49ers Draft: Is There A Player Worth Trading Up For?

A popular talking point, for most teams, is to trade down in the NFL draft and accumulate picks. After all, the more swings you have, the more likely it is that you hit on a prospect.

The San Francisco 49ers enter the 2026 NFL Draft with picks in the first and second rounds, as well as four fourth-round picks. The Niners don’t have a third-round pick after they upped their original offer to land a quality starting 3-technique.

We’re seeing players mocked in the first round that would be selected in the 50s and 60s next year. When a running back, linebacker, and safety are recognized as the best players in the draft, you’re not going to see conjecture about trades. That’s been the case during this draft cycle.

You can identify contributors through the third round of this draft. Contributors≠Starters. If you’re going to move draft assets, it’s not for somebody who can pitch in here and there. You’re making a trade for an impact player.

Is there a player worth trading up for in the NFL Draft?

We don’t have to limit a trade to the first round. NFL teams certainly don’t. If we’re attempting to map out what positions the 49ers will select, wide receiver and edge rusher make sense for the first two picks. By the fourth round, adding a safety, a left guard, a running back, and another player from the trenches, just to be safe, seems like the correct approach.

Let’s say the draft doesn’t fall the 49ers’ way in the first or second round. John Lynch could package a couple of those fourth round picks to move into the third round. The same could be true if a player the team is higher on to begin the second round is falling through the cracks. That’s when having four fourth-rounders would come in handy.

If it comes down to moving up in the first round, are Dillon Thieneman or Emmanuel McNeil-Warren impactful enough to trade up for? Not in my eyes. That’s not a slight on either player. If the prospect isn’t making every level of my defense(or offense) better, that’s not a player worth moving up for.

Defensively, that’s either a player from the secondary who can affect the game in multiple ways or an edge rusher who wins on every down. Let’s stick with the defensive line for this exercise.

The one defensive tackle that has the talent to trade up for broke his foot at the NFL Combine, and was already an enigma. As much as a Keldric Faulk or Zion Young would help the 49ers’ defense, those aren’t the kind of players you trade up for. On offense, Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson would be tempting. His movement skills at 6’2″ and knack for making the big play are intriguing, but it’s impossible to ignore his injury history.

My answer: No, not this year. The 49ers would be better served to stand pat and take the best player on the board. There are a bunch of different flavors at wide receiver. The grade for the prospect at 27 might not be all that different than the one at 58. Forcing a pick at a position of need is what has gotten the team in trouble.