NFC West rivals' selections in 2024 NFL Draft magnify the stakes of San Francisco 49ers' big gamble

The San Francisco 49ers made some unexpected decisions in the 2024 NFL Draft, but their biggest gamble was not on any specific player they selected, but rather on who they didn't.

San Francisco did not select an offensive tackle with any of its eight picks in the draft. While the 49ers did take two interior linemen in Dominick Puni (third round) and Jarrett Kingston (sixth round), their draft was, in essence, a bet on an offensive line that had some obvious issues in 2023.

Those issues were primarily contained to the right side of the O-Line, and the Niners paid the price for them in the Super Bowl, when a protection mishap from right guard Spencer Burford — in for the injured Jon Feliciano — on third down on San Francisco's sole overtime possession led the 49ers to settle for a field goal having driven down to the Kansas City Chiefs' nine-yard line. The Chiefs replied with the game-winning touchdown. 

The selection of Puni theoretically puts the 49ers in a position where they don't have to rely on Burford as the backup right guard and, with Kingston entering the fold as the athletic archetype of a 49ers' offensive lineman, there's a chance the 2022 fourth-rounder could even be cut.

But the 49ers are still pinning a lot on veteran Feliciano impressing to the extent he did during the second half of last season.

And they are pinning even more on right tackle Colton McKivitz, who was a weak link in the Super Bowl and for most of his first season starting at the position.

McKivitz, per Pro Football Focus, allowed the most pressures in the NFL (59). According to Sports Info Solutions, he had a blown block rate of four percent, putting him 56th of 83 tackles with at least 300 snaps, per Sports Info Solutions. 

There is significant onus, therefore, on McKivitz to make strides in his second year as a starter, and the Niners' gamble on him doing so and on last season's offensive line improving as a whole is magnified by what their NFC West rivals did in the draft.

The Los Angeles Rams, having lost Aaron Donald to retirement, spent four picks on the defensive line, their first two on Florida State duo Jared Verse and Braden Fiske. Verse had 62 pressures in 2023, tied fifth among all defensive linemen in the 2024 class, per Pro Football Focus.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks used their first-round selection on Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, whose pressure rate over expected of 10.1 percent was the highest among players at that position in the class with at least 250 snaps, per Sports Info Solutions.