Niner Noise
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San Francisco 49ers: 5 NFL Draft picks who never lived up to the hype

By Peter Panacy

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 12: Wide receiver Rashaun Woods #81 of the San Francisco 49ers carries the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during the game at 3Com Park on September 12, 2004 in San Francisco, California. The Falcons won 21-19. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 12: Wide receiver Rashaun Woods #81 of the San Francisco 49ers carries the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during the game at 3Com Park on September 12, 2004 in San Francisco, California. The Falcons won 21-19. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) /
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Tank Carradine, 49ers
Defensive tackle Tank Carradine #95 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

5. player. 804. . Defensive End. Seminoles . Tank Carradine

Going back to more recent 49ers draft history, fans can probably recall just how excited they felt when the team selected former Florida Seminoles defensive end Tank Carradine with the 40th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.

At the time, the Niners didn’t have a lot of openings on their Super Bowl-caliber roster. So it made sense to take a shot at Carradine in Round 2 after he suffered a torn ACL late in 2012. San Francisco could simply redshirt his rookie season and then insert him into a prominent role when its aging veteran, defensive end Justin Smith, eventually decided to retire.

And after Carradine had an exceptional 11-sack campaign his senior year at Florida State, it seemed like a great idea.

Yet the transition to impact player never happened.

Then-49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio told reporters Carradine was making too many mistakes in practice when he finally was able to take the field. As a result, he was relegated to backup duties and never truly cemented into anything notable, even after Smith and a plethora of other Niners players departed in 2015.

Despite some modest success in San Francisco in 2017, the 49ers elected to move on from the former second-round pick the following offseason.