San Francisco 49ers: 4 biggest surprises from 2021 NFL Draft

Surprise No. 2: San Francisco 49ers didn’t aggressively trade up in Round 2 or back into Round 1

Perhaps John Lynch felt the San Francisco 49ers’ move up to No. 3 overall was as good a blockbuster trade as any, thereby negating any need to get overly aggressive to trade back up in subsequent rounds.

While the Niners did end up trading two fourth-round picks to land another Round 3 selection, that move essentially highlighted the remaining trade-ups for the three-day period.

So much for Lynch and Co. moving up in Round 2 or even getting back into the tail end of Round 1.

On the surface, it might not be too surprising. But considering San Francisco had just 11 roster spots to fill prior to the draft and were going to use undrafted free agency as a means to get the 90-man offseason roster up to full strength, it wouldn’t have been shocking at all to see Lynch use some of his five day-three picks as trade chips to move up. Sure, getting back into Round 1 from No. 43 overall would have been a tall order.

But instead, the 49ers traded down from their own second-round pick in a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, picking up that second Round 4 pick while adding offensive guard Aaron Banks at No. 48 overall.

The Niners bucked the notion they’d go with better-quality picks in the early rounds and instead shifted their focus more to depth on day three where they added four additional players despite the roster not having a ton of openings.