A look back at the 49ers drafts: 2017
How have John Lynch, Adam Peters and Kyle Shanahan done? Let's start at the beginning.
It’s hard being a fan and doing a true assessment of an NFL teams drafts. For one, what constitutes success? Casual fans may think that if a 1st or 2nd round pick busts out, it’s a calamity but it literally happens ALL THE TIME. It stinks, and folks should be held accountable for it, but it happens. A lot.
And the current 49ers know this very well, as their first draft is generally considered a horrorshow. This is who they took in 2017:
I feel like this draft sums up both the highs and lows of the way this team drafts, even though it was their first shot. Yes, they passed on players like Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson to take Solomon Thomas, a DE who never really found a position and is now a reserve for the Las Vegas Raiders. I don’t blame them for passing on those QBs who developed into far better players than their draft projections. (I will say I am on the record for not understanding why Watson didn’t have more juice at the time, his current off-field issues not withstanding), but taking Thomas was fairly bad. The prior regime had taken Defensive Linemen the prior two drafts, and Thomas simply didn’t look like the pass rusher they were desperate to find.
Taking Reuben Foster was even worse - his off-field issues got him dropped from the team, and continued with the Washington Football Team. But the team claimed that if the Bears (who they swapped picks with) had taken Solomon Thomas instead of Mitch Trubisky, they would have taken Foster at the 3rd pick overall.
The team falls in love with specific players, and did so with Foster - which, at least, is understandable given his massive talent. But it’s perhaps the worst draft tendency out there. Any reasonable analysis can tell you that there are almost zero “can’t miss” players and falling in love with someone causes bad decisions.
Skipping a bit ahead, this continued in this draft with QB C.J. Beathard (currently a backup in Jacksonville) in the third round, when most felt he was a sixth round pick. The team was desperate for QB and it’s clear that Shanahan thought he’d found the next Kirk Cousins…and, no. Taking RB Joe Williams (who never saw the field and is out of the league) in the fourth round is a draft day story where Kyle Shanahan talked Lynch and Peters into it when he wasn’t even on their board to start with (from doubts about whether he wanted to play football, which…he didn’t.)
So that’s the bad.
The good is, obviously, finding George Kittle in the fifth round. Kittle is not only one of the very best tight ends in the NFL, he’s the heart and soul of the team and a complete leader. He does EVERYTHING, and the only reason he doesn’t dominate receptions is he’s such a good blocker that he’s busy opening up running lanes for whoever is carrying the rock.
The good also includes WR Trent Taylor, who played a few good seasons as a solid possession receiver (and is now a reserve with the Bengals), and DT D.J. Jones, who is still with the team and has developed into a great nose tackle who the team will try to re-sign yet again this offseason.
In addition, Ahkello Witherspoon showed real promise at CB before taking a real step backwards but was a starter on the Steelers this season for at least a few games, hauling in three interceptions (almost as many as he had with the 49ers in four seasons).
So let’s now take another look at the draft, and how it has panned out with everyone taken. Green is good and you certainly would like to see the middle and last two columns have a lot more green than the below:
D.J. Jones gets starter snaps even if he doesn’t always technically start the game. That means the team got two starting caliber players they still have on the roster, and another who starts for another team. That’s not ideal, but it’s not as horrendous when you consider the caliber of Kittle in particular. But what is egregious is the result at the top, where you used that kind of draft capital for a reserve DE and a LB who simply couldn’t stay in the league. Having two of your top four players not only no longer be on your team five years later but not even in the league whatsoever is damning.
What’s interesting about Reuben Foster is that the team has openly talked about the lesson it learned (that off-field stuff matters) and it resulted in them taking another ILB who has turned into one of their very best players in a subsequent draft to fill the gap left by Foster’s absence. We will get to that later.
Overall, if we’re doing a draft grade, I have to give this a C- or a D+. Kittle is an absolute star and plucking him in the 5th round is a massive achievement. But getting only one other player who is still on your team at this point is simply not.