Countless free agents departed the 49ers in March.
While most of those players' exits are easy to stomach, it does make it tough on the 49ers since they never tried to fill some of those losses.
It seems the 49ers are banking on the 2025 NFL draft to fill the team. They have limited their cash spending this offseason, so the draft is a way for them to field a team with cheap and young talent.
On Monday, 49ers General Manager John Lynch confirmed it at the NFL owners meetings.
"We've got 11 draft choices and we've got to make them count," Lynch said. "I think probably more so than in recent past. There are slots we have to fill with those guys. That's both daunting, but it's also really invigorating and exciting. I think it's something that we do well. I like our process, we've refined it over the years. This is always my favorite time of the year other than the games."
It's a good and necessary idea for the 49ers to transition to a younger roster. You could argue they are a year too late. Nevertheless, it needed to be done.
However, the 49ers banking on the 2025 NFL draft is massively risky. They aren't only using it to fill spots for depth, but for new starters and key role players.
The 49ers seem to be feeling themselves too much after having an excellent 2024 draft class. They believe they can find enough key players in this year's draft to help their team.
It's a delusional and flawed process. It's delusional because the 49ers haven't been a good drafting team at all. Just because they did well in 2024 doesn't absolve them of a poor track record.
So, for them to push all their chips on the 2025 draft class, it sets them up poorly and adds so much pressure on themselves and for the rookies drafted.
The odds are that the 49ers aren't gonna find more than three impactful players. And while this is a great draft class for defensive linemen, the 49ers have proven poor at picking them.
Javon Kinlaw, Robert Beal, Kalia Davis, Solomon Thomas -- the list goes on. I don't understand why the 49ers are all-in on the draft.
As for the flawed side, the 49ers still should sign a few free agents as contingencies. There is no guarantee the 49ers will hit on the majority of their picks.
Plus, there is the health aspect. Just because the 49ers are drafting younger, it doesn't mean they automatically increase their health luck.
This is just outright risky of the 49ers to have the bulk of their team be rookies and second-year players. Maybe it works out and they look like geniuses.
But history has shown us that they aren't going to hit a home run in the draft.
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