Niners Nation
That time again to look back at the last few drafts the 49ers have had. This was the first for Kyle Shanahan.
It’s that time again where we look at the previous drafts of the San Francisco 49ers and reflect. We luckily have video of each draft thanks to YouTube poster and 49ers fan Marvin49. We’ll be looking at every year during the Kyle Shanahan era up to 2024. Today it’s 2017.
Wow. It’s hard to decide what’s more fascinating, how seven years have gone by and Kyle Shanahan still coaches the 49ers. Yes, only one player from this draft remains on the team, but that’s certainly saying something when you consider the longevity of the regime before Kyle Shanahan in John Lynch.
You know the story by now: Trent Baalke was removed, and then Jed York signed John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan to six-year deals. It was going to take a while to fix this mess.
Things were different right at the start of the draft; The 49ers picked second but engineered a fleecing of a deal with the Chicago Bears, letting them move up a single spot to draft quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The 49ers grabbed the guy they were always interested in any way, Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas. Due to some outdated rules, Thomas got to practice late and that began what would be a lackluster campaign, while his first season was rookie-ish, or could be written that way, he never could progress. His second season was derailed due to the (more important) matter of his sister’s suicide and his own mental health.
Did it ever get better? No, not exactly. Thomas was unable to develop into the person someone of his draft positioning would be and tore his ACL two games into the 2020 season, his final with the team. Thomas has been playing on the New York Jets, signing a number of one-year deals. He’s got a career, but it wasn’t anything near where he was drafted.
The 49ers then traded back into the first round via a deal with the Seattle Seahawks, drafting Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster. At the time, this looked awesome.
Foster was unanimously considered a special player, but an incident at the NFL Combine that got him sent home, as well as other character and injury questions, allowed him to slip. Despite that, he was still considered one of the better defensive players in the draft.
Unfortunately, those character concerns erupted in 2018, culminating in a domestic violence arrest that forced the 49ers’ hand. Foster was released from the team in late November as the organization quite frankly had enough. Foster bounced in and out of the league and now plays in the UFL. F
From there, the 49ers drafted Ahkello Witherspoon. A cornerback prospect some may have scratched their head over, but Witherspoon came into his own late in the season and made a roster spot for himself in early 2018. Some inconsistent play that same year put his spot...
