Revisiting the 49ers’ 2016 NFL Draft class three seasons later

The San Francisco 49ers had one major positive from the 2016 NFL Draft, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, but largely struck out on other picks in a very lowly draft class. Niner Noise takes a look back three years later.

One might argue it takes three years for any NFL Draft pick or class to reach the point where it can be evaluated properly.

If that’s the case, the San Francisco 49ers‘ 2016 draft class certainly fell short of expectations.

Recently, I took part in a site-wide FanSided retrospective look at the 2016 NFL Draft, breaking down the picks and overall impact from what ended up being the final class put together by former general manager Trent Baalke.

2016 was a pretty bad year, of course, with the Niners finishing 2-14, firing both Baalke and one-and-done head coach Chip Kelly by the year’s end.

And in the context of what the team was going through after the massive roster fallout from the previous year, one would have hoped the 2016 draft would have provided San Francisco with some much-needed talent.

Outside of Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, there wasn’t much to brag about.

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/28/2019.

Buckner was a no-brainer pick. So while Baalke might have been able to tout his own achievements by selecting the former Oregon Duck, it’s what happened in subsequent selections that makes this class hurt.

Baalke came away with 11 selections in 2016. Three years later, only Buckner, offensive guard Joshua Garnett and defensive end Ronald Blair remain.

Needless to say, Baalke’s efforts earned a D-plus grade in my retrospective:

"Occasionally it’s good enough to come away with only one impact player in a draft, particularly if that player is of Buckner’s caliber. But when you enter a season with 11 draft picks and then go 2-14 as most of those players flounder, that’s horrendous. This draft class not only spelled the end of Trent Baalke’s time in San Francisco, it ended Chip Kelly’s run after only one season. Many of the moves, such as grabbing Will Redmond, didn’t even help the 49ers’ depth issues. The fact San Francisco’s current regime of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan got rid of so many Baalke-era players shortly after taking over is the epitaph you need to know."

Remember, the 49ers moved up to grab Garnett. Sure, the 2015 Outland Trophy recipient looked to be a promising player. But he was more of a man-gap blocker at Stanford, certainly not the fit in Kelly’s inside-zone offense. Being relegated to a backup role under current head coach Kyle Shanahan, it’s hard to label Garnett as anything but a bust.

Same with nickel cornerback Will Redmond, who was coming off an ACL tear and only fueled the frustration surrounding Baalke’s tendency to grab players with collegiate injuries.

Like so many players from the 49ers’ 2016 class, Redmond’s impact would be almost nonexistent.

Perhaps the only mid- or late-round player who showed any starting-potential promise was cornerback Rashard Robinson, whose red flags at LSU cut into his experience and likely hobbled his draft stock. Robinson’s rookie season was impressive enough, but he quickly flamed out only a few weeks into Shanahan’s first year at the helm.

If there’s a silver lining to all this, it’s the fact Baalke and his staff didn’t mess up the opportunity to grab Buckner. And in true retrospect, the failure of the 2016 class to make a serious impact when it was needed the most ultimately prompted CEO Jed York to finally move on from Baalke, setting up the team’s current regime and rebuild in response.

Perhaps a year or two from now, we’ll look at that as one of the biggest “blessings in disguise” for San Francisco.