John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan respond to concern about shaky draft history

One of the biggest storylines to come out of the 2026 NFL draft is the San Francisco 49ers' pattern of reaching on players well before many expected them to go. It began with the decision to take Ole Miss receiver De'Zhaun Stribling with the No. 33 pick and continued with the selection of Indiana running back Kaelon Black in the third round.

In the face of questions about the 49ers' recent draft history, general manager John Lynch rejected the idea that the team overreaches on players.

"We’ve got consensus in this building," Lynch said, "and that’s the consensus I care about."

Shanahan added that there's "always a huge risk" on waiting to draft a player just because you think you can take them later, hence why the selections don't always match up with the consensus draft boards.

"If there’s somebody you know you’re going to take at that spot and your consensus—or all your homework from around the league, not necessarily like Twitter or media stuff, just like things you investigate on when people are going to go—and if you know you're going to take someone you think is the best player, but you don't think they're going to go until like 15 picks later, 20 picks later, it's always a huge risk because you never find out when they're going to go if you take them there," he said.

Every team is different, so it makes sense that the 49ers stick to their board and their targets rather than try to game the draft in their favor just to align with consensus rankings.

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan on 49ers' notorious NFL draft reaches