San Francisco 49ers: 10 biggest ‘what ifs?’ in NFL Draft history
By Peter Panacy
![Quarterback Alex Smith (Utah) drafted first overall by the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) Quarterback Alex Smith (Utah) drafted first overall by the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/6b9dd2ab3557bc4298e8be7f09313142c853d8a1b78cbc03b38bff63e41e708b.jpg)
No. 5: What if 49ers didn’t select Solomon Thomas in 2017?
Another trade San Francisco engineered garnered plenty of positive feedback, the 2017 move from No. 2 overall to No. 3, which saw the Chicago Bears give up some lofty draft capital to select quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
The 49ers, too, needed a quarterback but instead elected to grab Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas.
The plan at the time, of course, was for Kyle Shanahan to wait for quarterback Kirk Cousins as a free agent in 2018. That approach, though, meant the Niners were going to pass on now-Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson, both of whom have emerged as franchise-caliber signal-callers.
Thomas flamed out after four years and is no longer with the team, and the Niners are still seeking a quarterback.
Particularly with Mahomes, who went at No. 10 overall after a Chiefs trade-up, nine other teams can say they made the same mistake. And in fairness, Mahomes was previously looked at as a late first-round pick with some big boards and mocks listing him in Round 2.
Still, if anything, San Francisco surely would like to have a do-over.