The 2026 NFL Draft kicks off on April 23 with Round 1, while the rest of the draft will take place over the following two days in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
By virtue of their excellent finish to the 2025 season, and a bevy of trades in recent years, the San Francisco 49ers will head into the draft with just six picks, all of which will come in the first four rounds and inside the first 150 selections.
In all likelihood, John Lynch won't stay with those picks; currently, San Francisco has no picks after the fourth round and nothing in Round 3. The Niners won't have a ton of capital to move around with, but given their recent propensity to not to sit idle, it will be something to watch come draft weekend.
At this point, we'll move forward with the six in the current arsenal and use those selections to add to Kyle Shanahan's offense only.
It's probably not going to happen (although who saw the 49ers using five consecutive picks on defense last year), but it's a fun exercise to see how it could play out if the Niners stay put and only take offensive players.
To build this, I used various mock draft simulators (including FanSpeak, PFSN, and NFL Mock Draft Database) to get a sense of how things could shake out.
Here's a bit of an unprecented pick right off the bat.
Lynch and Shanahan have only taken one offensive lineman in the first round (Mike McGlinchey in 2018), and only nine anywhere in the draft. Just two of those players, Aaron Banks and Dominick Puni, came before Round 4.
So, yeah. This would be a big move, but Ioane is considered the best interior offensive lineman in the class, and if there's a chance to shore up the only spot on the line without a clear starter, it might be valuable.
Wide receiver could still be in play, with guys like Indiana receiver Omar Cooper an option if he's there.
The Niners take care of adding to their wideout corps in Round 2, grabbing Cooper's Indiana teammate with their last pick in a long time here at No. 58 overall.
With Jauan Jennings all but gone, Sarratt looks like a guy who could step into the former 49ers receiver's slot on the roster. He won't be expected to be the top guy out of the gate either, with Mike Evans now in the mix along with former first-round pick Ricky Pearsall.
But Sarratt is a hard-nosed type of player Shanahan won't have to teach how to block or work hard. The former Hoosier isn't as flashy or athletic as his college teammate, but he would be a good addition to the room.
Don't expect the 49ers to actually wait for 69 picks to go by without using some of their fourth-round capital to move around a little bit, especially if they like a prospect somewhere in the third round.
But in this exercise, we're standing pat and finally grabbing an offensive tackle, although he's a guy who'll need some refining if he wants to eventually take over for Trent Williams.
"World" is an appropriate name for this Oregon Duck, as the tackle stands 6-foot-8 and 318 pounds, but moves fairly well for a guy his size.
Again, World will need some developing, but the strength is there, which means work on technique is paramount.
Just a few picks later, the 49ers have the run of things, with three selections in seven slots, starting with pick No. 133 overall.
This one goes to help Brock Purdy and the passing game, which feels like it could use an infusion of talent at tight end. George Kittle is going to be age 33 in October and is rehabbing from an Achilles tear, while Jake Tonges showed promise but is limited as an athlete.
Enter Georgia's Delp.
He's another large human (6-foot-5, 245 pounds), who possesses that all-important short-area quickness Shanahan loves so much. He can also scoot pretty well in a straight line.
Ideally, Oregon's Kenyon Sadiq falls to the Niners in the first round, but Delp would be a decent consolation prize over 100 picks later.
More pass catchers for Purdy (this is the tough part about mocks that focus on one side of the ball), and also a guy who could fit into the return-man competition with Jacob Cowing and others.
Coleman isn't the biggest (just 5-foot-10, 179 pounds) and plays almost exclusively out of the slot, but he's got the speed to make things happen with the ball in his hands, which is why he could almost immediately feature as a returner.
The receiver room is pretty full (adding both Sarrat and Coleman would make eight WRs on the roster, not including Cowing or Junior Bergen, who is on the practice squad), but sometimes you have to bring guys in and see how it shakes out.
The final pick is a player to a group that's a mystery beyond Christian McCaffrey.
Patrick Taylor is back, Brian Robinson is (so far) not, and the statuses of Isaac Guerendo and Jordan James are certainly questionable after last season.
But it feels like the 49ers will draft another guy for the room, and Claiborne (who currently sits third in Next Gen Stats' Athleticism score for running backs) is an intriguing option.
He'll need to unlearn a few bad habits and to trust the system, but the speed and ability to make defenders pay when they miss him could help him at the next level, even if he is a bit of a project for Bobby Turner to mold.