© Mark J. Rebilas | 2020 Feb 2
Many were impressed with the 49ers’ draft. Mel Kiper was not.
The longest tenured of the “NFL Draft experts” dropped his grades on Monday, and gave John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan a “B-” in their fourth draft in charge. Kiper ranked the 49ers draft 22nd best when compared to the other 32 teams.
Interestingly, the grade would’ve fallen into the “C” range had San Francisco not executed a trade for offensive lineman Trent Williams in the wake of Joe Staley’s retirement announcement. Kiper was not impressed by the 49ers later round selections, calling every pick after Brandon Aiyuk an “NFL backup.”
Keep in mind that last year Kiper gave the 49ers a “B-” as well, in a draft that produced one star (Nick Bosa), one possible star (Deebo Samuel) and two very solid NFL starters (Dre Greenlaw and Justin Skule). Not to pile on, but Kiper also only got six of the 32 first-round picks correct in his final 2020 mock draft.
So take this with a grain of salt. Here’s Kiper’s full breakdown:
With just five selections, this 49ers class is difficult to evaluate. But for a team that played in the Super Bowl and has mostly kept its team intact, apart from trading defensive tackle DeForest Buckner for a first-round pick and losing wideout Emmanuel Sanders in free agency, it does have two defined needs. Credit general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan for doing all they could to fill those needs on Day 1.
San Francisco scooped up interior penetrator Javon Kinlaw (14), and he’ll be a Buckner fill-in. He’s cheaper than Buckner, of course, but does he have Buckner’s ceiling? Then the 49ers traded into the 25th pick to get wideout Brandon Aiyuk, a fantastic athlete who dominated in the Pac-12 last season. Shanahan is already fired up about how he’ll use Aiyuk, and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will love him.
After that, though? I don’t see much. Offensive tackle Colton McKivitz (153), tight end Charlie Woerner (190) and wide receiver Jauan Jennings (217) are all NFL backups. What keeps this in the B range is that the 49ers were able to use picks to get left tackle Trent Williams in a trade with Washington, and it cost them only a fifth-rounder this year and next year’s third-rounder.