Will the 49ers Draft a Defensive Player in Round 1?

Since Kyle Shanahan became the head coach in 2017, the 49ers have spent first-round picks on only two offensive players

Grant Cohn | Apr 8, 2024

Feb 29, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (LB08) works out / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

After all the changes the 49ers made to their defense during free agency, it would make sense for them to focus on offense during the upcoming draft. But that's not how the 49ers generally do business.

The 49ers just revamped their defensive line. They got rid of Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, Chase Young, Clelin Ferrell and Randy Gregory, and added Maliek Collins, Jordan Elliott, Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos. In addition, they signed linebacker De'Vondre Campbell, which means they added at least three new starters to their front seven. And they added zero starters to their offense, so it would stand to reason that they'd draft an offensive player in Round 1.

But since Kyle Shanahan became the head coach in 2017, the 49ers have spent first-round picks on only two offensive players: Mike McGlinchey and Trey Lance. Every other first-round pick has been a defensive player: Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster, Nick Bosa and Javon Kinlaw. In addition, their first pick in 2022, which was in Round 2, was defensive end Drake Jackson, and their first pick in 2023, which was in Round 3, was safety Ji'Ayir Brown.

So unless the 49ers have a glaring hole on offense, they always spend their first pick on defense. And the 49ers don't seem to have a glaring hole on offense, considering they've brought back all 11 starters from last season. They like their offense the way it is.

So don't be surprised if the 49ers add another player to their front seven with their first-round pick. It's what they do.

Published Apr 8, 2024

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.