiyuk is crazy and soon gone. Deebo left. Persall is made of GLASS. Jennings is good but slow and may also leave in free agency. We need speed, route running, good hands and DURABILITY here. LB is a need with the Warner injury at depth. We need S for coverage. They can run stop. But we have speed and coverage problems on the back end. Could use a high pick there. LG is a big need as is C. T for the future. Williams may retire eventually.

Fair list and it highlights that the team hasn't been particularly good at finding talent in the drafts. I think a big part of that was the impact of the Trey Lance trade. I think it's fair to say the team needs to find pass rushers, wherever they come from. Mykel Williams will be back, Bosa will be back, I assume Huff will return to his pass rusher specialist role. They could use another DE but may not be a five alarm fire next year. I think they could really use a DT that gets some pressure up the middle and/or another pass rushing DE. Bethune and Winters will be at LB next season and Nick Martin, if he's not a total bust, will be back next season, so maybe LB isn't as big a need as it looks right now. On defense, I think they need to seriously look at the safety position. Missed tackles, we've got receivers beating single high safeties on post routes. If we're looking for obvious starters next season then safety is a place to look.

On offense I think we can assume that the 49ers feel like they'll be able to make it work again with mid-round picks and free agents there. WR is the far and away top need there with Aiyuk now out of the picture. Not surprising the need here. Specifically they need an X receiver. I'd add LG to replace Burford and they're going to need a RB that is good enough to take snaps from CMC. The guys we have now are nothingburgers, roster fillers. Summing it all up.

Needs: Safety, Pass rusher anybody, WR X with speed, LG, RB

Right now the needs are evident but free agency may change the needs. Players leaving or free agents signed can change everything.