The San Francisco 49ers are going to face some serious defensive line talent this year, and the Los Angeles Rams could make it that much more difficult if they can pair Ndamukong Suh with Aaron Donald. The Seattle Seahawks are no slouches themselves, even with some big departures, and so the 49ers need to make sure they’re beefed up to face them.
It should surprise nobody that 49ers GM John Lynch is aware of this need. The 49ers signed center Weston Richburg to a five-year deal, and are giving guard Jonathan Cooper a shot at a starting role. The team is likely to invest further in the 2018 NFL Draft, if recent Lynch comments give us any indication.
The 49ers GM was on the radio with Trey Wingo and Mike Golic, and he commented on the importance of beefing up the interior of the 49ers offensive line. They asked him about the importance of adding depth there, and he wholeheartedly agreed.
“Especially in the game today, and especially in our division. That’s one thing, when you look at us, we closed fast and all that. You’ve gotta own your division if you want to get to the playoffs, if you want to win championships. And we weren’t very good in our division, and when you look at our division, there’s guys like Aaron Donald come to mind. We got beat up in the interior at times last year and so we had to fortify that.”
The 49ers need more depth to compete at guard with Cooper, Joshua Garnett, Laken Tomlinson, Erik Magnuson, and others. Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson has been mocked to the 49ers a fair amount. Who knows if the 49ers will be prepared to invest the kind of draft capital he would require, but even if they don’t go guard in the first round, I would be surprised if they don’t walk away with a guard by the end of day two of the 2018 NFL Draft.