How the 49ers ended up with Javon Kinlaw, Brandon Aiyuk in the NFL draft
The 49ers entered Thursday night with two first-round picks in the NFL draft, but neither selection was made at their original spot.
After a pair of trades, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch filled their most-glaring holes by taking defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw to replace DeForest Buckner and explosive receiver Brandon Aiyuk to fill the void left by Emmanuel Sanders.
In essence, the defending NFC champions got younger and cheaper while replacing the veterans lost with promising rookies.
“We added two guys here today that, without a doubt, are starting-caliber players who will make your team better,” Shanahan said in a Zoom video call, “who will be contributors on their first contracts for a long time. And that will really help us in free agency next year. That will really help us in the draft next year.”
Shanahan and Lynch are sticking with the formula that helped the team reach the Super Bowl last season: have a dominant defensive line and athletic skill players that can burn defenses in multiple ways. Kinlaw and Aiyuk appear to fill those mandates.
For all his offensive chops, Shanahan is a believer that defense wins Super Bowls. He cited his 2016 Falcons team that had one of the most efficient offenses in history, but pointed out the defense wasn’t good enough to put away the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, famously blowing a 28-3 second-half lead.
It’s why Shanahan had no problem using three first-round picks in his four drafts on defensive linemen, with Kinlaw joining Solomon Thomas (2017) and budding star Nick Bosa, who won last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
Shanahan said that trend originated while he was building teams with his friends on Madden video games in the late 1990s. He said he always started with players like Michael Strahan while his opponents would go with offensive stars like Randy Moss.
“It’s more fun for me in an offense with offensive play-makers, but nothing’s more fun than having a defense like we had last year,” Shanahan said. “And I think that gives you the best chance to go to the Super Bowl. And I think that’s why John has a Super Bowl ring. ... And if we have that top defense, I think it’s easier to manufacture it on offense where not many people manufacture a defense. That defense better be more talented than almost everyone they’re going against.”
With Kinlaw, the 49ers are replacing one mountainous defensive lineman with another. Kinlaw (6-5, 324) is a touch shorter than Buckner (6-8, 291), but is heavier and with longer, 34 7/8-inch arms. Scouting service Pro Football Focus said Kinlaw had a higher win rate in pass rushing situations (15.4 percent) than any defensive tackle in college over the past two seasons. He had 10.5 sacks and 16.0 tackles for loss over that span.
The 49ers hope inserting Kinlaw into a group that’s already loaded with talent will help realize his potential. Kinlaw said throughout the draft process that San Francisco was his preferred destination.
“Another physical, dominating presence attached with three more? You can’t ask for nothing better than that,” Kinlaw said of joining Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead and Dee Ford. “I feel like I can come in and play a vital role.”
Kinlaw made his first big impression on Lynch during practices ahead of the Senior Bowl where he dominated offensive linemen in drills. He sat out the Senior Bowl game because of knee tendinitis and didn’t work out at the combine. Both Lynch and Kinlaw indicated there was no long-term concern with the injury.
San Francisco took Kinlaw with the 14th overall selection after moving back one spot in a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 49ers received an extra fourth-round pick in the deal (and dealt away one of their two seventh-rounders), and used that pick to move up six spots from 31 to 25 to snag Aiyuk. The move was surprising given many believed the 49ers would trade back to add picks in the middle rounds, rather than trade a fourth-round pick to move up.
Shanahan said the 49ers believed there was no chance Aiyuk would last until 31 based on the information the team gathered.
Additionally, Aiyuk was Shanahan’s favorite receiver in the class and he would have considered drafting him 13th or 14th overall had Kinlaw not been available. The 49ers passed on Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy and Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb when they took Kinlaw. Speedster Henry Ruggs was the first wideout off the board to the Raiders at No. 12.
What Shanahan likes about Aiyuk, despite starting for just one season at Arizona State after beginning his career in junior college at Sierra College, was that he can play all three receiver positions in his offense, similar to the way Sanders did after he was added in the trade last season.
“It didn’t matter where you put him and it didn’t matter what the play was and that’s what we got a little bit with Emmanuel when we traded for him and that’s what I think we’re getting with Brandon,” he said.
“And I’m so excited to have a guy like that because I think we can use him anyway we want. And I think he’s capable of doing everything from an athletic standpoint. And I think he has the mentality from a toughness standpoint in terms of the contact of the game and also in terms of this guy is just not happy with today. This guy wants to be great. I want someone like that.”
Aiyuk in different scouting reports leading into the draft had been compared to Pierre Garçon and Sanders, two receivers Shanahan has worked with and has an affinity for. Aiyuk has explosive athleticism (40-inch vertical jump, 128-inch broad jump at the combine) and averaged 10.9 yards after the catch per reception, according to Pro Football Focus.
So now the 49ers have three after-the-catch dynamos in Aiyuk, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel.
A knock on Aiyuk: he only had one year of production in college with some of the classes other wideouts, like Jeudy and Lamb, had multiple seasons with big numbers. Aiyuk recorded 1,192 yards on 65 catches (18.3-yard average) last season following up a 474-yard junior campaign while working behind N’Keal Harry, a first-round pick of the Patriots last spring.
“I take a lot of pride in my yards after the catch,” Aiyuk said. “Early on at Arizona State, I didn’t get a lot of touches and one of my coaches told me that when you do get the ball just go score a touchdown. So I kind of just have that mentality that every time I touch the football I want to go score a touchdown.”
While Shanahan and Lynch did well to replace Buckner and Sanders, San Francisco still doesn’t have much draft capital to work with over the next two days.
They have three picks remaining, all coming on Day 3. They are in Round 5 (No. 156), Round 6 (No. 210) and Round 7 (No. 217).
There’s a strong chance the 49ers won’t make a pick Friday during the second and third rounds. In fact, their wait from 25 to 156 is the longest gap in the draft since 2007, according to ESPN. Filling future needs like cornerback and offensive tackle could be difficult.
“We’ve emptied the tank a little there today,” Lynch said.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
