SANTA CLARA – Here comes the 49ers’ most dramatic first-round action in an NFL Draft since 2021.
Disclaimer: They haven’t had a first-round pick in either of the past two drafts, by virtue of their ill-fated climb in 2021 to select quarterback Trey Lance at the No. 3 overall slot.
“It’ll be more fun,” coach Kyle Shanahan said last month about Thursday’s opening night of the NFL Draft. “It’s pretty miserable not having a first-round pick, just watching and having nothing to do that first day.”
“It’s nice to be back there,” general manager John Lynch added at last month’s league meeting. “It’s boring sitting there every year, watching everybody pick.”
The 49ers are not slated to pick until No. 31 overall, their consolation prize for finishing as last season’s Super Bowl runner-up to the Kansas City Chiefs, who select No. 32 to cap the first round’s festivities.
It might be unlikely the 49ers stay at No. 31, however.
Their talent-stacked roster is viewed as the Super Bowl favorite by Vegas’ oddsmakers, so if the 49ers feel they are merely a top-notch player away from completing a championship lineup, they could move up the board.
That would take a trade, presumably with some of their 10 allotted picks or perhaps an expendable player such as a disgruntled one who would rather cash in on a contract extension elsewhere. Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, by the way, is not their only starter entering his contract’s final season. So are guard Aaron Banks, safety Talanoa Hufanga, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and cornerbacks Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir; No. 2 running back Elijah Mitchell is, too.
Perhaps the 49ers have been biding their time to make a blockbuster move. The past month’s free agency moves weren’t exactly electric, as roughly a dozen players were signed to replace the dozen who left. Their priciest and most accomplished addition: defensive end Leonard Floyd. Their most notable departure: defensive tackle Arik Armstead.
“The higher you are in the draft, the better players you get to look at,” Lynch said last month. “Being back in the first round, albeit at the end of it, that is an exciting thing for us.”
For the first time since Lynch came aboard as Shanahan’s hand-picked general manager, the 49ers will draft without Lynch’s right-hand man, Adam Peters, who is now the Washington Commanders’ general manager and tasked with presumably drafting a quarterback No. 2 overall.
“I love the draft process,” Lynch added. “Free agency is fun but free agency is crazy. It seems frenetic and very fluid. I like the process of the draft and the way we do it.”
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Overall, the 49ers have done it well with this regime. Their history of first-round picks, however, has yielded more woes than winners.
In 2017: They traded out of the No. 2 spot, drafted defensive tackle Solomon Thomas at No. 3 (instead of Stanford teammate Christian McCaffrey, who went No. 8 to Carolina, or future Super Bowl nemesis Patrick Mahomes, who went 10th to Kansas City). The 49ers traded up to the No. 31 spot to select linebacker Reuben Foster, only to cut him 19 months later for off-field issues.
In 2018: The No. 9 overall pick brought in right tackle Mike McGlinchey, an entrenched starter for five seasons but one deemed expendable in 2023 free agency, where he cashed out for the Denver Broncos’ riches.
In 2019: Defensive end Nick Bosa was gifted to them at No. 2 overall, once NFC West cohort Arizona used the No. 1 selection on former Oakland A’s draft pick Kyler Murray. Bosa won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, overcame a torn ACL from the 2020 season, won NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022, and signed a massive contract before last season (five years, $170 million) en route to another Super Bowl appearance.
In 2020: After trading DeForest Buckner for the Indianapolis Colts’ first-round pick, the 49ers unsuccessfully attempted to replace him with Javon Kinlaw at pick No. 14. But that first round also brought them Aiyuk once they traded up to the No. 25 spot, just ahead of NFC rival Green Bay. That move cost them the No. 31 pick and a fourth-rounder (to the Vikings).
In 2021: They shipped first-round picks in 2021, ’22 and ’23 (plus a third-rounder) to the Miami Dolphins so they could take a cost-efficient quarterback who could replace an injury-cursed Jimmy Garoppolo. Once Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars) and Zach Wilson (Jets) were taken, the 49ers spent the No. 3 pick on Lance. The North Dakota State product went 1-1 as a fill-in starter as a rookie, sustained a fractured ankle in the 2022 home opener, helped tutor Brock Purdy’s late-season emergence, then, during the 2023 preseason, Lance was dealt to the Dallas Cowboys for a fourth-round pick and spent last season as their No. 3 QB.
“Before we (traded up in 2021), we felt pretty good where our team was,” Shanahan recalled last month. “We knew it was risky. Where our team was at, we didn’t feel we absolutely had to have those (2022 and ‘23) picks.”
Because they weren’t picking in the first round, the past two drafts saw the 49ers scour for later-round gems. Only Purdy, the 262nd and final pick in 2022, has emerged as a full-time starter, though guard Spencer Burford (2022 fourth round), safety Ji’Ayir Brown (2023 third round) and kicker Jake Moody (2023 third round) have played key roles.
“We knew we weren’t going to have (a first-rounder) the last two years, so we didn’t look as much at those top picks. We’ll be prepared for everybody this year,” Shanahan said. “You never know whether we stay where we’re at or if we move around, but at pick No. 31, you have to be ready for anything.”
The 49ers’ 10 picks in this year’s draft:
Round 1: No. 31 overall
Round 2: No. 63
Round 3: No. 94
Round 4: Nos. 124 (from Dallas), 132, 135
Round 5: No. 176
Round 6: Nos. 211, 215
Round 7: No. 251