The San Francisco 49ers had yet another draft. Obviously, we do not yet know how any of the eight players they selected will pan out.
Based on the initial reaction of many fans and analysts though, there is not a ton of excitement about this draft class. It just shows that, once again, general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan tried to get too cute.
Bad draft grades don’t always mean anything. The Niners got a lot of good grades for drafting Trey Lance back in 2021, and that pick ended up being a disaster. The draft is a crapshoot ultimately, but that doesn’t mean a team should reach on basically all of their picks like the Niners did.
De'Zhaun Stribling, the wide receiver selected in the second round, was not expected to go until later in Round 2. Running back Kaelon Black was expected to be a late-round pick, but the Niners ended up taking him in the third round, which has a history of backfiring for San Francisco.
It would be one thing if the Niners under Lynch and Shanahan had a track record of reaching on picks and turning them into great players. That’s just not the case, though. They’ve actually struggled to get solid players in the draft in recent years, so it is fair to question their strategy especially when it’s out of step with what many other observers thought they would, or should, do.
Obviously, the Niners shouldn’t just blindly follow whatever the herd thinks. But it is fair to wonder if the evaluations they make in their own building are good ones or bad ones. Do they just fall in love with certain guys and decide they don’t really care where they’re going to draft them?
If so, that’s certainly a strategy, but it is more than questionable whether it’s the best approach.
Lynch said ahead of the draft that he felt the 49ers didn’t have that many needs going into the event. That’s a pretty bold claim considering what everyone saw with their own eyes last season. Sure, the Niners were banged up and injured, but even early in the season when they were healthier, there was clearly some room for improvement.
Maybe the notion that San Francisco had no weak spots is what emboldened Lynch and Co. to take bigger swings with their picks rather than going with some safer bets.
The odds are we probably won’t know for several years, since most of these guys are not going to be starters in 2026. Maybe the Niners hit on some of these guys and maybe not.
But with how recent drafts have gone for them, it’s more than fair to wonder if the Niners are still trying to be too cute and whether they need to reevaluate how they evaluate draft talent.
Add us as a preferred source on Google