ESPN analyst offers sound advice for 49ers in 2026 NFL draft

The San Francisco 49ers made the postseason in 2025, but after upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round, they fell to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, ending their run in the divisional round. So far this offseason, the 49ers have worked deliberately to bring in talented players at positions of need, including Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and Osa Odighizuwa. However, there's still more work to do.

The next stage of the offseason is the 2026 NFL draft, where San Francisco has just six picks to make, and they all come in the first four rounds. With that, they need to make sure they're targeting positions of need, and on Thursday, ESPN's Benjamin Solak had some sound advice for the team. "Complete the defensive reload with another splashy edge and a starting safety.

Don't chase the flashy receiver when the meat-and-potatoes offensive lineman is there," Solak advised. The 49ers will get Nick Bosa and 2025 first-round pick Mykel Williams back from torn ACLs on the edge, but the surprising loss of Bryce Huff to retirement definitely leaves them needing some help in that room. At safety, San Francisco seems confident in Malik Mustapha, but if they can upgrade at the other spot from Ji'Ayir Brown and Marques Sigle, they might take that swing.

Meanwhile, that beefy offensive lineman might be their biggest need, as the departures of Ben Bartch and Spencer Burford have left the 49ers with Connor Colby, Robert Jones, Brett Toth and Nick Zakelj competing for the starting left guard job. That's not exactly ideal. More 49ers: 7 trades 49ers can make to accumulate more draft picks for 2026 This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 2026 NFL draft: ESPN analyst offers sound advice for 49ers