The 49ers balance immediate needs with long

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — With the core of a roster that made it to the Super Bowl last season still in place, the San Francisco 49ers had few glaring holes on the roster headed into the NFL draft.

That made the approach to picking as much about adding depth with players who could eventually become low-cost starters in 2025 or beyond as it did finding big-time contributors for the upcoming season.

“The hardest thing is when you go through the draft and especially when you feel you’re a contender and things like that, you want to do everything to just look at your board and fill those holes,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Saturday. “That’s really not how the draft works. ... You want to think always what helps us now. But then you get to that spot and there always isn’t that answer right then. Then do you go what kind of helps us now and more in the future. That’s what you’re just constantly weighing.”