NFC West Report: Pre Draft look at San Francisco 49ers

By Keith Myers | Apr 6, 2015

This hasn’t been a good offseason so far for the San Francisco 49ers. So much of what has made them great the last few year is no longer a part of the organization. There are serious problems in Santa Clara right now, and not many solutions.

The problems for the 49ers start at the very top. The owner and GM forced out one of the NFL’s best coaches and replaced him very likable guy who local media believes is mostly a yes-man. Whether Jim Tomsula will be an effective head coach remains to be seen, but he’ll have to be the next Bill Belichick to outperform Jim Harbaugh’s tenure in San Francisco.

More from Seattle Seahawks News

On the field, things might be even worse. The 49ers have lost their captains and arguably their best players this offseason. Justin Smith and Patrick Willis retired, and Frank Gore left in free agency.

The 49ers have hemorrhaged talent throughout this offseason. Wide receiver Stevie Johnson, guard Mike Lutapi, cornerback Chris Culliver and many others all found new homes. Even linebacker Chris Borland, coming off a tremendous rookie season, decided to hang up the cleats for good not long ago.

There haven’t been many additions to offset all those departures either. Darnell Dockett should help defense overcome the loss of Justin Smith. Torey Smith will give the offense the deep threat it badly needed a year ago. Reggie Bush will be the team’s punt and kick returner, as well as a slot receiver and occasionally see time at running back. That is it for significant free agent additions.

If the 49ers are going to compete in the ultra-competitive NFC West, they are going to have to nail the draft this year. After picking up two compensatory picks, they now have nine draft picks to use.

Going into the draft, San Francisco needs to concentrate on rebuilding their once-dominant defense. They now have issues at linebacker, cornerback and long the defensive line.

With the 15th overall pick, the 49ers should be able to find a impact player who can help right away. Nose tackle Danny Shelton would make a lot of sense if Tomsula wants to move to a more traditional version of the 3-4 defense than what Harbaugh used last season. Other options will be cornerbacks Marcus Peters of Washington and Kevin Johnson form Wake Forest, both of which also make a lot of sense at that spot.

While the 49ers desperately need to find a replacement after losing Willis and Borland at inside linebacker, they shouldn’t be expected to reach for one early in the draft. GM Trent Balke has had a lot of success finding great players at the position in the middle rounds. Players like Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks and Kansas linebacker Ben Heeney both fit the profile of what the 49ers look for at inside linebacker.

Even with a good draft, San Francisco’s overall roster talent will be diminished not season. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their win total will be lower than it was last season. San Francisco had horrible injury luck in 2014, that great hurt their ability to compete. That rarely happens two years in a row.

So while the 49ers are clearly a weaker team than they have been in recent years, they still have the pieces necessary to get eight or nine wins.

Next: How a football fan can survive baseball season

More from 12th Man Rising

Home/Seattle Seahawks News