2020 NFL Draft: 5 biggest surprises from first round on Day 1

The San Francisco 49ers made a shock in the 2020 NFL Draft by not grabbing a wide receiver early, and that was just one of many surprises over the course of Round 1.

To say the 2020 NFL Draft was and is different is a bit of an understatement. Having it done entirely virtually, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, was quite the change from the raucous crowds booing commissioner Roger Goodell.

Well, fans still did… virtually.

Nevertheless, Round 1 of the draft went about as smoothly as it possibly could have considering the circumstances. Whether or not the context had anything to do with it, there were some notable surprises and shakeups from the first round, too.

Case in point, after months of speculation in the opposite direction, the San Francisco 49ers traded up in Round 1 instead of down from both their first-round picks. This was made possible by the Niners first trading down from No. 13 overall with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to No. 14, netting a fourth-round pick in exchange, then using that pick to move up from No. 31 to No. 25 in a move with the Minnesota Vikings to grab Arizona State wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

And after nabbing South Carolina defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw with their first pick, the 49ers managed to plug two glaring holes on their roster when Round 1 was in the books.

There were some San Francisco surprises, yes. But those weren’t the only eyebrow-raising moves. A number of other teams pulled off shockers, too, and Niner Noise goes through all the action on day one and breaks down the top five provocative moments from the opening round of the 2020 NFL Draft.