B-
San Francisco 49ers
No fireworks, just a tidy B- for the 49ers.
by Iowradar ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 2 steals
· 4 reaches
Call it belief, call it a gut call, but Matt Gulbin at the Round 5 slot is 33 spots clear of consensus, and that is the headline. Solid and sensible more than spectacular: a B-.
That interior defensive lineman hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall. That is a cornerback worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly.
Job largely done: offensive lineman settled and 5 of 8 of the wish list covered. Quantity was the play, for better or worse.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the interior defensive lineman spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
They went early on Joshua Josephs in pick 27, and the value did not follow. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Value with a capital V on A.J. Haulcy in the 58th pick, a genuine coup. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Jack Endries at the 127th overall pick is a sensible buy, a touch better than market for the tight end. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Kaytron Allen in Round 4, Pick 38 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Matt Gulbin in pick No. 146 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They took Jeff Caldwell at par in No. 189, which is nothing to complain about. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Ephesians Prysock in No. 199 is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
A conviction pick on Kaden Wetjen at the 206th pick that the board grades a round light. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jeremiah Wright in slot 221 lands just on the right side of the ledger. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.