SANTA CLARA — It isn’t necessarily a bad thing Thursday night if the 49ers end up taking someone only serious draft geeks have heard of at No. 31 of the NFL Draft or trading out of the first round altogether and doing their serious work on Friday and Saturday.
Taking the big swing hasn’t been a strength since coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch arrived in 2017, with some of their biggest roster additions coming from selections that brought blank stares.
The real drama will involve wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, a former first-round pick himself who may or may not have priced himself out of the 49ers’ immediate future. The 49ers were faced with a similar dilemma once before in 2020, and they made the decision to trade defensive lineman DeForest Buckner to Indianapolis and then draft his replacement in Javon Kinlaw.
Buckner has remained a mainstay with the Colts. Kinlaw, taken at No. 14, never ascended to his draft status mostly because of knee trouble and signed this offseason with the New York Jets after four seasons, with the 49ers declining his fifth-year option.
The safest, and probably best route, is to bite the bullet and fit Aiyuk into their financial puzzle in Brock Purdy’s last season on his rookie deal and use the draft to backfill an already strong roster.
The 49ers have 10 draft picks and there will be some maneuvering, but there’s no need to go too far outside the box considering the talent on the roster.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah is leaning that way for the 49ers.
“They’ve got a nice haul of picks. If they want to move up, they have the ammunition,” Jeremiah told reporters recently on a conference call. “I don’t see them in a position where they need to do that. I think this is more filling out your roster, getting a layer of depth. They have the stars in place so I don’t think they’re in a position where they have a must, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get up there.’ I think they can be a little more patient than that.”
Lynch addressed the difficulty of having to add draft picks because they’re cheaper while at the same time acknowledging how hard it is to get them on the field because of the quality of the roster.
“I think it’s going to be hard for these young kids to come in and make a mark,” Lynch said. “But there’s good players and it’s our job to find that because you have to have that. As many as our players as we’ve paid, you have to rely on rookie contracts.”
The 49ers, albeit with changes in their personnel department over the years, have done their best work since 2017 going for singles and doubles and moving runners along — and winding up with some cornerstone players who weren’t regarded as such on draft day.
Some examples in previous Shananan-Lynch drafts, excluding last year’s selection because it’s only been a year:
2022
Purdy, the final draft pick at No. 262, provided the late save. The only other player who has started is right guard Spencer Burford, a fourth-round pick who has started but hasn’t yet seized the job.
The top three picks were edge rusher Drake Jackson of USC (second round, No. 61 overall), running back Ty Davis-Price of LSU (3/93) and wide receiver Danny Gray of SMU (3/105). Davis-Price is already gone. It wouldn’t be a major surprise if Jackson and Gray weren’t on the team in 2024.
Still on the roster are cornerback Samuel Womack (5/172), offensive lineman Nick Zakelj (6/187) and defensive tackle Kalia Davis (6/220).
2021
The Trey Lance draft. Three first-round picks to move up to No. 3 and take a quarterback who was dealt to Dallas for a fourth-round draft pick they’ll use this year.
Aaron Banks (2/48) watched and learned for a year before becoming a solid starting left guard. The 49ers hit on three winners with their final three picks in cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (5/172), safety Talanoa Hufanga (5/180) and running back Elijah Mitchell (6/194).
Running back Trey Sermon (3/88) couldn’t beat out Mitchell. Cornerback Ambry Thomas (3/102) has had both good and bad moments. Tackle Jaylon Moore (5/155) isn’t looked at as the answer when Trent Williams hangs it up.
George Kittle (85) and Jauan Jennings (15) are examples of 49ers who were later-round picks and ended up being key players on the roster. Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
2020
Kinlaw was referenced earlier. Aiyuk (1/25) has blossomed as a star. Colton McKivitz (5/153) played more snaps than anyone on the offensive line and was a good value pick. Tight end Charlie Woerner (6/190) was a core special teams player and solid blocker and wide receiver Jauan Jennings (7/217) epitomizes the 49ers in terms of blocking at his position.
2019
Any draft that brings aboard starters in defensive end Nick Bosa (1/2), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (2/36), punter Mitch Wishnowsky (4/110) and linebacker Dre Greenlaw (5/148) gets an “A” grade in retrospect.
Bosa, Samuel and Greenlaw have been tone-setters and leaders besides their on-field production.
2018
Tackle Mike McGlinchey (1/9) was a solid run blocker on the right side right up to the point where he departed in Denver for free agency with the 49ers not re-signing them after the deal that brought Williams from Washington. Dante Pettis (2/44) was never a fit for the physicality the 49ers demand from wide receivers. A head-scratcher in hindsight.
Fred Warner (3/70), a positionless safety linebacker at BYU, more than made up for the Pettis pick considering he’s the prototype modern inside linebacker. No draft picks other than Warner remain from this class.
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2017
The 49ers traded back a spot so the Chicago Bears could blow the No. 2 pick on Mitch Trubisky and selected Solomon Thomas (1/3), who never lacked for effort or character but was also never the game-changer the third pick of the draft is supposed to be.
Next up was linebacker Reuben Foster (1/31), whose off-field issues led to his release.
The gold nugget in this draft was tight end George Kittle (5/146) who became an ideal blocker/receiver for the Shanahan system not to mention a bigger-than-life personality in the locker room.
