The 49ers didn't forfeit a draft pick, but they came way too uncomfortably close.
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch joined former NFL quarterback and NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms on the Unbuttoned podcast recently, and a eyebrow-raising tale from the Niners' efforts in the draft came to light.
Granted, it wasn't about the 2025 draft. Rather, Lynch went back a year prior to the 2024 NFL Draft and shared a story about how San Francisco nearly experienced a whopping disaster of a gaffe.
According to Lynch, the 49ers were on the clock in Round 4 at No. 135 overall, but the draft room was split between a prospect linebacker and wide receiver Jacob Cowing.
Time was running out.
Lynch apparently had to prod head coach Kyle Shanahan to speed things up, saying, "'Kyle, we gotta go.' And he's like, 'No, we got 45 seconds.'"
Teams have five minutes to make selections between Round 3 through 6, but the Niners already burned up a significant amount of the clock without having reached a conclusion.
Shanahan and Lynch asked the room for a show of hands between the unnamed linebacker and Cowing, but the results seemed split.
"And I'm like, 'Kyle, like, we're going,'" Lynch continued. "And he's like, 'Hold on, we got plenty of time.' And 30 seconds, he goes, 'All right, here's why the receiver would be important. Here's why the linebacker.' Another show of hands. Now, there's 20 seconds.
"And then he goes, 'Okay, one more time. Throw them up.'"
Ultimately, Cowing ended up being the pick, and San Francisco managed to submit the selection with mere seconds remaining.
"I think we went down to like two seconds, and we got the pick in," Lynch revealed. "And you can forfeit your pick. That was the closest call we've ever had, so that was a little hairy."
You can listen to Simms' full interview with Lynch below:
It might not have been the worst gaffe in recent 49ers history, as their defense was flagged with too many men on the field during back-to-back plays in Week 12 a season ago. That was atrocious.
Still, had the Niners whiffed on getting that selection finalized in time, it would have been absolutely embarrassing.
Good thing they got it in, though.
Hat tip to David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone for the find and transcription.