The San Francisco 49ers don’t need any persuading to take a defensive lineman high in the NFL Draft.

San Francisco has spent three first-round picks on defensive linemen in the Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch era, while their top pick in the 2022 draft, 61st overall in the second round, was spent on an edge rusher in Drake Jackson.

But recent developments in the market at defensive tackle may well give the 49ers extra motivation to prioritize that position in this month’s draft.

This week saw the Carolina Panthers hand a four-year, $96 million extension to Derrick Brown, their first-round pick from 2020.

Brown’s deal has an average annual value of $24 million, his the fourth contract with an AAV of over $20 million this offseason, following lucrative deals for Chris Jones ($31 million average), Christian Wilkins ($27.5 million) and Justin Madubuike ($24.5 million).

In short, the market at defensive tackle has taken off. The 49ers contributed to that rise last offseason, signing Javon Hargrave to a four-year, $84 million deal.

However, after parting ways with Arik Armstead last month, the 49ers will likely want to find a long-term starter at the position in the not too distant future. Hargrave is 31 and Maliek Collins, for whom the 49ers traded after deciding to release Armstead, turns 29 on Monday and is a free agent in 2026.

The huge rise in price of doing business for free agent defensive tackles may well deter the 49ers from trying to address that issue with a signing on the open market next year, with Christian Barmore of the New England Patriots likely to be the biggest prize at the position in 2025.

As such, adding a rookie through the draft to potentially fill that long-term need looks a far more prudent avenue, and the 49ers have already scheduled one top-30 visit with a defensive tackle likely to go on day two this year in the form of Oregon’s Brandon Dorlus.

The 49ers aren’t in an ideal position to draft a defensive tackle in the first round, picking 31st overall after their Super Bowl 58 defeat, and have more pressing needs to possibly target on night one, most notably on the offensive line.

But given how highly the Niners value the defensive side of the trenches, a trade up for Illinois’ Johnny Newton, the consensus second-best defensive tackle in the draft, cannot be ruled out.

Even with the seemingly ever increasing salary cap, the 49ers aren’t realistically going to be in a position where they can hand another huge deal to a defensive tackle.

Identifying a player whom they can keep on a rookie deal for the next few years and who has the potential to ascend to a starting role makes a lot more sense, and it would be no surprise to see the 49ers go defensive tackle with an early selection in a pivotal draft.