The 49ers throughout the NFL draft made clear their plan for retooling their roster to extend their championship window. It also helped bring into focus why the team opted to part ways with Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in an offseason trade with the Colts.
This can all be traced back to the Emmanuel Sanders trade in the middle of the 2019 season. Shelling out a third and fourth-round pick left the 49ers without any selections in Rounds 2, 3 and 4. No matter how they operated, they were going to have minimal draft capital in 2020. That appears to be the focal point for how they maneuvered this offseason.
Trading Buckner was the first domino to fall. The 49ers recouped the No. 13 overall pick in the deal. He went on to sign with the Colts on a four-year, $84 million contract worth $56.378 million guaranteed. That’s a lot of money for a defensive tackle, and the 49ers allocate to those funds elsewhere. Part of the trade was purely cap management both short and long term.
Not taking on a contract of that size also freed up the salary cap space to bring back defensive lineman Arik Armstead, who led the team in sacks last season, and free safety Jimmie Ward, who was a steady presence who helped the 49ers allow the fewest explosive plays in the league in 2019. The trade of one star defensive tackle allowed San Francisco to allocate his money to two other resources. Instead of needing to replace Armstead and Ward, they only needed to replace Buckner.
That’s what they did with their first selection in the 2020 draft, selecting defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw out of South Carolina. He’s an immense talent who’s still learning the nuances of playing on the defensive front. His talent should allow him to fill at least some of the void left behind by Buckner, but on a much cheaper contract.
They selected Kinlaw by moving back one spot in the draft to No. 14, and recouping a fourth-round pick. That fourth-round pick became a tool to move up from the No. 31 overall pick to No. 25 where they selected Arizona State wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. He’ll be tasked with filling in for Sanders, who went to the Saints in free agency.
After the second first-round trade, the 49ers found themselves without any picks in Rounds 2-4. That’s typically a catastrophic situation, but the 49ers had already filled their top needs. By trading Buckner and re-signing some key free agents, San Francisco was in a spot where they didn’t have a long list of needs to fill right away. They kicked back and didn’t pick again until early in Round 5.
Meanwhile, they were working on a trade for left tackle Trent Williams. The No. 156 overall pick and a 2021 third-round selection landed the seven-time Pro Bowler in San Francisco. He has one year and $12.5 million left on his deal. With Joe Staley retiring, the 49ers needed a quick replacement, and they had the cap space and draft capital to fit Williams in right away.
Lynch and the front office identified a player they wanted in Round 5 even though they didn’t have a fifth-round pick. So they went to work again, trading Matt Breida to the Dolphins for pick No. 153. That selection became West Virginia offensive tackle Colton McKivitz – a player Lynch said they would’ve tried to pick up earlier had Staley retired and Williams not been available. McKivitz gives the 49ers a young, versatile right tackle option who can also slide down and play guard.
Another move up came in Round 6, when the 49ers packaged their 210th overall pick and wide receiver Marquise Goodwin to move to the 190th pick. There they snagged Georgia’s prolific run blocking tight end Charlie Woerner. He’s not particularly athletic or effective in the passing game, but he was the draft’s best run-blocking tight end. The 49ers identified a player who is great at one thing, and they have a role that allows him to do that one thing now that Levine Toilolo exited in free agency.
The final pick at that point was a luxury selection. Wide receiver Jauan Jennings from Tennessee was the 49ers’ final pick of the weekend. He’s not fast, but he’s a monster after the catch and as physical as a receiver gets as a runner and blocker.
All of these moves stemmed from the fact the 49ers limited the amount of work they had to do in the draft by trading Buckner for a premium asset and re-signing veterans to plug the other holes on the roster.
The result is a five-player draft class full of players San Francisco specifically identified to fill a role on both sides of the ball – that includes a replacement for Buckner – and an NFL-ready replacement for the retired Joe Staley. It’s hard to do better than that with so many limited resources, but the task was made easier by the exceptionally difficult decision to move Buckner.
The 49ers may not be the best team in the NFC going into the year, and they may struggle some in 2020 as their young talent finds their NFL legs. However, they’ve put themselves in a much better position to extend the window where they’re legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
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