49ers draft: Storylines, possible picks and biggest needs for Lynch and Shanahan
The 2026 NFL Draft kicks off Thursday, with the San Francisco 49ers set to make six picks over the draft’s three days.
Whether the 49ers find the next Brock Purdy or just add depth for a team that finished 12-5 despite many injuries in 2025 remains to be seen.
One thing is for certain: there are a lot of different 49ers storylines worth following in the hours before one of the NFL’s biggest annual events.
Here’s what fans and 49ers need to know leading up to the draft in Pittsburgh.
When do the 49ers pick?
San Francisco has at least one pick each of the three days of the draft, though the team doesn’t have a selection in all seven rounds.
While their final haul of picks could be subject to trades between now and when the final selection is made, here’s how the draft order sat for the 49ers as of Wednesday evening:
- Round 1, 27th overall pick
- Round 2, 58th overall pick
- Round 4, 127th overall pick
- Round 4, 133rd overall pick
- Round 4, 138th overall pick
- Round 4, 139th overall pick
Round 1 starts Thursday at 5 p.m. Pacific time, rounds 2-3 begin 4 p.m. Friday and rounds 4-7 will take place Saturday, kicking off at 9 a.m.
There’s a chance the 49ers could use some of their picks to trade down and add selections. They might also package future selections to get more this year. Six picks is on the leaner side of this year’s draft classes, with the Steelers topping out among teams with 12 selections.
But it’s not to say the 49ers couldn’t package some of their existing picks this year to move up in the draft. One fun part of the NFL draft is that a trade can be made days, hours or even minutes before any given pick.
Is there a future star in the 49ers draft?
One thing that comes through in attempting to predict the careers of 49ers draftees is that it’s rarely the top picks that shine. In fact, historically, the opposite has often been true for San Francisco.
Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant, picked last overall in 2022, before he parlayed injuries to quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo into a career. Fred Warner, George Kittle and Talanoa Hufanga were all mid-round selections for San Francisco. So was Hall of Famer and franchise legend Joe Montana, who was a third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame.
The middle of the NFL draft can be a great point for finding linebackers, safeties and tight ends. There’s a chance that a year or two from now, a currently obscure draft prospect could be showing out at one of these positions for the 49ers.
By contrast, Lance’s failure in San Francisco after he was drafted third overall in 2021 is well-documented. The team also passed on Patrick Mahomes, among others, to draft Solomon Thomas second overall in 2017. Alex Smith was serviceable with the 49ers, but the team can forever wonder what might have been for passing on Aaron Rodgers to take Smith first overall in 2005.
And this doesn’t even count the time the 49ers traded five picks, including what became the first pick in the 1979 draft, for an aging O.J. Simpson. Of course, Montana’s selection that year more or less nullified any criticism. But in general, the team hasn’t had great luck at the top of the draft.
One recent, notable exception has been Nick Bosa, picked second overall in 2019. He immediately made his presence felt by winning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and helping lead the team to Super Bowl LIV vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Bosa remains a key piece of the defense, though he suffered season-ending ACL injuries in the 2020 season opener and the third game of 2025.
Positions of need
Several mock drafts have the 49ers targeting their offensive or defensive line in the first or second round, and those are certainly both areas where they could use reinforcements.
Still, those aren’t the only positions for which they’ll consider drafting.
Sure, Bosa’s season-ending ACL injury likely helped lead to the team totaling just 20 sacks last season. Longtime 49ers reporter Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area noted that this “was the worst figure in the NFL last season and the lowest total in franchise history during any season in which they played more than 12 games.”
And while the 49ers just re-signed future Hall of Fame left tackle Trent Williams to a two-year deal earlier this year, he will turn 38 in July and could leave a major void when he eventually retires.
That said, George Kittle’s season-ending Achilles injury and the 49ers having four fourth-round picks could signal them drafting a tight end. Beyond this, running back Christian McCaffrey turns 30 in June and while the team has some depth behind him, as it is with Williams, there is no clear succession plan.
And then there are positions like linebacker, the secondary or wide receiver that seem to always need fresh additions in today’s NFL.
Something else to watch is if the 49ers add a sixth or seventh round pick through a trade, they might be well-poised to draft a quarterback they could develop. Although Purdy is holding down the starting position and Mac Jones is entering the second and final year of a cheap backup contract, the players behind them are unproven.
Burning an early- to mid-round pick on a QB this year seems like overkill for the 49ers, who went 5-3 last season with Jones starting for an injured Purdy. Still, if there’s a low-cost way to add talent to that position, they might do it.
Names to watch
Three notable mock drafts have the 49ers taking University of Central Florida defensive end Malachi Lawrence.
Jordan Reid of ESPN.com and Maiocco each have the 49ers taking Lawrence in the first round with the 27th overall pick. Eric Williams of NFL.com also predicts Lawrence going to the 49ers but has it happening in the second round with the 58th overall pick.
Other projected first-round selections for the 49ers among various mock drafts are Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu, Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston and Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr.
Cooper is an intriguing name to watch, as he hauled in 69 receptions and 13 touchdowns for Indiana. While some of that might have been due to his pairing with consensus first-overall pick quarterback Fernando Mendoza, Cooper also brings 4.42-second, 40-yard dash speed.
