The San Francisco 49ers enter the 2025 NFL Draft with a lack of depth at key positions and find themselves desperately in need of an infusion of youth at several spots, particularly along the defensive line.
Fortunately, the draft is deep in talent but shallow in mega-stars, meaning having a larger quantity of picks, moving down from high spots in the draft and acquiring more, might actually be the best strategy.
If that sounds familiar to longer-tenured Niners fans, it's because the team's been here before.
Understanding that history could be a useful guide for general manager John Lynch as he prepares to make his picks.
Let's go back almost four decades and put ourselves in 49ers legendary head coach (and GM) Bill Walsh's shoes as the 1986 NFL Draft neared.
Much like in 2025, the Niners found themselves aging at key spots, and while they had won a Super Bowl in 1984, they very much needed to replenish their roster with some immediate, young contributors at several positions.
One problem: The top end of the draft didn't look great to San Francisco's 49ers brass. This perhaps has another similarity with this year, as the incredible spread of potential mock draft choices has most thinking that the 49ers would like to trade down.
Unlike 2025, however, Walsh had a number of partners with whom to trade down, particularly as some teams, even the rival Dallas Cowboys, were interested in making the leap up.
All in all, Walsh would make four trade-downs before making a draft choice, and six trades in all. The sheer volume of trades is reputed to have led then-team owner Eddie DeBartolo to express his frustration:
"“When are you going to pick somebody? Give me a name! My phone bills are going to be bigger than our signing bonuses.”"Eddie DeBartolo during 1986 NFL Draft
He needn't have worried, however, as almost everyone selected would go on to produce something for the San Francisco and play a big part in its next two Super Bowl victories in 1988 and 1989, with eight of them becoming starters.
Let's take a look at who was acquired, and what they brought:
49ers' 1986 NFL Draft class
DE Larry Roberts (Round 2, No. 39 overall)
Played his entire eight-year pro career with the 49ers, recording 28 sacks. Used as a situational pass-rusher in his first years, before becoming a full-time starter in time for the Super Bowl season of 1988. A solid presence on the defensive line who was reputed to be Walsh's first-round choice all along, just acquired several picks later (originally, the 49ers held the 18th pick in the first round).
FB Tom Rathman (Round 3, No. 56 overall)
A certified 49ers legend who played most of his career with the team before joining the Oakland Raiders in 1994, Rathman was the West Coast Offense fullback personified. His tough running style, excellent blocking and great hands made him a definite fan favourite and key component of the latter-day Joe Montana led offenses. Rathman would score a total of 34 touchdowns during his career, including two in the 55-10 Super Bowl XXIV rout over the Denver Broncos.
A member of the 49ers Hall Of Fame, Rathman would also have two stints coaching with the team as the team's running backs coach, between 1997-2002 and 2009-2016, respectively.
CB Tim McKyer (Round 3, No. 64 overall)
A solid player who started 44 out of 48 games in his first three years in the league, McKyer would, unfortunately, have a journeyman career after his span with the 49ers but recorded 16 interceptions in his four years in the Bay Area. A key component of two Niners Super Bowl teams, McKyer would also win a Super Bowl ring in 1997 with Mike Shanahan's Denver Broncos.
WR John Taylor (Round 3, No. 76 overall)
Would probably be the best pick in this draft class but for Rathman and an upcoming Hall Of Famer. Taylor was Jerry Rice's bookend at wide receiver for the entirety of his professional career, and is possibly one of San Francisco's all-time most-unsung heroes.
What's perhaps more shocking is he almost didn't make the team at all. According to Peter King in his article discussing the 49ers seminal 1986 draft, Taylor was barely hanging on to a roster spot out of training camp before a phantom back injury landed him on injured reserve.
Once he figured everything out, though, he never looked back. Taylor scored a phenomenal 43 touchdowns in his nine-year professional career but is obviously and rightfully best known for his game-winning catch in 1989's Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Taylor would win three Super Bowls as a starter on the 49ers (1988, 1989, and 1994), and go to the Pro Bowl twice in two of those years, 1988 and 1989. He is deservedly a member of the 49ers Hall Of Fame.
DE Charles Haley (Round 4, No. 96 overall)
Even in a class like this, Haley shames everyone else. The unheralded pass-rusher out of small-school James Madison frankly blew up the NFL as the "elephant" pass-rusher in the 49ers defense, recording a ridiculous 63.5 sacks in his original stint with the team from 1986-1992. Two Super Bowls, a first-team All-Pro, and three Pro Bowls in this stint were scarcely enough reward for the way Haley terrorised opposing offenses.
His name seems to get often forgotten when talking about feared pass-rushers, some preferring to talk about the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Mark Gastineau or Reggie White, but Haley's career stands tall even in comparison to theirs.
Many seasoned fans would argue that the trading of Haley to the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 is what truly ended the 49ers' dynasty run. Given that he would go on to make two more Pro Bowls in Dallas, as well as winning three more Super Bowls (often knocking the Niners off their path in the process), it's hard to disagree.
He would actually end his career with the 49ers, returning to play in both the 1998 playoffs and the 1999 season, recording three more sacks, before winding up for good.
He's one of very few players to be in both the 49ers and Cowboys' Hall of Fame and was elected to the overall Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, after many years of waiting.
A truly phenomenal player, especially to pick up in the fourth round.
OL Steve Wallace (Round 4, No. 101 overall)
Every successful team needs a player like Steve Wallace: a solid, dependable, lineman who has a long career without making huge ructions along the way.
Wallace proved to be a 12-year stalwart as a pro, spending 11 of them with San Francisco. He would start 127 games, largely at left tackle (shoring up a spot often found to be left wanting by the 49ers original choice at that position, Bubba Paris), but also helping out elsewhere when required.
He would go down in franchise folklore for facing the likes of Taylor, Chris Doleman and others, often without any extra protective help from Walsh's offensive scheme. Perhaps one of his more famous performances was recounted in his statement having made the 49ers "ten-year club" where he recounted shutting out San Diego Chargers defensive end Leslie O'Neal, who recorded neither a tackle nor a sack in the 49ers' drubbing of them in the 1994 Super Bowl.
Wallace is exactly the player today's Niners would love to find in the middle rounds: a solid, Pro Bowl-ceiling starting lineman who can hold down a position for a decade or more. He retired in 1997 having collected three Super Bowl rings and a Pro Bowl nod.
He could easily be considered one of the most underrated 49ers of all time.
DE Kevin Fagan (Round 4, No. 102 overall)
What Fagan lacked in a quick start (he missed his entire rookie year with a knee injury suffered at Miami), he made up for in longevity and stubbornness on the field, turning his difficult start into a seven-year pro career where he would start on two Super Bowl teams and receive a game ball for his effort in one: the 20-16 epic win over the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII.
Fagan didn't revolutionise the game like Haley, and certainly wasn't as flashy. But much like Wallace, he was something every team needed: a key and solid contributor to a number of excellent Niners defensive units. To get a five-year starter out of a fourth-round pick would certainly be welcome in today's NFL, and that's what Walsh got out of his flier on the injured Fagan.
DB Don Griffin (Round 6, No. 162 overall)
Speedy defensive back Griffin stunned everyone by seizing a starting job as a rookie and, honestly, never looking back. He started 107 of 114 games in San Francisco and would record 22 interceptions. Unsurprisingly, he became a big factor in winning both the 1988 and 1989 season's Super Bowls before moving on to the Cleveland Browns in 1994.
Surprisingly, he remains relatively unheralded. Despite a great 11-year career, two Super Bowl titles, and being part of record setting defenses in both San Francisco and Cleveland (each setting points or yardage allowed records while he was there), he was never an All-Pro nor a Pro Bowler.
Still, it's an astounding output from a sixth-round pick, and he's fondly remembered by many 49ers fans.
Unintended (or were they?) consequences
There are some other elements of the 1986 draft that would go on to help San Francisco out in future years, too. Walsh would acquire both an extra first- and second-round pick for the following draft in 1987. He would use those to pick up a longtime 49er in offensive tackle Harris Barton, as well as useful contributors like running back Terrence Flagler and offensive lineman Jeff Bregel.
However, one of the biggest moves came with that extra fourth-rounder
Walsh would package that with another acquired second-rounder and send it to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What did he get in return for that?
Only Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.
Lessons for John Lynch?
Not bad, after all. But is there anything for Lynch to learn from this epic draft haul?
Yes, actually.
While no one can feasibly expect Lynch to turn eight of his currently 11 picks into bona-fide starters, and to draft on the level of Walsh would probably see him beatified, there is actually a lesson in some of these choices.
None of them were considered home-run picks at the time.
We all spend so much time on the NFL Draft every year, screaming about prospects, being upset when certain ones aren't taken by the team, and demanding that we absolutely must get (for instance) a first-round choice correct.
But the truth is the success of the draft sometimes comes away from the blinding lights of prime-time television.
Walsh eschewed glitzy first-round choices or reaches. He identified the players he saw as potential contributors and made the moves necessary to get them. Lynch ought to do the same. There's little point in drafting purely for need. The 2025 Niners have needs all the way across the field.
The key will be to let the draft come to them, select the right fits for the organisation and where it wants to build, and perhaps most importantly, take some swings when necessary in the middle and late rounds where the value of the player's contribution can far outweigh the cost of the draft pick.
Good thing, then, that Lynch has a pretty good track record there.