While San Francisco 49ers have mostly been linked to the trenches with their first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, it's not the only position they could consider. Wide receiver remains a need even after signing Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, but taking a safety at pick 27 is becoming a possibility.
The reason for this? The hire of Raheem Morris as San Francisco's new defensive coordinator. Morris should know the impact of a star safety because of his time with the Atlanta Falcons. Morris' Falcons boasted arguably the best safety tandem in the NFL in 2025 with Jessie Bates III and Xavier Watts.
Since Bates isn't going anywhere anytime soon, Morris will have to turn to the draft to fix the Niners' safety issue. It's looked at as more of a Day 2 issue, but depending on how the draft board shakes out in the first round, Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren could be on the 49ers' radar if available at 27.
Raheem Morris can find his new Xavier Watts if the 49ers draft Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
Caleb Downs will 100% be off the board and it would take a miracle for Dillon Thieneman to be available this late in the first round, so McNeil-Warren is their best bet at safety. The 22-year-old is firmly entrenched as the third-best safety in the draft, but his upside is immense for a MAC product.
At nearly 6-foot-4 and 208 pounds, McNeil-Warren is fantastic in coverage and possesses great instincts, but isn't a high-end athlete. A 4.52 second 40-yard dash is on the slower side, but when you watch him, you know he plays faster, especially when Watts is smaller and ran a slower time in the 40.
Watts finished as a Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist for Atlanta in 2025, so who's to say that McNeil-Warren can't enjoy a similar rookie year? Ja'yir Brown and Malik Mustapaha are a solid safety tandem, but the All-American safety has the range to play the role Bates or Watts did for Morris.
Other than the level of competition he faced at Toledo, the only major concern with McNeil-Warren is his lack of top-end athleticism. However, Watts was more of an IQ safety and that didn't deter Morris from taking him, so since San Francisco misses Talanoa Hufanga's impact, here's how to replace it.
John Lynch has struggled to hit on first-round picks in recent seasons, so if the 49ers really want to take a gamble on upside, McNeil-Warren could be that guy. And since he's no lock to be available at this stage of the draft, the Niners better run this pick up to the podium should he fall.
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