With draft season upon the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers held their annual pre-draft press conference, where general manager John Lynch spoke about his views on the draft class and the team's approach.
While Lynch was as guarded as usual, he dropped a couple hints on what the Niners might do.
49ers think this draft is deep but not with 1st-round talents
The pervasive theme from Lynch's presser? The 49ers have entered the draft thinking it has depth but less superstars than always.
Lynch mentioned the number of draftable players remains the same from 2025, but the number of blue-chip players (Round 1-graded talents) is less than the 20 the Niners graded from last year.
Lynch's summary, per The Athletic's Matt Barrows:
Last year, Lynch said the 49ers had first-round grades on 20 players and had 200 draft-able players. This year? The overall number is roughly the same but the first-round number is down. (He declined to give a specific number)
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) April 20, 2026
What does that mean for San Francisco? Lots of depth to be had down the line, and potentially a difficult decision to be made at pick No. 27 this year.
Unless...
49ers are potentially planning to trade down
Lynch's comments seem to indicate the 49ers are not keen on staying at No. 27 overall.
First, if no first-round caliber player is available there, San Francisco might be more willing to let the board fall as it may and collect extra picks along the way. Lynch himself predicated that because the Round 1-caliber players run out midway through the first round, there would be more trade movement.
In addition to the lack of elite talent late in the first round, the 49ers no longer have a single pressing need, thanks in large part to the re-signing of Trent Williams to a two-year $50 million extension. That lets them focus more on getting strong players rather than having to plug a hole on their roster. Adam Schefter reported the Niners would be more willing to trade back following the deal with Williams.
But additionally, Lynch mentioned the draft was deepest at DE, OL, and WR; just so happening to be the positions the 49ers are most likely to target this year. If there was ever a sign that San Francisco was looking to accumulate more picks, Lynch's press conference laid it out, especially when he said "we're just going to let this thing come to us."
There is always gamesmanship in draft season, but Lynch may had showed his cards that the 49ers will be looking to exit out of the first round.
Add us as a preferred source on Google