2020 NFL Draft: 5 biggest surprises from first round on Day 1
By Peter Panacy
No. 5: 49ers Pass on Wide Receivers Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb
Most mock drafts out there centered around the idea the Niners would land one of the top wide receivers in a fully stacked draft class: Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb, or Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy or Henry Ruggs III.
Ruggs was off the board to the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 12 overall, so either Lamb or Jeudy would have been available to San Francisco at No. 13.
Instead, with that trade-down move, the 49ers elected to replace a Pro Bowl player they moved to get that 13th pick, defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, with Javon Kinlaw.
So much for one of those three — Lamb, Jeudy or Ruggs — being San Francisco’s first pick.
Granted, Kinlaw isn’t a bad selection. He has the potential to be a pocket-wrecking force and will help ensure the Niners defensive line stays elite after losing Buckner. That was a strength a year ago, and there’s no reason to suggest things get much different.
But the shock is this: San Francisco has now grabbed a defensive lineman in Round 1 each year dating back to 2015 aside from the 2018 selection of offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey. And while the Buckner loss hurt, the D-line certainly wasn’t the 49ers’ biggest area of need. That was wide receiver.
Fortunately, however, the Niners made up for it by going for Brandon Aiyuk later in the round, and he reportedly wouldn’t have made it to No. 31 overall.