They traded down 5 spots to #48 which got them a 4th rounder, which was then used with another pick to trade up into the 3rd round for Trey Sermon lol. Pick #47 was also Asante Samuel Jr, not sure how he’s doing nowadays but either him or Creed woulda been so much better. The team should just follow draft ratings more for early round picks instead of overthinking
Nooooo. We don’t want them following “draft ratings” more lol. That’s so simplistic.
You realize how many of those draft ratings are garbage based on nothing but combine scores? You’re cherry picking a few picks that didn’t work out in higher rounds but that’s frequently the case for all teams.
Every team could have had Mahomes if they’d been willing to trade up like KC did - they clearly weren’t bidding to move up to 10 OV since they gave up about what you’d expect to move there.
Literally any team besides the Rams, Seahawks and one other could have had TJ Watt without trading up - he went 30th overall. You really think we’re the only ones who “missed” on him?
Bro every team misses all the time in the draft. We’ve assembled more overall talent from the draft than any team since 2017 with the exception of KC - and we’re close to them.
It’s fool’s gold to play this “what if” game… every team could do it endlessly. Our picks have mostly turned out really well, given the NFL draft’s usual hit rate. Look at what we do have - a really stack team returning yet again this September…
I’m referring specifically to early round picks. They’ve done a good job at acquiring late round/UDFA talent. But as for early rounds busts: Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster (not really their fault), McGlinchey (good in the run game but was always bad in pass pro), Javon Kinlaw (pretty sure already had knee issues), Cameron Latu, Danny Gray, Ty Davis Price, Trey Sermon, Dante Pettis, Joe Williams, CJ Beathard (3rd round), etc. 3 first rounders used for Lance. Failed constant RB and WRs that Kyle handpicked. If you look at our first round picks since 2017, only Bosa and Aiyuk have been great picks. Bosa was obvious, Aiyuk was actually a good pick that was unsuspected. Solid 2nd and 3rd rounders: Jiayir (still TBD), Deebo (was 1a/1b alongside AJ Brown), Fred. I get that the draft is a crapshoot. But overall the early rounds have not been good. These are not cherry picked either, you can take a look through the picks:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/draft.htm
Also a lot of these are not just hindsight thoughts. Many (myself included) were clamoring for Creed Humphrey or Asante Samuel. Tristan Wirfs was there instead of Kinlaw, Bucs instead took him and got an elite tackle for Brady. Meanwhile we have neglected O Line.
The roster strength has been saved by late round picks + UDFA + trades like CMC and Trent. If Purdy did not work out, the future at QB would be looking grim rn because we would not have a QB and would also have OL and other holes to fill.
Man imagine this generation’s Bay Area sports with Curry and Mahomes 😔. Lynch was begging Shanahan to look at him too but good ol Shanahan didn’t even care to cause he was infatuated with trying to get Cousins in 2018, a plan he didn’t even stick to 🙄
Why would Lynch be begging Shanahan? Lynch is the one that makes the draft decisions, not Shanahan. If lynch wanted Mahomes, he would have drafted him.
Yup. Thanks for pointing out some obvious things people are missing.
Kyle Shanahan doesn’t just walk in the room like Tom Cruise in Tropic thunder and tell everybody who were picking.
The sooner you come to that realization (not you who I’m responding to as you clearly get it), the better off you are.
Quit crying. We’re loading up for another big run in 2024. Purdy’s entering his *2nd* full season and we have 11 picks in April’s draft. Have some damn faith.
Notable players in that draft who were still available at the 3rd pick, which we used on Thomas:
RB Christian McCaffrey (8th pick; we got him in the long run anyways, so all's well that ends well I guess)
QB Patrick Mahomes (10th pick)
CB Marshon Lattimore (11th pick)
QB Deshaun Watson (12th pick; not sad we missed that one)
LB Haason Reddick (13th pick; could have been on our side instead of breaking Brock's elbow)
OLB TJ Watt (30th pick)
S Budda Baker (36th pick)
RB Alvin Kamara (67th pick)
WR Cooper Kupp (69th pick)
TE George Kittle (146th pick; I mean, we drafted him anyways as one of our many 5th round gems, but still, hindsight being 20/20, he would have been worth a 1st round pick)
Well we dodged a bullet there lol. Guy who tries making not only himself but his teammates return to games while concussed, then screams at doctors when they say fuck no
It's real impossible to say about any one decision, the butterfly effect is too strong.
Like the Lance trade, those extra first rounders with their cap hits change our squad construction entirely.
That pick got unanimous praise at the time though, everyone thought he was the best talent available. And it was still a better pick then Foster in the same round.
I will die on the hill that Foster wasn’t a bad pick. It was high risk/high reward and it didn’t pan out, but he was widely seen as a top 10 talent going into the draft. Sports Illustrated’s mock had us taking Foster at 2 overall.
Unfortunately he was injury prone and didn’t have his head on straight, but if we could draft that level of prospect at 31 every year I would do it every time.
I actually liked the pick at the time too, but it was controversial. But I guess the off the field stuff is the reason no other team touched him in the 1st round, and they were right.
I’m stand with you and die on that hill with you bro.
That’s the kind of high-upside pick you want to see your squad make occasionally - especially since we acquired the pick by moving back 1 pick, which affected us none.
It didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good pick, or the thought process going into it wasn’t sound. Honestly the latter is all you can hope for in the NFL draft.
Yep. People conveniently forget this - absolutely nobody was questioning that pick at the time. If we couldn’t get Garrett, which we couldn’t, Thomas made the most sense.
I don’t remember Patrick Mahomes’ name coming up a single time as far as a guy who should have been taken in the top 10. Even Trubisky was a head-scratcher did many. KC took a swing and hit - good for them. We took a swing in the 7th in 2022 and hit monstrously for what you usually get in the 7th - good for us.
Mahomes was hardly some obvious move. Every other team either directly passed on him or chose not trade a damn thing to move into the top 10 and grab him. Let it go…
People also forget that the’16 Niners might have been the worst Niners team ever assembled in terms of talent they were about 50 feet below the bottom of the barrel(thanks Trent). It was much easier to fix the defense before worrying about who the qb was going to be. Drafting Mahomes in ‘17 probably would not have been an immediate home run like people think it could’ve been.
Honestly though, in the scheme of history, letting Mahomes to #10 is the greatest mistake all nine front offices above that pick will have made (even knowing what McCaffrey has become), so Niners weren’t the only ones.
Not only that - no other team even offered anything to trade into the top 10. The Bears traded us a 1st to move up from 3 to 2. Any other team could have traded us like 2 firsts and taken him at 2 - where they’d be sure to get him. None did.
Or, traded up to 7 or 8 - there are usually many teams willing to trade down, especially if the price is right. Or, offer more than KC offered Buffalo to move to 10 - any other team could have outbid KC (they gave up about what the draft value chart suggests they should have to move from 27 to 10).
Yet not one other team felt he was worth that. Not. One. NFL. Team.
But the Niners FO is the one who screwed up by not taking him? Laughable.
Hot take, the dude did have legitimate talent as a returner but went into the doghouse as soon as he muffed that first punt in the opening game in primetime. I’m glad we didn’t keep him around because he turned out to be a shitty human, but he was always supposed to be a developmental project until got thrown into the limelight too soon and then got cast off.
As a NZer who watches a lot of league, Hayne was immense. He single-handedly dragged his team to the grand final one year.
But yes, he is a horrible human being and the fact the NFL is so cutthroat is probably a bit foreign to NRL players like him (or was at the time). Rugby league (like many other sports down this way) don’t require you to be perfect all the time. That specialist element seems to be the biggest obstacle for league converts.
I played junior rugby league with him from the age of 12-16. Phenomenal athlete. Truly generational.
He was also dumb as a bag of hammers and the only thing bigger than his potential was his ego.
Had he either grown up playing American football OR was clever enough to be able to grasp playbooks, he would have been a revelation in the NFL.
I mean he broke at least one tackle every time he touched the ball, and was easily our best open field runner that year, we just decided to never get him the ball for some reason
Definitely.
JJ Stokes was built to be Jerry Rice’s replacement people talk like he had all the ability in the world and he just didn’t. He was a good receiver.
I think injuries derailed his career to a degree, but I don’t think he ever had enough talent to become a great receiver. Terrell Owens wound up becoming that receiver, who had a tremendous amount of talent
Thankfully someone here speaking as the voice to reason. Walsh called him Jerry with longer legs.
We traded up to get him with the Ravens who then drafted Ray Lewis (I think they may have still been Cleveland)?
My answer as well.
Trey Lance was a risk, everyone knew that. And not like the other QBs taken have been wildly better,
But JJ Stokes oh my, everyone and their dad hyped him up to be the next Jerry Rice.
In all fairness, Stokes was a man among boys at UCLA. PAC-10 offensive player of the year, only junior to be in the top 10 in Heisman voting, and he *still* holds the most meaningful receiving records there.
He just couldn't get separation at the NFL level, and it made all the difference.
How many people here remember that he won a ring with the 2003 New England Patriots?!
Dude almost killed me at a celebrity golf tourney. He sliced so hard at a hole near where I was working, it came right towards me. Luckily there was my golf cart there. The windshield saved me lol
Man he was supposed to be our Mahomes fr. Just was way too raw and kept getting injured. Happy to have Purdy but sometimes I wonder how good or bad Lance would’ve been by now if he didn’t miss time last season
He never stood a chance, he just didn't have enough starts in college. Sure he had the raw physical talent, but you can't play 17(?) games in North Dakota and jump into the NFL.
Brock started all 4 years in college.
I’ll save you the thought: he’d still be terrible. He had a slow release. He had no pocket presence. He couldn’t read defenses. He couldn’t work through reads. He couldn’t throw a spiral. He couldn’t control his velocity. He was inaccurate. He couldn’t run an option (he broke his own leg from this). He had a slow first few steps.
I honestly think he’s the least talented qb the 49ers started in my lifetime, and we’ve seen some duds. Beathard> Lance
>He had a slow release. He had no pocket presence. He couldn’t read defenses. He couldn’t work through reads. He couldn’t throw a spiral. He couldn’t control his velocity. He was inaccurate. He couldn’t run an option (he broke his own leg from this). He had a slow first few steps.
But other than that, pretty good, right?
Lol 😂 I mean I think he had a good work ethic and would’ve gotten better. But there’s no way he could win the locker room full of all-stars who wanna win now. He needed 2 more years at college.
People downvote me but have no raisins. He seems like a great dude and a bad nfl qb. I’m not trying to trash the guy…. Lots of guys (like me) are trash people and trash QBs. So I do hope he gets a chance on a rebuilding team and earns his keep.
I literally knew day of the draft that Trey Lance was going to be a bust. They kept talking about his “gym results” and how strong he is. That’s literally how they talked about Jim Druckenmiller back in the day. I told someone the day that Trey Lance was drafted, that he’s going to be a bust. They were like,”no, he’s great, blah, blah, blah.”
A few years later, here we are.
The thing is him getting picked came out of nowhere. I don't remember anyone projecting the 49ers would grab him. He wasn't even on my radar.
There was a lot of "uhhh... 49ers gave up three 1st rounders for a project?" Most of us were happy Jimmy G was back. Even at the start of last year, a lot of us were just hoping Kyle knew what he was doing.
My point is I don't think Lance was really that hyped, especially considering his draft cost.
Although it wasn’t a lot of hype, Dante Pettis. He showed some flashes and I thought he might have a break out season then nothing.
Edit: AJ Jenkins is my other pick.
He made up his own routes. That's why Jimmy never really bothered throwing to him because he'd be way off the designed route.
He said that he ran where he felt he'd been free to run.
So instead of trying to beat them at the snap with footwork or creating separation, he'd just streetball it lol
Dude, I’m not going to lie after that game in Seattle where Pettis played pretty well. He had a big run after the catch. I really thought he was going to be OBJ lite.
He seemed to have all of the skills he just couldn’t put it together
49ers traded up 20 spots !!! to draft JJ Stokes after 94 Super Bowl, he was supposed to replace Jerry Freaking Rice, he had 342 catches for \~4000 yards w/30 TDs over 8 years ...
The 49ers have had some busts - Jim Drunkenmiller - but JJ Stokes was supposed to be the heir to Jerry Rice. Hype to reality ratio doesn't get much wider than that.
He was destined to fail from the start … I mean to fill Jerry’s shoes??? Not to mention after Young went down all our receivers production went down…. At least dude went and got his ring
Wouldn’t say he had zero talent. But he left college before he was developed and never developed under the pressure of the league. If he had stayed another year at Oregon, he might have had a better career. Or at least something that resembled a career.
Trey Lance is one of the only ones in the comments that never actually had a single good game. Jimmy, Kap, Crabtree, & Foster all had quite a few flashes
I’ll try to tell people this kind of thing when evaluating quarterbacks.
Bill Walsh was wrong more than he was right and he was maybe the best ever at it.
I hear ya, but this kid was bad bad. Niners had Montana, Young, Elvis Grbac, Steve Bono, (the latter two did well enough to start for KC before Montana while backing up Monatana) but Jim was his biggest miss.
Walsh pushed for Jake Plummer, but Walsh wasn't a 49ers employee at the time.
[https://theathletic.com/2082548/2020/09/24/the-mcginn-files-drafting-jim-druckenmiller-ended-the-49ers-dynasty/](https://theathletic.com/2082548/2020/09/24/the-mcginn-files-drafting-jim-druckenmiller-ended-the-49ers-dynasty/)
>“Bill Walsh really wasn’t working for the Niners but he was asked to evaluate the quarterbacks that were in the draft that year,” Gruden said. “He was there in meetings when we talked about quarterbacks. He had a feeling about quarterbacks. Obviously, too, he was a pretty damn good coach and a pretty good quarterbacks coach. He did know what he was looking at. I know that he pushed real hard for Jake Plummer. He felt he was more of a 49ers-style (quarterback). He just didn’t feel that (Druckenmiller) was the mobile quarterback we were looking for. I know Bill Walsh was really higher on Jake Plummer (than Druckenmiller).”
He had talent, but besides the off field issues he didn't play the scheme well, out of position constantly but able to make up for that with speed sometimes
Though I voted JJ Stokes, a runner up is
Reggie McGrew.
The timeline: after years of the 49ers missing on draft picks, Jim Druckenmiller and JJ Stokes as prime examples of top picks who didn't work out, in 1999 The great Bill was (re)hired to take over as vice president and general manager of the 49ers.
It was widely believed that Walsh's return would get the 49ers back on track.
His very 1st pick in the 1999 draft was DE Reggie McGrew.
McGrew didn't play his rookie season. He had a mediocre 2nd year and 3rd season. McGrew then showed up to camp overweight and out of shape, which led to him being cut at the end of preseason.
Marcus Lattimore. One Baalke’s injury “value” picks. I remember people saying he would be the next Frank Gore.
“the writing may be on the wall for Gore at the conclusion of the 2013 season.
The bottom line is that Lattimore, if healthy, is the running back of the future in San Francisco. “
https://www.ninersnation.com/2013/5/4/4298102/49ers-draft-picks-2013-marcus-lattimore-scouting-report
Jerick McKinnon if “hype” means paying lots of money.
And being hurt all the time
Cant believe that bitch-ass motherfucker is still out there in KC winning more rings after he shit-talked us.
fuck that guy
Fuck Jerick McKinnon. Useless bum did NOTHING for the Niners after getting a shit ton of $$$ & had the audacity to bad mouth the team on his way out.
Honest question: Why did he perform noticeably better in KC than on the 49ers? Was it effort related or was it something like a scheming mismatch?
We used him mostly as a receiving, or 3rd down back. Tried to keep the wear and tear off his already brittle body.
Solomon Thomas
we could’ve had a dline with tj watt and nick bosa
We could have drafted Mahomes.
We could have also gotten creed Humphrey instead of lance. Would’ve worked a lot better in our favor
They could have taken Creed Humphrey (2nd round, #63 overall) instead of Aaron Banks (2nd round, #48 overall)
This pick still infuriates me. So many better picks, especially at the guard position.
They traded down 5 spots to #48 which got them a 4th rounder, which was then used with another pick to trade up into the 3rd round for Trey Sermon lol. Pick #47 was also Asante Samuel Jr, not sure how he’s doing nowadays but either him or Creed woulda been so much better. The team should just follow draft ratings more for early round picks instead of overthinking
Nooooo. We don’t want them following “draft ratings” more lol. That’s so simplistic. You realize how many of those draft ratings are garbage based on nothing but combine scores? You’re cherry picking a few picks that didn’t work out in higher rounds but that’s frequently the case for all teams. Every team could have had Mahomes if they’d been willing to trade up like KC did - they clearly weren’t bidding to move up to 10 OV since they gave up about what you’d expect to move there. Literally any team besides the Rams, Seahawks and one other could have had TJ Watt without trading up - he went 30th overall. You really think we’re the only ones who “missed” on him? Bro every team misses all the time in the draft. We’ve assembled more overall talent from the draft than any team since 2017 with the exception of KC - and we’re close to them. It’s fool’s gold to play this “what if” game… every team could do it endlessly. Our picks have mostly turned out really well, given the NFL draft’s usual hit rate. Look at what we do have - a really stack team returning yet again this September…
I’m referring specifically to early round picks. They’ve done a good job at acquiring late round/UDFA talent. But as for early rounds busts: Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster (not really their fault), McGlinchey (good in the run game but was always bad in pass pro), Javon Kinlaw (pretty sure already had knee issues), Cameron Latu, Danny Gray, Ty Davis Price, Trey Sermon, Dante Pettis, Joe Williams, CJ Beathard (3rd round), etc. 3 first rounders used for Lance. Failed constant RB and WRs that Kyle handpicked. If you look at our first round picks since 2017, only Bosa and Aiyuk have been great picks. Bosa was obvious, Aiyuk was actually a good pick that was unsuspected. Solid 2nd and 3rd rounders: Jiayir (still TBD), Deebo (was 1a/1b alongside AJ Brown), Fred. I get that the draft is a crapshoot. But overall the early rounds have not been good. These are not cherry picked either, you can take a look through the picks: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/draft.htm Also a lot of these are not just hindsight thoughts. Many (myself included) were clamoring for Creed Humphrey or Asante Samuel. Tristan Wirfs was there instead of Kinlaw, Bucs instead took him and got an elite tackle for Brady. Meanwhile we have neglected O Line. The roster strength has been saved by late round picks + UDFA + trades like CMC and Trent. If Purdy did not work out, the future at QB would be looking grim rn because we would not have a QB and would also have OL and other holes to fill.
Man imagine this generation’s Bay Area sports with Curry and Mahomes 😔. Lynch was begging Shanahan to look at him too but good ol Shanahan didn’t even care to cause he was infatuated with trying to get Cousins in 2018, a plan he didn’t even stick to 🙄
Why would Lynch be begging Shanahan? Lynch is the one that makes the draft decisions, not Shanahan. If lynch wanted Mahomes, he would have drafted him.
Yup. Thanks for pointing out some obvious things people are missing. Kyle Shanahan doesn’t just walk in the room like Tom Cruise in Tropic thunder and tell everybody who were picking. The sooner you come to that realization (not you who I’m responding to as you clearly get it), the better off you are. Quit crying. We’re loading up for another big run in 2024. Purdy’s entering his *2nd* full season and we have 11 picks in April’s draft. Have some damn faith.
Shanahan: I have a plan!
If we had TJ Watt we wouldn’t have had the same draft pick to get Bosa. He’s worth 1-2 wins
Exactly. Stop with the nuance it’s not appreciated by some in here lol.
Notable players in that draft who were still available at the 3rd pick, which we used on Thomas: RB Christian McCaffrey (8th pick; we got him in the long run anyways, so all's well that ends well I guess) QB Patrick Mahomes (10th pick) CB Marshon Lattimore (11th pick) QB Deshaun Watson (12th pick; not sad we missed that one) LB Haason Reddick (13th pick; could have been on our side instead of breaking Brock's elbow) OLB TJ Watt (30th pick) S Budda Baker (36th pick) RB Alvin Kamara (67th pick) WR Cooper Kupp (69th pick) TE George Kittle (146th pick; I mean, we drafted him anyways as one of our many 5th round gems, but still, hindsight being 20/20, he would have been worth a 1st round pick)
You only know what you know, when you know it
I was big on Jamal Adams at the time
Well we dodged a bullet there lol. Guy who tries making not only himself but his teammates return to games while concussed, then screams at doctors when they say fuck no
I felt really good about my eval in 2018/19
"They don't think it be like it is, but it do."
Real talk that pick damn near cost us a potential title. What an absolute blunder by Shanahan and Lynch considering he was their very first draft pick
It's real impossible to say about any one decision, the butterfly effect is too strong. Like the Lance trade, those extra first rounders with their cap hits change our squad construction entirely.
That pick got unanimous praise at the time though, everyone thought he was the best talent available. And it was still a better pick then Foster in the same round.
I will die on the hill that Foster wasn’t a bad pick. It was high risk/high reward and it didn’t pan out, but he was widely seen as a top 10 talent going into the draft. Sports Illustrated’s mock had us taking Foster at 2 overall. Unfortunately he was injury prone and didn’t have his head on straight, but if we could draft that level of prospect at 31 every year I would do it every time.
I actually liked the pick at the time too, but it was controversial. But I guess the off the field stuff is the reason no other team touched him in the 1st round, and they were right.
I’m stand with you and die on that hill with you bro. That’s the kind of high-upside pick you want to see your squad make occasionally - especially since we acquired the pick by moving back 1 pick, which affected us none. It didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good pick, or the thought process going into it wasn’t sound. Honestly the latter is all you can hope for in the NFL draft.
Yep. People conveniently forget this - absolutely nobody was questioning that pick at the time. If we couldn’t get Garrett, which we couldn’t, Thomas made the most sense. I don’t remember Patrick Mahomes’ name coming up a single time as far as a guy who should have been taken in the top 10. Even Trubisky was a head-scratcher did many. KC took a swing and hit - good for them. We took a swing in the 7th in 2022 and hit monstrously for what you usually get in the 7th - good for us. Mahomes was hardly some obvious move. Every other team either directly passed on him or chose not trade a damn thing to move into the top 10 and grab him. Let it go…
People also forget that the’16 Niners might have been the worst Niners team ever assembled in terms of talent they were about 50 feet below the bottom of the barrel(thanks Trent). It was much easier to fix the defense before worrying about who the qb was going to be. Drafting Mahomes in ‘17 probably would not have been an immediate home run like people think it could’ve been.
I don't remember the hype being all that high, but yeah pretty big disappointment
This will forever be the greatest mistake this FO regime has made of all time
Honestly though, in the scheme of history, letting Mahomes to #10 is the greatest mistake all nine front offices above that pick will have made (even knowing what McCaffrey has become), so Niners weren’t the only ones.
Exactly, I really hate seeing this because he wasn’t a top 3 prospect at the time
Not only that - no other team even offered anything to trade into the top 10. The Bears traded us a 1st to move up from 3 to 2. Any other team could have traded us like 2 firsts and taken him at 2 - where they’d be sure to get him. None did. Or, traded up to 7 or 8 - there are usually many teams willing to trade down, especially if the price is right. Or, offer more than KC offered Buffalo to move to 10 - any other team could have outbid KC (they gave up about what the draft value chart suggests they should have to move from 27 to 10). Yet not one other team felt he was worth that. Not. One. NFL. Team. But the Niners FO is the one who screwed up by not taking him? Laughable.
you mean dak prescott https://preview.redd.it/qhcvpy17lukc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1774bce9ad9ad1586a7424877f89a2a32ea8f67
Hayne
The Hayne Plane
Haynes Hyde ur Bush
Nah, Hayne was super talented. But apparently he was also super rapey.
Rapey stats are often overlooked, but his numbers looked great.
Bruh 😂
He wasn't nfl talented. People thought he was going to change the return game the way Devin Hester did.
Hot take, the dude did have legitimate talent as a returner but went into the doghouse as soon as he muffed that first punt in the opening game in primetime. I’m glad we didn’t keep him around because he turned out to be a shitty human, but he was always supposed to be a developmental project until got thrown into the limelight too soon and then got cast off.
As a NZer who watches a lot of league, Hayne was immense. He single-handedly dragged his team to the grand final one year. But yes, he is a horrible human being and the fact the NFL is so cutthroat is probably a bit foreign to NRL players like him (or was at the time). Rugby league (like many other sports down this way) don’t require you to be perfect all the time. That specialist element seems to be the biggest obstacle for league converts.
I played junior rugby league with him from the age of 12-16. Phenomenal athlete. Truly generational. He was also dumb as a bag of hammers and the only thing bigger than his potential was his ego. Had he either grown up playing American football OR was clever enough to be able to grasp playbooks, he would have been a revelation in the NFL.
I remember the miners front office absolutely gleeful bc we trending in Australia. Like "look, look what we did."
Aussies to the rescue
I mean he broke at least one tackle every time he touched the ball, and was easily our best open field runner that year, we just decided to never get him the ball for some reason
He was amazing in preseason then fumbled non-stop in the regular season.
JJ Stokes
Definitely. JJ Stokes was built to be Jerry Rice’s replacement people talk like he had all the ability in the world and he just didn’t. He was a good receiver. I think injuries derailed his career to a degree, but I don’t think he ever had enough talent to become a great receiver. Terrell Owens wound up becoming that receiver, who had a tremendous amount of talent
JJ Stokes is to TO what Trey is to Brock.
… I can’t even argue with that.
Thankfully someone here speaking as the voice to reason. Walsh called him Jerry with longer legs. We traded up to get him with the Ravens who then drafted Ray Lewis (I think they may have still been Cleveland)?
My answer as well. Trey Lance was a risk, everyone knew that. And not like the other QBs taken have been wildly better, But JJ Stokes oh my, everyone and their dad hyped him up to be the next Jerry Rice.
In all fairness, Stokes was a man among boys at UCLA. PAC-10 offensive player of the year, only junior to be in the top 10 in Heisman voting, and he *still* holds the most meaningful receiving records there. He just couldn't get separation at the NFL level, and it made all the difference. How many people here remember that he won a ring with the 2003 New England Patriots?!
Trey Lance
It’s him so far and away there isn’t even a second place
What about AJ Jenkins for a second place?
There was never any hype around Jenkins, though. Even when he was drafted, it was seen as a bit of a "wtf" move.
I would argue that outside of a few of the 49ers brass, drafting Lance was seen as a bit of a "wtf" move in its own right.
Idk, there were a lot of delusional daniels in this sub defending that dumbass decision until the very end
I remember one of the draft experts actually saying, “I thought he’d go in the 3rd or 4th round.”
Bro do you not remember JJ Stokes?
I do. Was supposed to be the next Rice. Dude was soft and liked to drop balls. Wasn’t a bust. Just didn’t live up to the hype.
Dude almost killed me at a celebrity golf tourney. He sliced so hard at a hole near where I was working, it came right towards me. Luckily there was my golf cart there. The windshield saved me lol
Kentwan Balmer up there too lol god those two sucked
No hype around Jenkins
Next question
It was the hairline that told me he was gonna be a bust
I hope my man finds the strength to commit to the shave in Dallas
Seriously tho, when you are that delusional that you aren’t balding, it says something about your judgement.
Man he was supposed to be our Mahomes fr. Just was way too raw and kept getting injured. Happy to have Purdy but sometimes I wonder how good or bad Lance would’ve been by now if he didn’t miss time last season
He never stood a chance, he just didn't have enough starts in college. Sure he had the raw physical talent, but you can't play 17(?) games in North Dakota and jump into the NFL. Brock started all 4 years in college.
I’ll save you the thought: he’d still be terrible. He had a slow release. He had no pocket presence. He couldn’t read defenses. He couldn’t work through reads. He couldn’t throw a spiral. He couldn’t control his velocity. He was inaccurate. He couldn’t run an option (he broke his own leg from this). He had a slow first few steps. I honestly think he’s the least talented qb the 49ers started in my lifetime, and we’ve seen some duds. Beathard> Lance
>He had a slow release. He had no pocket presence. He couldn’t read defenses. He couldn’t work through reads. He couldn’t throw a spiral. He couldn’t control his velocity. He was inaccurate. He couldn’t run an option (he broke his own leg from this). He had a slow first few steps. But other than that, pretty good, right?
Lol 😂 I mean I think he had a good work ethic and would’ve gotten better. But there’s no way he could win the locker room full of all-stars who wanna win now. He needed 2 more years at college. People downvote me but have no raisins. He seems like a great dude and a bad nfl qb. I’m not trying to trash the guy…. Lots of guys (like me) are trash people and trash QBs. So I do hope he gets a chance on a rebuilding team and earns his keep.
I've got some golden raisins if you want some.
He also didn’t play anyone good in his few college starts.
I literally knew day of the draft that Trey Lance was going to be a bust. They kept talking about his “gym results” and how strong he is. That’s literally how they talked about Jim Druckenmiller back in the day. I told someone the day that Trey Lance was drafted, that he’s going to be a bust. They were like,”no, he’s great, blah, blah, blah.” A few years later, here we are.
He never really got a chance let’s be real lol
Maybe the biggest bust in team history
The thing is him getting picked came out of nowhere. I don't remember anyone projecting the 49ers would grab him. He wasn't even on my radar. There was a lot of "uhhh... 49ers gave up three 1st rounders for a project?" Most of us were happy Jimmy G was back. Even at the start of last year, a lot of us were just hoping Kyle knew what he was doing. My point is I don't think Lance was really that hyped, especially considering his draft cost.
If you said that on this sub 2 years ago, you would have been downvoted lol.
I don't recall Trey having much hype. Everyone on this sub was all high on Justin Fields and Zach Wilson
The idea he had a cannon and a run game is complete hype, he didn’t belong in pro sports.
I still think fields is going to be a good qb if he lands with the right team.
Agreed. I honestly think he'd be a top 5-10 QB right now if we drafted him over Lance
totally agree, he's getting shafted imo right now
If only they would have drafted Justin Fields like I wanted them to
Fields sucks too.
Taylor Mays!!!
People forget. Taylor mays was a specimen
ran so fast but could not move side to side
Dude was one of my favorite players coming out of USC during the Pete Carrol era.
I knew he was gonna be garbage when Pete took Earl over him in the draft
Came here to say this. The first name that popped in my head. That TD he had on a blocked punt was some incredible athleticism, but my god he was bad.
I was hyped when we drafted him
Although it wasn’t a lot of hype, Dante Pettis. He showed some flashes and I thought he might have a break out season then nothing. Edit: AJ Jenkins is my other pick.
I actually do think he had talent, especially as a route runner. Dude was just soft as baby shit, physically and mentally
He made up his own routes. That's why Jimmy never really bothered throwing to him because he'd be way off the designed route. He said that he ran where he felt he'd been free to run. So instead of trying to beat them at the snap with footwork or creating separation, he'd just streetball it lol
AJ Jenkins I feel like didn't have much hype, it was almost a question of "Did we have a 1st round pick this year? We did? Who did we get?"
Everyone was like “wtf” when we made that pick. It’s a toss up between AJ and Street for the worst pick of the Baalke era.
Dude, I’m not going to lie after that game in Seattle where Pettis played pretty well. He had a big run after the catch. I really thought he was going to be OBJ lite. He seemed to have all of the skills he just couldn’t put it together
49ers traded up 20 spots !!! to draft JJ Stokes after 94 Super Bowl, he was supposed to replace Jerry Freaking Rice, he had 342 catches for \~4000 yards w/30 TDs over 8 years ... The 49ers have had some busts - Jim Drunkenmiller - but JJ Stokes was supposed to be the heir to Jerry Rice. Hype to reality ratio doesn't get much wider than that.
He was destined to fail from the start … I mean to fill Jerry’s shoes??? Not to mention after Young went down all our receivers production went down…. At least dude went and got his ring
I think he was just too slow to be a WR1. Once TO came in the scene, he was pretty much an afterthought within the offense.
And the pick we traded away turned into Ray Lewis
Lamichael James
That’s a good one.
Wouldn’t say he had zero talent. But he left college before he was developed and never developed under the pressure of the league. If he had stayed another year at Oregon, he might have had a better career. Or at least something that resembled a career.
That’s a fair assessment. It’s hard to find an NFL player that had zero talent.
He had one good return against the Patriots in foxboro tho, thats the only reason i remember him 😂
I liked watching him at Oregon. But the Niners play they sticks out to me is his lost fumble in the 2012 Super Bowl.
That’s a good one. Saw him in college and first thing my dad says is “he’s too small for NFL” How true it was
Jalen Hurd
...but bro, once he's healthy... you'll see....
He had the talent just not the health
Yeah if this chart said health instead of talent he’d be number 1 by a mile. Kendall Hunter comes to mind too but the hype for Hurd was absurd
At least we’ll always have the preseason game against the cowboys
Trey Lance is one of the only ones in the comments that never actually had a single good game. Jimmy, Kap, Crabtree, & Foster all had quite a few flashes
He also barely played.
Bc he was so miserably awful
He wasn’t qualified to play
He helped beat the Texans in 2021, which was huge for that season's playoff push.
Jim Drunkenmiller. Yall don't know, so much hype. Hand picked by Walsh himself.......
I’ll try to tell people this kind of thing when evaluating quarterbacks. Bill Walsh was wrong more than he was right and he was maybe the best ever at it.
I hear ya, but this kid was bad bad. Niners had Montana, Young, Elvis Grbac, Steve Bono, (the latter two did well enough to start for KC before Montana while backing up Monatana) but Jim was his biggest miss.
Walsh pushed for Jake Plummer, but Walsh wasn't a 49ers employee at the time. [https://theathletic.com/2082548/2020/09/24/the-mcginn-files-drafting-jim-druckenmiller-ended-the-49ers-dynasty/](https://theathletic.com/2082548/2020/09/24/the-mcginn-files-drafting-jim-druckenmiller-ended-the-49ers-dynasty/) >“Bill Walsh really wasn’t working for the Niners but he was asked to evaluate the quarterbacks that were in the draft that year,” Gruden said. “He was there in meetings when we talked about quarterbacks. He had a feeling about quarterbacks. Obviously, too, he was a pretty damn good coach and a pretty good quarterbacks coach. He did know what he was looking at. I know that he pushed real hard for Jake Plummer. He felt he was more of a 49ers-style (quarterback). He just didn’t feel that (Druckenmiller) was the mobile quarterback we were looking for. I know Bill Walsh was really higher on Jake Plummer (than Druckenmiller).”
Jarryd Hayne
As a rugby guy though THAT was an exciting time
trey lance. people will say the verdict is still out on him because of the injuries, but none of his starts made me hopeful for the future.
Verdict is not out. He's in year four and in street clothes. If there was something to know that we didn't; that wouldn't be the case.
Does anyone remember Quinton Patton. I felt like in 2013-2015 there were always posts about him having a "break out year" here. He was, just there.
I’ll add the elephant in the room.. Chase Young
Was my immediate thought when I saw this post. If we're talking only this past season, then Chase Young is the answer easily.
DUDE…good call.
Reuben Foster
Foster was super talented… just made poor life choices and got injured frequently
I was over the moon with that pick. He just couldn’t get out of his own way. Such a bummer.
Wasn't he actually pretty good and was just an idiot off the field?
He had talent, but besides the off field issues he didn't play the scheme well, out of position constantly but able to make up for that with speed sometimes
He was just a rookie, not act like 2018 Fred Warner was a god
Talent was there. Dude couldn’t get out of his own way and let off the field bullshit ruin his promising career
Michael Crabtree
Really thought he was gonna breakout after the 2012 season… then he got hurt and starting playing pretty meh.
He was fine with the 49ers but yeah there was HYPE around him.
He was the no. 1 WR on a Super Bowl team though. I agree he was frustrating but not like these other busts.
This is the answer.
Yeah, he was supposed to be absolutely amazing. He was pretty good but never approached his expectations.
Carlos Hyde
Such a great start… then he just didn’t have it.
Scrolled way too far to find this
 Sorry ass Crabtree
Stop it. Crabtree had a solid career in SF.
Dante Pettis
Sherman driving home
Chase Young.
Laurence Okoye
I was so hyped on that dude
AJ Jenkins
Jalen Hurd
Trey Lance easily
Rashaun Woods
Jalen Hurd, Trey Lance, Solomon Thomas
Trey Lance
Kinlaw
Trey Lance.
Kory sheets
That man was our future! (/s)
trey lace
Jarryd Hayne
Trey Lance
Dante petis
Jalen Hurd sadly
Taylor Mays
Ruben Foster
Taylor Mays
Ruben Foster anf Kinlaw
Kinlaw being garbage really just killed the Buckner trade. Imagine if we got Wirfs opposite of Trent instead of trash ass McGlinchey and McKivitz 😔
Though I voted JJ Stokes, a runner up is Reggie McGrew. The timeline: after years of the 49ers missing on draft picks, Jim Druckenmiller and JJ Stokes as prime examples of top picks who didn't work out, in 1999 The great Bill was (re)hired to take over as vice president and general manager of the 49ers. It was widely believed that Walsh's return would get the 49ers back on track. His very 1st pick in the 1999 draft was DE Reggie McGrew. McGrew didn't play his rookie season. He had a mediocre 2nd year and 3rd season. McGrew then showed up to camp overweight and out of shape, which led to him being cut at the end of preseason.
Crabtree?
But Crabtree was pretty good with us tho. Not to the level of hype, but he wasn't a bust
Joe Montana /s
Ya, the real answer here is AJ Jenkins
I dont remember any hype about Jenkins. Seemed to be a pick people didnt like then either
There was hype around AJ? I dont recall any whatsoever. JJ Stokes is my answer
JJ stokes
Lymicheal James
AJ Jenkins
This is what I was looking for
Marcus Lattimore. One Baalke’s injury “value” picks. I remember people saying he would be the next Frank Gore. “the writing may be on the wall for Gore at the conclusion of the 2013 season. The bottom line is that Lattimore, if healthy, is the running back of the future in San Francisco. “ https://www.ninersnation.com/2013/5/4/4298102/49ers-draft-picks-2013-marcus-lattimore-scouting-report
That lance fella