Investing top draft picks in the defensive line is a time-tested and, for the most part, successful ploy by the 49ers.
Now it's Javon Kinlaw who joins a parade of first-round picks on one of the league's best defensive fronts.
The 49ers selected Kinlaw, from South Carolina, at No. 14 overall.
In trading down one spot to No. 14, the 49ers picked up the Tampa Bay Bucs' fourth-round pick (No. 117), while also yielding a seventh-rounder (No. 245) to the Bucs.
Tampa used that 13th overall draft pick on Tristan Wirfs, the fourth offensive tackle taken. Consider that an endorsement the 49ers believe left tackle Joe Staley is returning for a 14th season rather than retiring.
So, for the fifth time in six years, the 49ers' top pick is spent on a defensive lineman: Arik Armstead (2015), DeForest Buckner ('16), Solomon Thomas ('17) and Nick Bosa ('19). Offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey (2018) is the offensive outlier in that stretch.
Replacing Buckner, primarily at the three-technique, was imperative for a 49ers defense that sparked last season's run to the NFC Championship and Super Bowl.
Bosa earned AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. Armstead secured a contract extension (five years, $85 million). Thomas, the No. 3 overall pick in 2017, will now have help in his contract year in terms of covering for Buckner on the interior.
