San Francisco 49ers: Looking back on the 2017 NFL Draft trade for Solomon Thomas

Nearly a year and a half since general manager John Lynch and Co. shocked the football world by pulling off what seemed to be a fleecing of the Chicago Bears, Niner Noise examines what the San Francisco 49ers really got out of the trade.

When general manager John Lynch first took helm of the San Francisco 49ers, no one really knew what to expect. The free-agent signings were largely to reset a culture from the past, so the 2017 NFL Draft was going to be the first impression Lynch gave us.

And, boy, was it big.

Lynch traded down one spot, from second to third overall, adding the 67th and 111th overall pick in the 2017 draft and what turned out to be the 70th overall pick in the 2018 draft.

Now, as most people should know, it’s very hard to grade draft-day trades mostly because there are a lot of moving parts. For starters, having an extra pick prompts a team to do another trade, and picks are constantly moved. So, no one truly knows what the end result of the trade was.

So with that in mind, let’s map out what happened with the picks Lynch got. The 67th pick in 2017 got traded to the Saints in exchange for the 59th overall pick in the 2018 draft and the 229th pick in the 2017 draft. The 111th was traded with the 34th overall pick for the 31st overall pick. I’m intentionally leaving out the players involved that way people can see the picks solely, and not initially judge based on player recognition.

We will be going through this by looking at each of the picks that the 49ers received, and mapping out what they got out of that pick. It might sound a little confusing, but keep on reading and you’ll understand.