The 49ers’ options with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft are expansive. They’ll also be determined by what the Arizona Cardinals do with the top selection. and what kind of offers San Francisco gets to trade back. It looked for a long time like they would target an edge rusher with their first pick, but general manager John Lynch told Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area that a specific position isn’t their priority after their moves in free agency.
“In terms of what we did, it gave us flexibility,” Lynch said Wednesday at Ohio State’s Pro Day according to Maiocco. “We had some ideas of areas where we had to get better. And what we did gave us flexibility to just focus on going out and getting the best player available, particularly with that top spot, regardless of the position.”
This isn’t a huge surprise given the team’s myriad weaknesses up and down the roster. They just need a player who can step in and contribute right away at a high level.
However, it is a little bit of a revision from what Lynch told reporters at his end-of-season press conference.
“I think it’s strong there. That’s clear,” he said in February about this year’s class of edge rushers. “There’s good pass rushers in this draft. I think that’s a strength of this draft. That will be. Everyone is looking for those guys, so I think we’re excited. Everybody is excited for that.”
Perhaps the team is still looking hard at edge rushers like Ohio State’s Nick Bosa or Kentucky’s Josh Allen. It’s worth noting though that Lynch also talked highly of Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who they met with after Alabama’s Pro Day.
Draft season requires every scenario where a team expresses any sort of interest in a player to be observed cautiously. Smoke screens are a popular form of communication this time of year and Lynch isn’t going to say anything to blatantly reveal San Francisco’s draft plans.
It’s still interesting that he talked specifically about how their plans have changed since free agency. Especially since their biggest splash came in a trade for Kansas City pass rusher Dee Ford.
That would seem to indicate that the 49ers don’t necessarily view an edge rusher as a must-have with the second pick. They might now be eyeing a player at a different position. They could also be more keen on taking a different type of edge rusher they can get later in the draft. A trade back may allow them to snag that player while accumulating more picks in the move.
Trying to nail down a team’s draft plans prior to the draft is exceedingly difficult. Especially in the case of the 49ers where much of their plan could ride on who is selected with the No. 1 overall pick. The fact Lynch spoke about the added flexibility of their free agent moves is worth noting though, and San Francisco skipping an edge rusher with the first pick seems more of a possibility now than it did before free agency.
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