In the last decade, the San Francisco 49ers have had some stellar draft picks in the form of George Kittle [2017, 5th round], Fred Warner [2018, 1st round], Nick Bosa [2019, 1st round] and Brock Purdy [2022, 262nd overall]. However, on the other hand, there have also been some real stinkers by the 49ers. Although a few bad picks are fine because no team is perfect and the drafts are usually a mixed bag, it’s concerning how except for Brock Purdy, most of the 49ers’ picks have been first-round picks. Naturally, such a condition has raised concerns over the 49ers’ drafting and scouting abilities.
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In the recent edition of The Colin Cowherd Podcast, popular NFL analyst Colin Cowherd brought up this topic and claimed that Kyle Shanahan, despite being a tactical genius, has failed to deliver in drafts. Colin noted how the 49ers’ recent high-profile picks of Trey Lance and Danny Gray have been complete flops. He also pointed out how better scouting could have helped the 49ers use their pick on RBs that year, as there were great options in that position.
“It is interesting how Brock Purdy obviously goes on the tombstone, you know he [Kyle Shanahan] got him in seventh, but I was thinking about this the other day is that San Francisco Niners are fascinating [in drafts]. They missed on Trey Lance, missed on Gray, the SMU receiver, they’ve missed on two third-round running backs. It is that Kyle tends to have not drafted well recently at all and it’s like Kyle makes a lot of stuff work.”
However, co-host John Middlekauff played devil’s advocate and reminded Colin that it’s easier to draft when one constantly finishes last because it gives one a higher-round pick. The 49ers have been stellar in the NFC Championship and they only came short in the last second of the Super Bowl. Thus, they will always have a disadvantage in the draft as long as they don’t trade spots or finish worse.
“It is a lot easier to draft when you suck because you don’t just draft. If I had the fourth pick, look at the Rams last year I know they didn’t have their first-round pick because Detroit had it but they had a high pick in every round after that and when you win like they have this year or the Niners or the Ravens you’re picking at the end of the round; so there [is] pressure on that pick [as] your pool of picking people is just smaller right?
Middlekauff also reminded Colin how the 49ers going all in for Trey Lance also backfired big time. They were so bullish on him that they gave up three multiple rounds just to move a few spots higher. The Trey Lance move flopped and so did the 49ers’ chance to draft higher.
Furthermore, Middlekauff factored in how diversity hires can skew the numbers against the 49ers’ favor but argued that some of the alleged flops still have decent careers. Case in point – Solomon Thomas.
“And the 49ers because of the Trey Lance trade obviously didn’t have high picks and then they weren’t picking in the second and third rounds. I mean a lot of their picks have come with these like diversity hires, they’ve gotten these comp picks and they’ve whiffed on a lot and sometimes I think the Kinlaw example is good. Their first-ever draft pick, they took Solomon Thomas didn’t work but he’s still in the NFL, right? He’s just a solid player. He probably should have been like a second or third-round pick but he was drafted. But a lot of it was super High character, super hard worker; that’s why he is still gonna have a 10-year career.”
All said and done, one cannot deny that the 49ers have made some massive scouting errors. The recent example of Trey Lance comes to mind, as his failure made a dent in Kyle Shanahan’s scouting abilities till Brock Purdy’s meteoric rise.
A Look At Trey Lance – One Of The Worst Draft Day Decisions By The 49ers
Back in 2021, the San Francisco 49ers were in dire need of a top QB talent. With starter Jimmy Garoppolo being constantly injured and declining, 49ers GM John Lynch identified North Dakota State Freshman Trey Lance as the next big thing for San Francisco. The belief in Trey was such that Lynch gave up three first-round draft picks to move several spots above and select Lance as the third pick of the draft.
Unfortunately, the big risk move didn’t pay off as Trey Lance was a disaster. He barely played 8 games for the 49ers in 2 seasons and recorded a woeful 5 TDs in them with rushing yards of 235. He was thus declared one of the worst flops by many due to the high-risk maneuver implemented to get him. Lance was eventually traded off to the Dallas Cowboys last year where he hasn’t played a match yet.
However, everything has a silver lining, and if Trey Lance had performed even decently well, the chances of the 49ers looking for Purdy would have been smaller. So at the end of the day, it all happens for a reason.
