NFL Draft: 4 players 49ers regret passing up for Trey Lance

49ers Missed Player No. 1: Cornerback Patrick Surtain II, Broncos

It sure seems like forever ago when the 49ers drafted a cornerback who’d become a plug-and-play star right out of the gate. And given the Niners’ cornerbacking issues thus far in 2021, one can only wonder if Kyle Shanahan and Co. should have put more of an emphasis on this position earlier than they did.

True, San Francisco used two picks on cornerbacks in the draft, a Round 3 selection on Ambry Thomas and a Round 5 selection on Deommodore Lenoir, yet neither has come close to solidifying himself as a starting-caliber option.

This is surely not the case with the Denver Broncos’ first-round pick at No. 9 overall, cornerback Patrick Surtain II, who has all the makings of the top corner selected out of this year’s class.

Through 10 games played, nine of them starts, Surtain is already shutting down this side of the field, breaking up nine passes and intercepting one, while allowing a mere 49.2 completion percentage when in coverage. On top of that, opposing quarterbacks are posting just a 76.5 passer rating when targeting him, too, and that all points to him being a true shutdown-type of cornerback for a long, long time.

Again, the 49ers won’t care about any of that as long as Trey Lance pans out.

Still, any one of these four players on this list would have been welcomed additions, too, if Lance ended up not being the pick.