Five takeaways from the 49ers’ draft class: Is the run game going to improve?

The success or failure of the 49ers’ 2021 draft class will come down to Trey Lance, the quarterback the team invested three first-round picks in after trading up to No. 3 overall.

But seven other players were selected as general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan looked to replenish a roster with new starters, and depth, at key positions ahead of their fifth season at the helm.

A few themes, potential misses and changes could be coming now that the bulk of the roster-construction portion of the offseason is in the rear view.

Let’s take a look at five takeaways from the 49ers’ draft class (which was graded, here).

The running game was an obvious priority

We know Shanahan’s offense is clicking when the 49ers are running the ball effectively, setting up play action and finding creases for George Kittle run open downfield. And while it would have made sense to invest in pass-catchers for Lance, like at receiver and tight end (to back up Kittle), San Francisco made a clear effort to focus on the rushing attack.

The 49ers were second in the NFL in rushing attempts during the Super Bowl season in 2019, only to fall to 14th in 2020 for a myriad of reasons. The defense was banged up, the quarterback situation was messy (leading to playing from behind) and the team’s top three running backs missed 20 games combined due to leg injuries.

So Shanahan last week decided to do something the 49ers haven’t done since 1992: draft multiple running backs. The 49ers traded up in Round 3 for Ohio State bruiser Trey Sermon, who was taken 40 picks after San Francisco added a hulking offensive lineman to play guard, Aaron Banks, at No. 48 in Round 2. Shanahan in Round 6 tapped Elijah Mitchell, a speedster at tailback who reportedly ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at his Louisiana pro day.

San Francisco hadn’t drafted a running back since 2017 when the team whiffed on Utah’s Joe Williams in the fourth round. He never played a snap while the 49ers relied heavily on undrafted running backs since. Adding Sermon and Mitchell likely means the 49ers won’t have to shell out free agent contracts to players like Jerick McKinnon and Tevin Coleman, who are playing for new teams this offseason after averaging 3.9 and 1.8 yards per carry in 2020, respectively.

Put Banks, Sermon and Mitchell with Lance, arguably the best rushing quarterback in the draft class, and the 49ers have a chance to give defensive coordinators headaches with their rushing attack that will also include incumbent running backs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. They also drafted another offensive lineman, Jaylon Moore, in Round 5, who should upgrade the team’s depth behind the starting five (more on that later).

“I think it’s important to us every year,” Shanahan said of the run game. “I think the way that we run the offense, I always want to be in a situation where you have to be 50-50. I just think it takes the pressure off of everybody, especially the quarterback and especially the O-line. So you try to put a team together that you can always never feel like you have to be one dimensional.”

Durability was a theme

The 49ers in 2020 led the NFL in games missed by injured players — and they may have been the most injured NFL team in recent memory.

Which led to Shanahan and Lynch changing the way they evaluated players while focusing on durability during this draft. They had four draft picks that never missed a game due to injury: Lance, Banks, Moore, cornerback Ambry Thomas and potential slot corner Deommodore Lenoir.

That’s notable given two of the team’s top players from the 2019 class, Nick Bosa and Deebo Samuel, had injury issues before joining the NFL. Their 2020 campaigns were mostly a wash because of injuries (Bosa tore his ACL in Week 2, Samuel missed nine games with foot and hamstring issues).

“Sometimes you debate it the whole time and I’ve been a lot of places where a guy we love is taken off a board and then you watch them go play somewhere else for 10 years and you’ve got to go against them and you’re like, ‘Man, I’m never doing that,’” Lynch said after the draft. “And then we’ve been here and we’ve had a few guys we’ve had injuries issues with or they’ve had a history, but we like the player and we’re willing to take that risk and some have worked and some haven’t.”

Mitchell missed two games over the last four seasons total, and Thomas, a third-round pick from Michigan, appeared in 39 straight games before opting out of 2020. His only full season as a starter came in 2019, months after losing 35 pounds in a bout with colitis. He wasn’t expected to play that year after getting his diagnosis.

Sermon missed five games in 2019 with a knee injury but was otherwise durable during his three seasons at Oklahoma before transferring to Ohio State, where he sustained a shoulder injury in the first half of the National Championship game and exited. The only guy with significant injury history in the class was taken in Round 5.

Round 5 gems?

Lynch has joked about the team having an affinity the fifth round. That’s where Kittle, Dre Greenlaw, D.J. Reed (a projected starter with the Seahawks) and once-promising slot receiver Trent Taylor were drafted.

The 49ers added three players in the fifth round last week: Moore, Lenoir and USC hybrid defensive player Talanoa Hufanga.

Hufanga is one of the team’s most interesting additions. His college production speaks for itself. He earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2020 making 62 tackles (5.5 for loss) with three sacks, two forced fumbles and four interceptions. He worked primarily as a box safety but observers question his speed for the position, which might lend to playing linebacker. His 4.63 time in the 40 would be serviceable for an outside linebacker spot.

However, Hufanga before the draft weighed in at just 199 pounds, which means he may need to add 15 to 20 pounds, while maintaining his speed, if he’s going to carve out a significant role on defense.

“Hufanga, love him at safety. Hits like a linebacker,” Shanahan said. “His mentality is he’s an old school bad-ass as we say. So, we’re excited to get him here. See what he can do on special teams. Hopefully, he can earn a role there first to start. We’ll try him at safety. If it’s better at linebacker, that’ll eventually happen, too, but we’re excited to get the football player.”

Special teams might be where Hufanga finds his niche on the roster. He said in his emotional Zoom call with reporters a goal of his was to be a special teams Pro Bowler as a rookie.

“That’s a tremendous goal. We hope he can do that,” Lynch said.

Hufanga is the Round 5 draftee with significant injury concerns. He broke his collarbone twice at USC, once in 2018 and again in the spring of 2019, and also required surgery on the same shoulder after dislocating it after the 2019 season.

Passing on needs

The 49ers went into the draft with a few apparent needs: cornerback, guard, slot receiver, pass rusher, back up tight end and a long-term center to groom behind Alex Mack.

They addressed two of those six areas.

And in doing so, they passed on some potential fits. The 49ers had a chance to draft Florida State cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. in Round 2 but instead opted to trade back for Banks. Samuel went one spot ahead of Banks at No. 47. And the 49ers passed on centers Josh Myers and Creed Humphry, who could have started at guard and eventually took over for Mack, who turns 36 in November.

Edge rushers Azeez Ojulari (Georgia), Dayo Odeyingbo (Vanderbilt) and Boogie Basham (Wake Forest) all went after San Francisco took Banks.

The pick will be considered a success if Banks is good and he earns a second contract with the team five years from now. But if not, it will be fair to ask if picking a guard who won’t play center in the future was a good use of a second-round draft pick while potential starters at more prominent positions were on the board.

Additionally, the team traded a pair of fourth-round picks for Sermon, indicating they are expecting big things. Like Banks, the pick would be justified if Sermon produces like a top-tier running back. Six corners, five receivers and five edge defenders were drafted in Round 4.

Significant change coming to the offensive line room

It wasn’t a particularly good draft for incumbent offensive linemen. Tom Compton, Colton McKivitz, Shon Coleman, Daniel Brunskill and Justin Skule were given significant competition this offseason with the addition of Mack in free agency plus Banks and Moore in the draft.

Brunskill was the favorite to start at right guard and potential center in February, but those jobs are gone to Mack and likely Banks. Skule, Coleman and Brunskill had been the earmarked to compete for swing tackle while McKivitz and Compton are backup candidates along the interior. Moore provides competition for all the above.

The Moore pick was another intriguing one. Lynch said he was the highest graded player on the team’s board when they picked and took him despite all the bodies the already along the offensive line. But he may have the upside to develop into a starter down the line.

“We go by how people feel in that room and how convicted we all are,” Lynch said. “We felt great conviction there, so I think at this point we weren’t married to certain positions in some cases.”

Moore played at tackle the last three seasons after playing tight end in high school (and defensive line his first season at Western Michigan). Shanahan said he considers Moore a guard who might have the versatility to play outside. At 6-foot-4, 311 pounds and 33 3/8-inch arms, he might be versatile enough to do it.