The San Francisco 49ers' glaring need at pass-rusher has John Lynch in a precarious position as the 2026 NFL Draft draws closer. Most of the draft's top pass-rushers will be off the board by the time the Niners are on the clock with the 27th pick, meaning Lynch may have to go deep in his bag of tricks to address the position.
The only top pass-rushers with a chance to be available for the 49ers at 27 are Missouri's Zion Young and Auburn's Keldric Faulk, and Young has off-field troubles while the Faulk dream is losing steam. So unless they wait to address the edge, the 49ers may have to reach a bit to land a quality edge rusher.
Picking at 27th, the Niners are picking on the first-round borderline, so it isn't insane to suggest they draft someone who most teams have a second-round grade on that they see as a late first-round talent. They don't pick again until pick 58, so San Francisco is a candidate to make one of the biggest surprise picks of Day 1-- and one player stands out for all the wrong reasons.
The San Francisco 49ers can surprise the NFL world and piss off their fanbase by taking Malachi Lawrence
Enter UCF star pass-rusher Malachi Lawrence. The 23-year-old is the type of pass-rusher who can make an instant impact for this 49er defense, especially as a pass rusher. The combination of his elite explosiveness, refined pass-rush arsenal, and relentless motor have teams falling in love with this kid.
The 6-foot-4, 253-pounder logged seven sacks and a career-high 11 TFLs in 2025 en route to a First-Team All Big 12 nomination, so he clearly has the production to back things up. He also has 28 tackles for loss and 20 sacks across his college career, so it's not like he's much of a one-year wonder either.
Lawrence went from a mid-to-late second round guy to an early second-rounder with a chance to sneak into the late first-round with the right team. He boasts solid size (though he needs to put on weight) and speed, but taking him in the late first-round is a little rich.
For as talented as he is, the issue with drafting Lawrence is that the 49ers badly need to add an edge rusher who can help them as a run defender, and that's not his game. Lawrence is a horrible run defender and often misses tackles, so unless you feel Kris Kocurek can get the most out of him, you go another direction.
The 49ers do have Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams returning from injury, so unless they're really high on Lawrence's upside despite the red flags, I don't see this happening, because if Lynch does this over addressing another need, Niners' Twitter would understandably have a meltdown.
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