The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most decorated franchises in the NFL, and the last few years have been no different. Legendary names such as Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Frank Gore, and others have worn the red and gold over the team's 80 years of existence.
While San Francisco has struck gold in drafts throughout their history, they have undoubtedly hit a bit of a slump this century. The aforementioned Gore, Patrick Willis, and George Kittle are some of the franchise's greatest homerun selections since the year 2000, but they are often overshadowed by some brutal misses. Here are the 25 worst 49ers draft picks this century.
25. Vance McDonald: 2012 - 2nd round, 55th overall
Though McDonald enjoyed a pleasant eight-year career, his production was a far cry from what's expected out of a second-round tight end. He never eclipsed 400 yards in the receiving game, and his blocking hardly made up for it. From the years 2013-2016, the 49ers were not overly efficient in the run game (excluding Kaepernick). Frank Gore never rushed for more than 4.3 yards per carry during that span, and after, McDonald was traded to the Steelers.
It also doesn't help that, after he left, his successor was a player by the name of George Kittle who, by the way, was three rounds cheaper in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.
24. Brandon Aiyuk: 2020 - 1st round, 25th overall
While this is cheating a bit, there are many arguable points as to why Aiyuk belongs here, despite his success with the team. Number one is clearly the headache he has caused the organization over the past few years. He has been nothing short of the team's biggest distraction - plus, who becomes the number-one fan of another NFL team while they still reside on a roster?
Off-field antics aside, it's important to note that Aiyuk truly only produced one top-tier season. That fact can be lost when considering it was the year the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl. But other than 2023, his tenure was a bit underwhelming, as struggled to work his way out of the dog house during his first few years and became a negative asset immediately following his season-ending injury in 2024.
23. Ricky Pearsall: 2024 - 1st round, 31st overall
As many know, Pearsall has had an extremely frustrating start to his NFL career. Hampered by injuries throughout his first two seasons, he failed to establish himself as a go-to option. Now out for the season in year three, he is approaching "bust" status at full steam ahead.
Given that he has yet to surpass 1,000 yards for his career, it's hard to justify that it was worth spending a first-round pick to snag him. The only reason he isn't higher on this list is that he still has an outside shot to redeem himself come 2027.
22. Joe Williams: 2017 - 4th round, 121st overall
Though he didn't demand the same high draft capital as most others on this list, Williams reflects yet another bad scouting decision by Kyle Shanahan. The head coach pushed for the organization to select a player who had underwhelmed at Utah.
Injuries, poor conditioning, and a continuation of his lack of performance led to his demise in San Francisco, and he ended up never logging a regular-season snap. GM John Lynch was averse to drafting the running back while Shanahan and company were lobbying for him. Turns out he should've listened to his gut.
21. Danny Gray: 2022 - 3rd round, 105th overall
Gray is yet another example of "no block, no rock." The day-two selection came highly touted from SMU but failed to amount to anything in the NFL. During his tenure with the Niners, Gray struggled with blocking, which, in Kyle Shanahan's scheme, prevented him from fully cracking the rotation.
As a result, Gray caught just one pass in 2022, which was, by the way, his only professional season in which he logged snaps. To pour salt on the wound, pass catchers like Romeo Doubs and Khalil Shakir went after Gray in the draft. Not that they turned out to be stars, but the 49ers surely would've taken one of those serviceable players if given a do-over.
20. Jake Moody: 2023 - 3rd round, 99th overall
A kicker in the third round? Sheesh!
Oh, the turmoil this selection ended up causing. While Moody had a promising rookie campaign, the wheels fell off with almost no warning. His field goal percentage dropped from 84.0 to 70.6 from his first season to the next. In 2024, he hit just 50.0 percent of field goals of at least 40 yards.
But beyond the numbers, nothing can truly encapsulate the collective sigh from the entire 49ers fanbase every time Moody missed wide right or left. It was truly a time to remember (and not in a good way). From missing a field goal in Super Bowl LVIII to missing two of three field goals in his last game, Moody ended up being an absolute headache for fans and coaches alike and failed miserably to live up to his third-round status. Thanks to the kicker, 2024 Niner fans are forever trauma-bonded.
19. Will Redmond: 2016 - 3rd round, 68th overall
Any time you spend a day-two pick on a player who is in the middle of torn ACL recovery, you're taking an obvious risk. A third-round draft pick is nothing to sneeze at, and the Niners used the 68th overall selection in 2016 to snag Will Redmond of Mississippi State.
Spoiler alert: he never played a snap for them. He spent his entire time in San Francisco injured and was waived in 2017. He played briefly for the Packers and Texans and was out of the league by 2022.
18. Brandon Thomas: 2014 - 4th round, 100th overall
Another player the Niners drafted knowing full well that he was injured. GM Trent Baalke tried to buy low on the guard, who had just torn his ACL during a pre-draft workout. Not only did he miss the entire 2014 season recovering from the injury, but he was inactive for all of the following year as well.
After two years and zero games played, the team decided to cut their losses and deal him to the Lions just before the start of 2016.
17. Glen Coffee: 2009 - 3rd round, 74th overall
Coffee played just one year in the NFL before mysteriously retiring, so, unfortunately for the 49ers, they had little control over this failed pick. Nonetheless, Coffee rushed for an abysmal 2.7 yards per carry on 83 opportunities in 2009.
Selected to be Frank Gore's backup, he was anything but, and thus, a 3rd-round pick was wasted. Coffee's exodus from the team was to no fault of the organization, but NFL success did not appear to be in his future anyway.
16. Jalen Hurd: 2019 - 3rd round, 67th overall
Chances are, you haven't even "hurd" of him (Sorry, please keep reading).
In all seriousness, Hurd represents a miss in what was a generational draft class that produced Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, and Dre Greenlaw. Just imagine if the team hit on their third-round selection as well.
Hurd's time in the Bay Area was marred by injuries, and he never played a snap for them. However, there were already red flags heading into the draft, such as the fact that he had only been playing the wide receiver position for a season. Therefore, he lands on this list, both because of unfortunate circumstances and because the 49ers simply should've steered clear from the get-go.
15. Trey Sermon: 2021 - 3rd round, 88th overall
Coming off a modest 6-10 season in which the 49ers lacked a dependable bellcow running back, they traded up for the opportunity to draft Trey Sermon. In theory, Sermon should've run wild. Raheem Mostert got hurt in the first game of the season, and plodder Jeff Wilson Jr. played in just nine contests. However, it was 6th-round selection Elijah Mitchell who stole the show.
Mitchell ran for 963 yards and 4.7 yards per carry in just 11 games, while Sermon received just 41 total carries. The latter was waived after his rookie year.
Spoiler alert: This is not the only player on this list from the 49ers' 2021 draft class.
14. Mike Rumph: 2002 - 1st round, 27th overall
If a team spends a first-round pick on a cornerback, it means they think he is a long-term lockdown guy. Rumph was far from it. Constantly getting beat by faster receivers, he was moved to safety, which also didn't work out. In 39 total games with the team, he recorded just three interceptions. He was traded to the Redskins by 2006.
What makes this pick worse is who the Eagles selected just a pick before. They took cornerback Lito Sheppard 26th overall, who turned into the Pro Bowler the 49ers thought they were getting in Rumph. Unfortunately, things didn't work out in San Francisco as well as they did in Philly.
13. Joshua Garnett: 2016 - 1st round, 28th overall
Anytime you make 11 total starts for the team that traded up to draft you, you'll probably end up on a list like this one.
That's exactly what happened with Garnett. The Niners traded three picks, including an early second, for the Chiefs' first rounder and some change. Needless to say, it didn't work out. Injuries hampered the big man, and he was out of a job by 2020.
12. Drake Jackson: 2022 - 2nd round, 61st overall
Jackson's 49ers tenure was nothing short of polarizing. In his rookie year, he went from integral defender to healthy scratch during the team's postseason run.
His sophomore year may have been even more bizarre. He opened the season with a three-sack domination of the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, he played just seven more games that season and failed to record another. His torn patellar tendon virtually ended his time in San Francisco and, inadvertently, his career. After sitting out all of 2024, he tried to make a comeback with the Commanders but failed to make any real impact.
11. Javon Kinlaw: 2020 - 1st round, 14th overall
Kinlaw was the clear predecessor to DeForest Buckner after the Niners traded the latter away. Unfortunately, Kinlaw isn't on this list because of a lack of talent. He simply struggled to showcase said talent. Chronic knee issues will forever mark him as the "defensive tackle that could've been."
The first-round pick spent four injury-riddled years with the 49ers. By the time he finally played a full 17 games, he was a shell of himself.
Franchise-altering players like Ceedee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, and Jonathan Taylor were taken over the next round or so after Kinlaw, so the pick only gets worse considering what the 49ers could've had instead.
10. Taylor Mays: 2010 - 2nd round, 49th overall
In 2010, the 49ers traded a second-round pick for a seventh-round pick. Well, sort of.
They took Mays with the 49th-overall pick. The freak athlete played underwhelming football for a forgettable 6-10 Niners squad, registering just 38 tackles and failing to log an interception. He was dealt to the Bengals for a seventh-round pick the following year. Talk about a waste of time, money, and draft capital.
9. LaMichael James: 2012 - 2nd round, 61st overall
Few rated James as highly as the 49ers did, with some even expecting him to fall as far as the fifth round. San Francisco zigged while everybody else zagged, though, and took him in the late second, which, for a running back, is some high draft capital.
Thought to be an excellent understudy to the 29-year-old Frank Gore, James played in just four games in his rookie year. While his yards per carry through his first two seasons were respectable, he failed to earn any legitimate playing time and was off the team by mid-season of 2014.
8. Dante Pettis: 2018 - 2nd round, 44th overall
Anytime you go from "guy a team traded up in the draft for" to "guy stuck in the coach's doghouse," things probably didn't go great in your NFL career.
Pettis was an electric receiver and punt returner coming out of the University of Washington, and the Niners traded up to select him in the second round. He showed promise in his rookie season, as he scored five times, albeit via a low yardage total. Things quickly went south, though, as he found his way onto Kyle Shanahan's naughty list and never recovered.
Ironically, it appears the 49ers didn't have enough of the failed phenom, as they just signed him to the practice squad.
7. Giovanni Carmazzi: 2000 - 3rd round, 65th overall
It's not so much what Carmazzi did (or didn't do); it's who the 49ers could've had instead.
The team used their third-round pick on the QB from Hofstra instead of waiting to select a quarterback by the name of Tom Brady. The future superstar spent his high school career playing in their backyard and, when his childhood team passed on him, he took it personally.
Meanwhile, Carmazzi never played in an NFL game. Talk about a generational miscue.
6. Rashaun Woods: 2004 - 1st round, 31st overall
The Oklahoma State product was selected in the first round in 2004 and notched all seven receptions in an attempt to pay off his draft cost. His efforts contributed to a 2-14 train wreck of a season, and the 49ers moved on from him in 2006 after he missed the entire season due to injury the year prior. Even if he was healthy, though, it's difficult to believe he would've made any real impact.
In all fairness, there was hardly another option when San Francisco took him with the 31st-overall pick in a year filled with failed wide receivers.
5. Kentwan Balmer: 2008 - 1st round, 29th overall
19 tackles and no sacks in two seasons is about as bad as you can get after getting selected 29th overall. During his brief tenure in San Francisco, Balmer failed to start in a single game and was out of the league in three years.
It also doesn't help that fellow defensive linemen like Calais Campbell was taken less than a round later. It also doesn't help that Balmer's time in the Bay ended via a drama-filled training camp in 2010, when he failed to show up for training camp. It was the last straw for then-coach Mike Singletary. But hey, at least the 49ers got a sixth-round pick to recoup some of their losses after they traded him to the division rival Seattle Seahawks.
4. Reuben Foster: 2017 - 1st round, 31st overall
Highly touted as a slam dunk of a defensive prospect, it was difficult to see how things could go wrong for Foster in the NFL. That was, until things went wrong.
Numerous off-field issues, including arrests and drug problems, led to his release after just two years with the team. After being claimed off waivers by the Redskins the following season, Foster suffered a major knee injury and never recovered enough to see another NFL field. There's not much else to say. The best ability is availability, and the linebacker got in his own way.
3. A.J. Jenkins: 2012 - 1st round, 30th overall
Jenkins was selected at the back of the first round in 2012. To that point, number-one wide receiver Michael Crabtree had yet to accrue more than 1,000 yards in his three years in the league, and quarterback Alex Smith desperately needed another weapon on the outside.
Needless to say, Jenkins was not up to the task. He showed his struggles early. As a result, he was only active for three games and failed to record a catch. He was subsequently traded to the Chiefs before the following season and was out of the league by the end of year three.
On the surface, the Niners didn't suffer much from the misstep, as they finished 11-4-1. But 2012 was the year they lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl, and one can only imagine what a difference having another offensive weapon would've made. Perhaps if Jenkins were to have been the real deal, the red and gold might've added one more Super Bowl ring to the franchise's collection.
2. Solomon Thomas: 2017 - 1st round, 3rd overall
It's March of 2017. You just came off a year in which you finished 2-14, and your team had a total of 3,166 yards through the air. Colin Kaepernick isn't going to cut it anymore, and you need a quarterback - a franchise-altering guy who you can rely on for the next decade. Someone like Patrick Mahomes, a talented gun slinger out of Texas Tech.
And with the third-overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers select... Solomon Thomas?
Thomas is far from the worst NFL player to crack this list, so the fact that he comes in at number two is more about his lofty draft capital and the ludicrousness of positional need ignored. Taking Patrick Mahomes would've been considered a reach at the time, but Thomas was clearly not the right alternative.
In a draft filled with household names like Mahomes, Myles Garrett, Christian McCaffrey, and others, the fact that San Francisco walked away with a forgettable, underperforming defensive tackle with the third-overall pick is a tough pill to swallow. In the end, Thomas was nothing more than a rotational defender who failed to be the franchise-altering run stopper the Niners thought him to be.
At a time when the Niners clearly needed a game-changing quarterback, they almost completely ignored Patrick Mahomes in the scouting process, electing to bank on signing Kirk Cousins through free agency (how well did that turn out?). They elected to play it safe in the draft, proving that, sometimes, it pays to take chances.
1. Trey Lance: 2021 - 1st round, 3rd overall
It could only be him.
Lance was many things coming out of college, but experience was not one of them. There were signs. Coming from a mid-major program, Lance entered the NFL with a laundry list of tools and no idea how to use them. He played in just 19 games in his college career and was correctly labeled a project by any scout in full possession of his wits.
San Francisco had no reservations when they traded three first-round picks and some change for the opportunity to draft him. It took Lance just eight games for the franchise to change its mind. The young signal caller suffered a season-ending ankle injury just two games into the 2022 season. In that same year, Brock Purdy took hold of the job and never looked back.
It's rare that a team trades their entire immediate future to draft someone who will end up being a full-time preseason quarterback, but that's what happened in 2021. If it weren't for "Mr. Irrelevant" Brock Purdy, the 49ers might still be feeling the effects of this decision six years later. To call Trey Lance a generational miss would hardly be hyperbolic.
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