SF 49ers: 5 players who can now safely be called ‘busts’
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: SF 49ers Defensive Tackle Kentavius Street
It’s still a massive wonder why San Francisco bothered using a fourth-round draft pick on former NC State defensive tackle Kentavius Street in 2018.
Particularly after Street suffered a torn ACL in predraft workouts, which prematurely ended his rookie season before it even got off the ground.
Perhaps the SF 49ers were enamored with Street’s sheer strength, which was supposed to be a boost for the interior defensive line still not getting enough out of Solomon Thomas. But in the wake of former Niners general manager Trent Baalke’s frequent use of draft capital on injured players, one might have thought John Lynch and Co. would have shied away from players of this ilk.
Especially when San Francisco still had more than a handful of holes to fill on its roster entering that season.
Nevertheless, Street was the selection, and he’s gone on to play 14 games over his NFL career, picking up 11 tackles, zero sacks and zero quarterback hits in a purely rotational role. If anything, he’s earned the reputation for picking up roughing-the-passer penalties — two so far in 2020, and the last in Week 13 against the Buffalo Bills being awfully costly on what would have otherwise been a 3rd-and-18 after the play.
The SF 49ers misused that pick.