San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch says the team's current roster construction is beginning to lean more on continuity and internal development rather than splashy overhauls — a design that is different that his previous approaches to teambuilding.
"I think we have an interesting dynamic, and it's intentional," Lynch told Tim Kawakami. "You have to hit on your draft choices to make this the case, but you never want to be this middling team where you're an aging team, and then you don't have a plan for the future."
That comment cuts to the heart of the 49ers' current roster profile — one built around a veteran core that skews older than almost any team in recent NFL history. The offseason reunion with Deebo Samuel pushed San Francisco
into rare territory: the 49ers could now start five non-quarterback skill players age 30 or older in the same game, joining Mike Evans, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk.
Lynch's answer to that aging curve is the draft — and he's betting heavily that last year's class holds the key to sustaining success once the veteran window closes.
"In totality, there were 11 draft choices; last year, all 11 were here and contributed," Lynch said. "I think a lot of those guys, these are important years for them in Years 2 and 3. Your hope is the Mykel Williams and Upton Stouts can take another jump so that they're not only guys that are nice guys to have on the roster, but they're impact players, they're needle-moving players. I believe they have that capacity. I believe they have that ability, but they've got to go show it."
Lynch's framing is worth a caveat, though. Of that 11-man class, seventh-round receiver Junior Bergen is no longer with the team and third-round linebacker Nick Martin is currently on injured reserve. So while the group did contribute as rookies in 2025, San Francisco isn't carrying the full class into this stretch of the plan intact. Additionally, Williams is currently on the physically unable to perform list with an ACL injury, CJ West and Alfred Collins are buried on the depth chart, Jordan James potentially lost the RB2 job to 2026 rookie Kaelon Black, and the rest of the group (except Stout) are battling for roles.
The aging corps of players won't last forever, as star linebacker Fred Warner has made abundantly clear, meaning the draft will be more important than ever. Recent classes haven't panned out for Lynch and Shanahan, but the hope is that the 2025 and 2026 classes will be around for a long time.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers GM explains that roster hinges on recent draft class delivering
