The 49ers didn’t do a thing in Round 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft, but they should still be viewed as winners despite being wholly idle.
OK, so the San Francisco 49ers weren’t the biggest winners of Round 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft.
If you wanted to pick some teams who absolutely crushed it over the course of the first 32 picks, you’d likely have to look at the New York Jets, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles.
Each of those teams came away happier, either landing immediate-impact players or finding the best possible talent at positions of need.
The Niners, without a first-round pick because of last year’s trade-up for quarterback Trey Lance, could have only moved back into Round 1 by the way of what would have been a lucrative trade from their still-top pick, No. 61 overall, which probably wasn’t going to be the smartest of approaches considering what’s viewed as a relatively weak draft class.
Unless they moved disgruntled wide receiver Deebo Samuel, of course.
49ers win Round 1 of NFL Draft by not trading Deebo Samuel
Multiple reports leading up to the draft said the only way San Francisco would have budged on a would-be Samuel trade was if it was a deal simply too good to pass up.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the New York Jets offered the No. 10 overall pick, plus a mid-round pick swap, in an attempt for Samuel.
The 49ers didn’t bite.
Instead, the Niners are poised to retain their top offensive weapon from a year ago. While they could have capitalized on a massive return package, no such deal appears to have materialized as Rapoport pointed out, so San Francisco didn’t give in.
Sure, there are some bridges the 49ers need to mend with Samuel, and that’ll require some cash. But they’re infinitely better with the “wide back” on the roster than they’d be without him, hinging instead on the unknown commodities of drafted prospects.
With stiff penalties for skipping training camp and actual games, Samuel has far less leverage than you think.
49ers win Round 1 of NFL Draft by rest of NFC West not improving
Day one of the draft won’t reveal the full success of any team’s rookie class, of course. And while the Niners didn’t wind up taking home any top-end prospects in the round, it’s hard to say anyone else in the NFC West improved much at all either.
In fact, there was only one pick to an NFC West team throughout the entirety of Round 1, the Seattle Seahawks taking Mississippi State offensive tackle Charles Cross, which addressed a need but too late to save quarterback Russell Wilson’s desire to stay there.
The Los Angeles Rams? Like San Francisco, they didn’t select in the first round either.
And the only other divisional transaction of note is the Arizona Cardinals trading away their own first-round pick, No. 23 overall, to the Baltimore Ravens to acquire wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
Brown is a good player. Not great and not elite.
The Marquise Brown trade makes ZERO sense for the Cardinals.
— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) April 29, 2022
This is an absolute ROBBERY by Baltimore.
Arizona needed defensive help and improvements for the offensive line. Not someone who can merely replace now-Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk, who left in free agency.
Simply put, the Cardinals whiffed on this one, and the rest of the division isn’t better.
49ers win Round 1 of NFL Draft with only one QB being selected
As strange as it might sound, there’s still a market the 49ers can capitalize on for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
And it might have improved a bit in the wake of Round 1.
Despite the 2022 draft being notably weak at the position, only one quarterback was selected out of the entirety of the first round, Pitt’s Kenny Pickett, grabbed at No. 20 overall.
Even with the weakness of this year’s class, it’s almost inevitable teams will fully reach on quarterbacks, overvaluing them and then hyping them up by saying the things you’d expect: “he’s a steal” or “he’ll be the real deal on this team.”
It’s possible four quarterbacks could have gone in Round 1. With only Pickett having been selected, the likes of Liberty’s Malik Willis, Ole Miss’ Matt Corral and North Carolina’s Sam Howell could all find themselves grabbed in the second round.
Read More: 49ers live 2022 NFL Draft tracker with picks, grades and analysis
OK, so how does that impact the Niners?
Assuming each of those three remaining top QBs winds up getting selected to start off day two, that’ll ultimately push more prospects down the line towards San Francisco’s first pick of this year’s draft, No. 61 overall.
Simply put, teams passing on quarterbacks just thickened the pool of talent from which the 49ers need to land impact talent.
49ers win Round 1 of NFL Draft thanks to the Panthers
Related to the Jimmy Garoppolo story, one could make the argument Niners fans had the second-most interest in what the Carolina Panthers would do with their top pick, No. 6 overall, only behind the highly anticipated Jets’ actions in Round 1.
Carolina is one of only a handful of teams still in on a quarterback, one needed to upgrade over Sam Darnold. And if it grabbed someone like Kenny Pickett or Malik Willis at No. 6 overall, one could have essentially crossed off the possibility of San Francisco trading Garoppolo there.
However, the Panthers decided to draft Ikem Ekwonu, the offensive tackle out of NC State, instead.
Compounding how this possibly benefits the 49ers, Carolina now isn’t poised to select until Round 4, meaning its chances for any sort of upgrade under center are almost impossible if the NFL Draft is viewed as the means to do it.
Unless the Panthers are content with Darnold for another season (they shouldn’t be), they’ll have to trade for someone.
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Someone like Garoppolo. Or, perhaps just as likely, soon-to-be on-the-outs quarterback Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns.
The Niners should like those odds, though. And while they won’t get anything they initially had hoped for with a Garoppolo trade, something is surely better than an outright release later this offseason.
A trade is still very much in play.
Day two of the 2022 NFL Draft kicks off on Friday, April 29 at 7 p.m. ET.