49ers draft review: Are we seeing a shift in philosophy defensively?

Two players in the secondary, but no pass rush.

What had the potential to be a chaotic draft for the San Francisco 49ers turned into a solid three-day weekend in Detroit.

The 49ers drafted eight players – five on offense and three on defense – and kept their core together, at least for now. While the order of the 49ers’ selections faced some scrutiny – including their first-round selection – San Francisco addressed its biggest needs early, going wide receiver, cornerback, and offensive line with its first three selections.

Starting with the biggest headline heading into the draft, here are the three things that stood out the most:

The 49ers went from maybe trading two receivers to having nine on the roster

Draft week started on a weird note for the 49ers’ receiving corps. After weeks of trade speculation surrounding Brandon Aiyuk, Mike Silver of The San Francisco Chronicle dropped this nifty little nugget a couple of days before the draft began:

It seems optimistic that the 49ers assured Samuel of his status on the roster, but does that imply Samuel was available until draft week? If he were assured he wouldn’t be traded, why was there seemingly more smoke around the Samuel rumors than any Aiyuk rumors over the weekend? Was the smoke just that, smoke?

There are a lot of questions to be answered that will never be addressed, but look over there! It’s Ricky Pearsall and Jacob Cowing! Two new receivers will be added to the mold, while the 49ers still have looming decisions on their two star receivers. With the additions of Pearsall and Cowing, the 49ers receiver room is currently:

• Samuel
• Aiyuk
• Jauan Jennings
• Chris Conley
• Ronnie Bell
• Danny Gray
• Trent Taylor
• Pearsall
• Cowing

A few of those names will be gone as we get to late August and the initial 53, but the 49ers are currently deep at the position, something they haven’t seen much in the Shanahan era. Even with those looming cuts, Brock Purdy should have plenty of mouths to feed.

Kyle Shanahan has found the issue on the offensive line – at least, he thinks he has

The 49ers took Renardo Green after trading back one spot with the Kansas City Chiefs after the Baltimore Ravens selected Roger Rosengarten – a prospect the 49ers were heavily tied to – with the 62nd overall pick. Between Rosengarten and Green, Kansas City selected Kingsley Suamatia – another tackle linked to San Francisco.

This caused some stir among 49ers Twitter, allowing the defending Super Bowl champions to jump over and take a rumored player of interest to the 49ers. It likely tells us the 49ers might have been high on Rosengarten but weren’t as high on Suamataia. If the 49ers had wanted the tackle out of BYU, they would have stood pat but instead traded back a spot – to acquire a pick, it later flipped to move up and take Isaac Guerendo and took Green.

The 49ers would wait until the third round to take their offensive lineman, taking Dominick Puni out of Kansas, who projects as an interior lineman. Instead of finding competition for Colton McKivitz at the right tackle, Shanahan brought in competition for Spencer Burford, who has shared a platoon at right guard in the last two seasons.

Shanahan obviously sees McKivitz as the right tackle in 2024, hence the extension, which does not address the position in free agency or the draft.

Another draft, another running back, and pass rush… wait, no pass rushers?

After the first round on Thursday night, Shanahan cracked a joke about his infatuation with drafting running backs. He followed up with a trade up 44 spots on Saturday to take Isaac Guerendo in the fourth round, marking the third running back the 49ers have drafted in the last four years.

Guerendo looks like everything Shanahan looks for in a running back. He’s big and athletic, can pass protect, and only had two fumbles in college. Where he fits in the 49ers’ backfield is another question. Guerendo was already used in a rotation at Louisville, but with Christian McCaffrey taking the vast majority of touches, how does this impact Elijah Mitchell and Jordan Mason?

While the running back trend continued, the 49ers didn’t select a pass-rusher for the first time since the 2021 draft. After a free agency period that saw the losses of Clelin Ferrell, Chase Young, and Randy Gregory and the additions of Yetur Gross-Matos and Leonard Floyd, the 49ers decided not to address the defensive line.

This is a slight shift in philosophy in the 49ers defense. After years of prioritizing pass-rushing depth, the 49ers struggled with their secondary depth all season last season. Since then, they have added Rock Ya-Sin, Isaac Yiadom, and Chase Lucas in free agency and drafted Green and Malik Mustapha, giving San Francisco as deep of a secondary as it’s seen under Shanahan and Lynch.