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

By Akshaj Dwivedula

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 27: (L-R) Solomon Thomas of Stanford poses with Commissioner of the National Football League Roger Goodell after being picked #3 overall by the San Francisco 49ers (from Bears) during the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 27: (L-R) Solomon Thomas of Stanford poses with Commissioner of the National Football League Roger Goodell after being picked #3 overall by the San Francisco 49ers (from Bears) during the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CA – OCTOBER 07: Christian Kirk #13 of the Arizona Cardinals is tackled by Adrian Colbert #27 of the San Francisco 49ers after a catch during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium on October 7, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

The 67th Overall Pick (2017)

This pick is much more interesting. The 49ers traded this pick to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a 2018 second rounder and the 229th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. The New Orleans Saints used that pick to select a backup running back out of Tennessee named Alvin Kamara.

That’s right, the 49ers traded away the Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Well, not completely. The 49ers probably weren’t going to select Kamara anyway, and the trade was pretty smart on Lynch’s part. Of course, players dictate how we view trades, and Kamara tops everything the 49ers received.

But, what did the 49ers receive? That 229th pick was used on a oft-injured cornerback from Florida. Sounds nondescript for now. That corner was Adrian Colbert.

For a seventh-round pick, Colbert had been an unquestioned success. Now, as a starting free safety this year, there were a lot of issues, none bigger than this.

This was Colbert’s main issue, overextending and getting beat deep — the cardinal sin of a free safety. Plays like that led to a PFF grade of 31.7, one of the worst in the NFL.

With all that said, Colbert is still an unquestioned success of a pick despite his issues before landing on injured reserve with an ankle injury. First off all, he’s a seventh rounder who now is a fringe starter in the NFL. That rarely happens. The MGOblog calculated and found the average career length of a seventh-round pick to be around three years, and that includes several steals, like Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.

Related Story. Why Adrian Colbert was the 49ers’ most pleasant surprise in 2017. light

Secondly, Colbert showed tremendous potential in his rookie year. Pro Football Focus tweeted out this following Colbert’s rookie year:

Not only that, but Pete Prisco of CBS Sports had predicted Colbert to be a Pro Bowl-caliber player this year, stating how “Colbert is a player that other coaches kept mentioning to me late last season as a potential big-time starter.”

All this tries to show that Colbert has a lot of potential, and that the 49ers got another starter out of the Thomas trade.