NFL draft updates: 49ers’ three Day 2 picks are in. Who’d they get?
The San Francisco 49ers traded out of the first round of the NFL draft through two deals Thursday. And Friday, the deals were continuing.
First, they spent some of Friday reportedly flirting with trading their No. 33 pick before opting to keep it and select Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling.
But the dealing wasn’t done, with the 49ers then trading linebacker Dee Winters to the Dallas Cowboys for the 152nd pick in the draft. They followed this by packaging that pick with the 58th selection, shortly before they were set to make it, to obtain the 70th and 107th picks from the Cleveland Browns.
The 49ers used the 70th pick on Romello Height, an edge rusher from Texas Tech and followed by selecting Indiana running back Kaelon Black with the 90th pick. They are slated to make five additional picks in the later rounds Saturday, on the third and final day of the 2026 draft.
National champion running back goes 90th to 49ers
In Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers have had one of football’s best running backs in recent years, particularly when factoring in his receiving abilities.
Still, with McCaffrey set to turn 30 on June 7, the clock is starting to tick on his career. And with respect to the other running backs on the 49ers’ roster, there is nothing resembling a successor for McCaffrey currently waiting in the wings.
Whether Kaelon Black will become this for San Francisco is anyone’s guess, though he played a bright role this past season in helping Indiana win a national championship. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Black ran for 1,040 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.6 yards per carry.
He did this without top-flight speed, with Black’s 4.45-second 40-yard dash time slower than their second-round pick, wide receiver Stribling, who clocked a 4.36-second 40-yard dash.
The 24-year-old Black played two seasons for Indiana after spending his first four years at James Madison University, including a 2020 redshirt season.
No. 70 pick used to shore up defensive line
It’s been no secret the 49ers could use more defensive linemen, with the team totaling just 20 sacks in 2025. Some mock drafts even had them selecting Malachi Lawrence, an edge rusher from University of Central Florida, in the first or second round; he was off the board, taken by the Dallas Cowboys at No. 23 overall.
Instead, San Francisco waited until the third round to draft an edge rusher, selecting Romello Height from Texas Tech.
Having turned 25 on April 13, Height is one of the oldest prospects in the draft. He played for four different college teams, starting off with Auburn in 2020 and later playing for USC and Georgia Tech before logging his final season with Texas Tech.
His final season was also his best in the college ranks, with Height recording 10 sacks, according to Texas Tech.
San Francisco choosing Height didn’t come as a surprise to him, he told reporters in a press conference. Height told reporters that he’d spoken with the team at the NFL Draft Combine and later met with K. J. Wright, who is a defensive coach for the 49ers.
“I’ve been having that feeling all week that it was going to be the 49ers,” Height said.
49ers pass on high-rated prospect at No. 58 to trade with Browns
Had the 49ers kept their selection at No. 58, they could have gone with who Cleveland went on to select with the choice: Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
ESPN had McNeil-Warren rated as the 21st-best prospect in the draft and third-best safety.
Instead, the 49ers moved down 12 spots, from a late second-round pick to an early one in the third round; and moved up 45 spots, between the fifth and fourth rounds in the trade with Cleveland.
The trade was reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network at about the point the 49ers were to be on the clock for the 58th selection and quickly confirmed by the team on its official social media accounts.
Winters to Dallas, No. 152 to SF
Entering Thursday, the 49ers held just six picks in the draft, signaling the potential for them to make trades to add selections. They have done this prodigiously since then, with their latest move Friday bringing them to eight picks.
San Francisco traded Winters, who was selected in the sixth round in 2023 out of TCU and started all 17 games in 2025. He had 101 tackles and an interception for the 49ers last season, eclipsing his career totals through his first two years in the league.
The move could signal the 49ers feeling confident about the returns of Fred Warner (from injury) and Dre Greenlaw (back with the 49ers as a free agent after one year in Denver). Or it could be a sign that they intend to add linebackers in the middle of the draft.
The 152nd pick that San Francisco received from the Cowboys for Winters will fall in the fifth round of the draft, held Saturday.
49ers pick at No. 33: Ole Miss WR De’Zhaun Stribling
At least one mock draft prior to Thursday’s first round had the 49ers selecting Washington wide receiver Denzel Boston, who was still available at the start of Round 2.
Instead, the 49ers went with Stribling, who played for Washington State and Oklahoma State before logging his final season at Ole Miss.
Stribling stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 207 pounds and totaled 216 receptions, 2,964 yards and 23 touchdowns in his collegiate career, according to ESPN. He ran a 4.36 second 40-yard dash time at the combine.
A special New York Times draft section prepared by Dane Brugler of The Athletic described Stribling as “a big-bodied athlete with strong ball skills and a pro mind-set” who could become a second or third wide receiver for an NFL team.
In a press conference following his selection, Stribling said that he was “very excited to be here, very excited to come in and work.”
Whether the 49ers would keep the pick remained a matter of suspense until minutes before they made their selection.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted on X shortly before the second round began that San Francisco “had talks throughout the day” related to trading the 33rd pick, but hadn’t found an offer to their liking.
Schefter followed this 18 minutes later, at about the time Round 2 was due to get underway, with a post that the 49ers were “planning to stick and pick with the first pick of tonight’s second round.”
What 49ers leaders said after draft Day 1
It might have been that San Francisco’s brass wasn’t that enamored with players who were available late in the first round.
Asked during a brief media session if the team planned to trade down from the No. 27 pick or had done so based on how the draft unfolded, 49ers general manager John Lynch indicated that it was the latter.
“There were a couple, a few players that we would have taken had they been there,” Lynch said. “That didn’t happen.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan echoed Lynch’s thoughts about the impetus for moving down from the 27th pick. “We had the guys we really wanted and we knew there was a good chance,” Shanahan said. “But when they weren’t there, we moved back to 30.”
After briefly holding the 30th pick, the 49ers made another trade on Thursday that brought them the 33rd pick. “The guys that we would’ve had to take at 30 are still there,” Shanahan said. “So I look at it as a huge success to move back to 33 when you would have still taken those guys at 30.”
Lynch said San Francisco began making trade inquiries roughly a week ago about moving back and that they remained open to potential further dealing.
Why the 49ers might have debated trading the 33rd pick
A 2025 season marked by seemingly never-ending injuries for the 49ers illustrated that the team can always use reinforcements.
One way to do this: trade early-round draft picks for more selections later in the draft. Teams can even pick up draft capital by moving just a few spaces back in an individual round.
And there were some prospects entering Friday who might have enticed a team to pay the 49ers handsomely to grab No. 33. Some of the top undrafted names included Boston, Oklahoma edge rusher R Mason Thomas and Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy.
Of course, extra bodies can also make a difference for a football team.
Thomas would have joined a very clear position of need for the 49ers, whose defensive line play cratered with Nick Bosa’s season-ending injury in Week 3 of 2025. Bryce Huff has also since retired.
San Francisco’s wide receiver corps hasn’t seemed in as rough of shape as its defensive line, but between Brandon Aiyuk’s likely release, Jauan Jennings still being unsigned and tight end George Kittle unlikely to start the regular season due to a torn Achilles, the team could need more people who can catch the ball.
As for McCoy, he had injury issues in college but was ESPN’s highest-rated available prospect entering Friday.
Boston went to the Cleveland Browns with the 39th overall pick, with the Kansas City Chiefs using the next pick to select Thomas. As of 6:45 p.m. Friday, with the third round underway, McCoy remained undrafted.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 2:37 PM.
