San Francisco 49ers: And with the first pick in the 2019 Draft, they select…
By Kevin Saito
The San Francisco 49ers look poised to land the top pick in next year’s Draft – and they have a laundry list of holes that need to be filled.
The San Francisco 49ers rolled into this season with big expectations and high hopes. Riding the arm of new franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and new additions like Jerick McKinnon, the 49ers were a sexy dark horse pick to make the playoffs in some circles.
The NFL though, has a way of humbling a team though pretty quickly – as the 49ers have learned the hard way.
Season ending injuries to McKinnon and Garoppolo – not to mention a slew of other problems – not only derailed the season, but exposed a lot of weaknesses on this roster. The 49ers, despite all of the hope and hype, are very much a work in progress and need to add a bunch of pieces to the picture before they’ll be a legitimate playoff contender.
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This isn’t to say that San Francisco doesn’t have some solid pieces to start building with. They of course, have Garoppolo and McKinnon. They’ve also got Richard Sherman who’s gotten back to being Richard Sherman and is locking down one side of the field.
They’ve also got George Kittle, who is quietly emerging as one of the better tight ends in the game. He’s been a steady, consistent, playmaker for San Francisco this year – not easy to do with so much chaos under center.
San Francisco also has a cornerstone for their offensive line in Mike McGlinchey, a guy who looks like a real gamer who can hold down the middle linebacker spot in Fred Warner, and a solid all purpose running back in Matt Breida.
San Francisco definitely has some nice pieces to start building this team up again – but, they’re going to need more at some key positions.
And, given their troubles this season – and the resulting 2-9 record that goes with it – they’re in line to secure the top pick in next year’s NFL Draft. It’s a horse race to the bottom between the 49ers, Cardinals, and Oakland Raiders, but as of now, San Francisco owns the top overall pick.
Which is a good thing – or at least, all things considered, is a good thing – because it means they can pick up an impact player and another valuable cornerstone piece to keep building with.
And there is no shortage of areas of need for this team – although, some are more pressing than others.
As a fan of the team, you hate to see them have such a high pick – because it means they had a terrible year, of course. But, if you’re a fan and a realist, you understand that this is going to be a process. After Jim Harbaugh was run out of town and the subsequent mismanagement of the team by Jed York, Trent Baalke — who begat Jim Tomsula, who begat Chip Kelly — left the organization in tatters.
Rome was not built in a day and it’s going to take a minute to restock, reload, and get this ship pointed in the right direction again.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of San Francisco’s most glaring areas of need – at least in this writer’s opinion – and we’ll go in descending order of importance.