49ers Urged to Rebuild Defense Quickly Via Draft

The San Francisco 49ers are doing something new this season. They are building through the draft and trying to win with younger, less expensive players. The reasoning behind that is the team is trying to save money on veterans so they can build a war chest to pay quarterback Brock Purdy in the form of a long-term extension.

The roster rebuild starts Thursday night when the 49ers have the 11th selection in the first round of the NFL Draft. General manager John Lynch is going to count heavily on this season's draft class to - in an ideal world - help the 49ers get back to the Super Bowl, where they last lost to the Kansas City Chiefs after the 2023 season.

The 49ers have 11 picks thus far and must hit on most of them, especially the picks on day one and day two.

"Yeah, look, it's an interesting case," NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah said during a pre-draft conference call Friday morning. "They have done as well as anybody outside the first round of finding not just starters, but All-Pro, impact-caliber players. To me, it seems like a pretty simple formula where you want more shots at it than less, given their track record and their history."

Jeremiah said he has confidence in the fact the 49ers are going to rebuild their defense through this draft. While he did not mention specific players during the zoom conference, he did say he trusts defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to work with younger players and get them ready to play this season.

"I think they are outstanding at doing that," Jeremiah said. "To me, having Robert Saleh back there is going to be big for him to work with some of the young guys they'll bring in on the defensive side of the ball to get them prepared and ready to go."