San Francisco 49ers: 10 biggest ‘what ifs?’ in NFL Draft history

No. 6: What if 49ers didn’t trade all those picks for O.J. Simpson?

For those thinking 2016 was a bad year in Niners history, one could and should make the argument 1978 was far worse.

And the same argument could be made then-general manager Joe Thomas was a worse executive than Trent Baalke, too.

One of Thomas’ most criticized moves that year was to ship off a slew of draft picks to the Buffalo Bills. In total, San Francisco sent off its second- and third-round picks in 1978, then its first- and fourth-round picks in 1979 and a 1980 second-round pick for Simpson, who would be 31 years old for the start of the 1978 season and was clearly on the decline of his otherwise stellar NFL career.

Yes, the 49ers lost that trade in a massive way.

At the same time, though, it opened up the door for Thomas’ eventual firing the following season, paving the way for Bill Walsh to start the rebuild in 1979.

In a weird way, the long-term effects probably ended up being beneficial for Walsh and Co. who were without a first-round pick in 1979. And while the Round 2 selection of running back James Owens didn’t exactly garner much excitement, the player selected in the third round, quarterback Joe Montana, sure did.

Quarterbacks Phil Simms and Steve Fuller were both selected in Round 1 before the Niners’ top pick, and it’s feasible Walsh, in need of a new quarterback, could have gone with either one of those two instead of Montana.

Good thing he took Montana.