Is This a Make or Break Draft Class for the 49ers?
In 2017, the 49ers revamped their front office and coaching staff, replacing head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke with Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. The team was coming off some dark seasons after firing Jim Harbaugh in 2014 and they needed a fresh start. The first draft class in 2017 for the new era looked to jump-start a successful rebuild for San Francisco. It quickly became a whiff as they selected Stanford defensive tackle Solomon Thomas and Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster with the third and 31st overall picks in the first round, both becoming busts. However, Lynch and Shanahan were able to evaluate George Kittle, a tight end from Iowa in the fifth round, who would change their offensive outlook for the next decade. This 2017 draft class would begin a trend for the front office over the next eight seasons.
They would continue their success in the mid-to-later rounds of the draft where they would select notable players like Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Jauan Jennings, Deommodore Lenoir, Talanoa Hufanga, and the biggest one, Brock Purdy. In the midst of these great value picks, the front office made some interesting decisions in the early rounds of drafts, which dictated how they were able to build a contending roster. Specifically, before the 2021 NFL Draft, the 49ers traded up to the third overall pick and hoped to draft their next franchise quarterback once Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract expired. San Francisco selected North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance with thoughts of developing him into a game-changing talent at the position. However, Lance’s development turned into a catastrophic failure and resulted in them having limited draft capital to clean up the mess.
Under Lynch and Shanahan, selections like Thomas, Foster, Mike McGlinchey, Dante Pettis, Javon Kinlaw, Lance, and Drake Jackson have painted the 49ers as a team that finds little success evaluating talent in the earlier rounds. Although this 49ers regime has found success on the second and third days of the draft and also through trades, that can’t always be the path to a winning formula. In most cases, building a contending roster requires a team to cycle through multiple highly impactful draft classes by selecting prospects who can play an impact now while developing into building blocks for the team in the future. San Francisco has lacked that draft philosophy over the years and this upcoming draft could determine whether this regime is here to stay.
Look at teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams. The Eagles had a major problem in the secondary during the 2023 season and they solved it with a superb 2024 draft class where they selected Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. The Rams had to find a way to replace superstar defensive tackle Aaron Donald after he announced his retirement and revitalized the defensive line with the selections of Byron Young and Kobie Turner in 2023 followed by Jared Verse and Braden Fiske in 2024. Both front offices have now shaped their rosters into perennial contenders. San Francisco will have to follow in the footsteps of their counterparts as they now rely on a franchise-altering 2025 NFL Draft to put them back in contention in the NFC.
