GM John Lynch hints at 49ers NFL draft strategy

With less than a week before the 2026 NFL draft, it's natural that San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch wouldn't want to reveal his team's plans. However, his recent remarks during a Monday news conference may have shown light on the 49ers' preferred move in the first round.

After being asked whether or not the 49ers will make a move in the first round, Lynch told reporters that it "does make sense" to try and find ways to add more draft picks. That would, in theory, insinuate that he and the team are leaning toward trading back if the opportunity presented itself, rather than trade up.

“I’m not going to tip our hand, but we have done our homework, we’ll continue to talk to teams and have discussions such that if we see fit the opportunity to move up and grab a player that we really like or, ‘You know what, we still like a bunch of players so let’s pick up [additional selections],'” Lynch said. “Now, I will tell you we don’t have a ton of picks in this draft, so it does make some sense to where ‘how can we find some more picks,’ and we’ll certainly be open to that.”

After the No. 27 pick, the 49ers have their No. 58 selection in the second round and four picks in the fourth round after trading away their third-round pick for Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa. That doesn't leave a lot of options for San Francisco on Day 3, so it would behoove the 49ers to consider all options if their top-rated player isn't there for them at No. 27. The same goes for the rest of their draft picks.

The 49ers don't have a long history of trading back or even out of the first round in the same draft under Lynch. They traded back from No. 2 to No. 3 in the 2017 draft for Solomon Thomas — that's it. All other trade-outs for in blockbuster deals to move up in the draft.