While picking in the first round gives a team the best chance at securing a top player from that year’s draft, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to nab a surefire talent.
The 49ers own a pick in the first round this season, but there’s a strong possibility they wind up trading back from the No. 31 pick to secure more assets later in the draft.
Before the 2020 draft, we went back through the 49ers’ last 20 years of first-round picks and ranked them in order from worst to best. The spread is pretty interesting, ranging from full-blown busts to eventual Hall of Famers.
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26. WR AJ Jenkins | 2012 | Pick 30
The 49ers badly needed some wide receiver help going into the 2012 season. Jenkins didn’t provide it. He played in three games with one target and no catches before getting traded in his first offseason.
25. DL Kentwan Balmer | 2008 | Pick 29
Jenkins’ short three-game stint only thing saving Balmer from landing at the bottom of the list. He played in 27 games across two seasons with no sacks, one tackle for loss and one quarterback hit. He went on to play for Seattle and Washington but was never a productive player.
24. WR Rashaun Woods | 2004 | Pick 31
Woods is on just about every list of all-time first-round busts, but he sneaks in ahead of Jenkins and Balmer despite playing just one season in the NFL. The Oklahoma State product’s physical style didn’t translate at the pro level. He caught seven balls for 160 yards, one touchdown and five first downs in his lone season.
23. OL Joshua Garnett | 2016 | Pick 28
The 49ers traded back into the first round in general manager Trent Baalke’s final draft to select Garnett. The oft-injured Stanford product never got his feet under him in San Francisco, starting 11 of the 22 games he played in across three seasons.
22. OL Kwame Harris | 2003 | Pick 26
Harris played five seasons with the 49ers and started 44 of his 72 games at various spots on the offensive line. A first-round tackle should typically be a solid, long-term starter. Harris never quite developed into that and struggled when he did play.
21. CB Mike Rumph | 2002 | Pick 27
While Rumph did play four seasons in a 49ers uniform, he played just 36 games with 19 starts, and was never particularly productive. He had three interceptions and 14 pass breakups with 2.0 sacks in his career with San Francisco.
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20. LB Reuben Foster | 2017 | Pick 31
Foster looked the part of a foundational piece of the 49ers’ linebacking corps as a rookie despite battling injuries and playing just 10 games. He posted 72 tackles that season and had all the makings of a perennial Pro Bowler. Repeated off-field issues, including domestic violence, forced the 49ers to release Foster 10 weeks into his second season. He played 16 games with 101 tackles in two years.
19. DL Solomon Thomas | 2017 | Pick 3
Lack of a steady positional fit has hampered the No. 3 overall pick in his career. He’s managed to carve out a role in the 49ers’ defensive line rotation, but his 6.0 sacks and 16 tackles for loss in 46 games reflects his relative ineffectiveness compared to what a team wants from a top-three pick.
18. DL Manny Lawson | 2006 | Pick 22
Lawson’s draft stock was boosted by a terrific college career playing alongside the 2006 No. 1 overall pick, Mario Williams. He wound up posting 14.5 sacks, 27 tackles for loss, two interceptions and 14 pass breakups in five years with the 49ers. Lawson was an okay player, but like Thomas, fairly disappointing considering where he was drafted.
17. DB Jimmie Ward | 2014 | Pick 30
Had Ward’s entire career been like his 2019 season, he’d be much higher on this list. He was stellar in 13 games during the 2019 campaign, but it was just the second time in his six-year career that he’d played more than 11 games. It was also the first time he’d gotten to stick at his natural free safety spot. Ward has a chance to climb higher on this list, but injuries and positional switches have kept him from really thriving.
16. OL Anthony Davis | 2010 | Pick 11
Davis was part of a very good 49ers’ offensive line that paved the way for their offense on three consecutive trips to the NFC championship game. He and right guard Alex Boone were a nasty pair on the right side of the offensive line that set the tone for the entire group. Davis never made the Pro Bowl and had his fifth year cut short by a concussion. He retired after one game in his sixth season.
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15. CB Ahmed Plummer | 2000 | Pick 24
Plummer put together a nice six-year career in San Francisco, although he played just nine games his final two years. His first four seasons were very strong though. He started 59 of his 61 games, and posted 12 interceptions with 60 pass breakups.
14. DL Arik Armstead | 2015 | Pick 17
Armstead is in similar spot to Ward where his 2019 season outdid the rest of his career. The Oregon alum has always been a good run defender when healthy, but he found his way as a pass rusher with a team-high 10.0 in 2019. Injuries limited Armstead to 30 games in his first three years, but he played full seasons in 2018 and 2019, and could wind up climbing higher on this list if he continues to be productive in a 49ers uniform in 2020 and beyond.
13. SS Eric Reid | 2013 | Pick 18
While Reid never went back to the Pro Bowl after his strong rookie year, he was still a fine player on some not-so-good 49ers teams. He wound up changing positions multiple times, including a shift to linebacker in his final year with the team. Despite organizational turmoil, Reid started 69 of 70 games in five years with the club, and notched 318 tackles, four tackles for loss, 10 interceptions and 34 pass breakups.
12. QB Alex Smith | 2005 | Pick 1
Smith is a tough one to place because he was not very good considering his status as a No. 1 overall pick. He won just 19 of his first 50 starts, and tossed 51 touchdowns with 53 interceptions while completing just 57.1 percent of his throws. Jim Harbaugh’s arrival in 2011 turned Smith’s 49ers tenure around though. He racked up a 13-3 record with an historic playoff win in 2011, and was playing well in 2012 before an injury opened the door for Colin Kaepernick to take over as the starter. There’s an argument to push Smith lower on this list, but the playoff win over the Saints in the 2012 divisional round is enough to move him to No. 12.
11. DE Andre Carter | 2001 | Pick 7
Carter had a nice five-year career with the 49ers as the No. 7 overall pick out of Cal. He 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss as a rookie, and put up 32 sacks and 43 tackles for loss across 69 games in San Francisco. The latter portion of his time in a 49ers uniform came on some very bad teams, which probably aided in his productivity decline, but he had 12.5 sacks for a playoff team in 2002, and may have been a more consistently dominant edge rusher with better talent around him.
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10. LB Aldon Smith | 2011 | Pick 7
Smith is one of the hardest players to place on this list. His career was cut short due to an off-field battle with substance abuse, and he wound up playing just 50 games for the 49ers. However, he was dominant through his first two seasons and landed on an All-Pro team after racking up 19.5 sacks in his second season. His 33.5 sacks through his first two years are still the most ever, and his presence on the edge helped elevate San Francisco’s defense to an elite level when he was on the field.
9. WR Michael Crabtree | 2009 | Pick 10
It was a tumultuous six years for Crabtree in a 49ers uniform, but he managed to be a productive player and a vital piece of their receiving corps during their run to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. That year was his best with 85 catches for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns. Crabtree was also excellent during their postseason run that year – hauling in 20 balls for 285 yards and three touchdowns in three games. He finished his time in San Francisco with 347 catches, 4,327 yards and 26 touchdowns.
8. OT Mike McGlinchey | 2018 | Pick 9
The 49ers badly needed stability on the right side of their offensive line, and McGlinchey quickly provided it. He’s improved as a pass blocker through his first two seasons, and he continues to be one of the NFL’s best run blockers at the right tackle spot. Perhaps it’s recency bias that has McGlinchey as high as No. 8, but he’s been an essential piece of the 49ers’ turnaround, and he projects to be a stalwart on the offensive front for a long time.
7. OL Mike Iupati | 2010 | Pick 17
A short career in San Francisco makes it easy to forget just how dominant Iupati was during his tenure. He started all 75 games he played in his five seasons, made three Pro Bowls and earned an All-Pro nod. His dominance on the left side of the offensive line helped spark the 49ers’ rapid emergence as an NFC contender in the early part of last decade.
6. LB Julian Peterson | 2000 | Pick 16
Peterson was probably ahead of his time at linebacker. The Michigan State product was the 49ers’ first pick of the 21st century, and he turned in a fine career in red and gold. He spent six years in the Bay Area and started 72 of his 79 games. Peterson regularly filled up the stat sheet, and finished his 49ers career with 402 tackles, 35 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks, five interceptions and 40 pass breakups. He was the type of athletic linebacker who could step onto the field and thrive in 2020.
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5. DL DeForest Buckner | 2016 | Pick 7
It’s difficult to find dominant defensive tackles, but Buckner has quickly developed into one of the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen. He was good on bad 49ers teams early in his career, and he continued dominating while they developed into a Super Bowl contender. Buckner through four years has missed just one game, and in his third and fourth seasons posted a combined 19.5 sacks from the defensive tackle spot. He’s also a force against the run, and enters his fifth season as one of the five best players in the league at his position.
4. DE Nick Bosa | 2019 | Pick 2
Perhaps this is too high for Bosa, who’s played only one season in the NFL. He ran away with the Defensive Rookie of the Year award though, and was regularly the best player on the field for a very talented 49ers defense. Despite a Super Bowl LIV loss, Bosa was arguably the best player on the field in that game as well. The Ohio State product gets the benefit of the doubt for now and lands in the top five, with a real chance of becoming one of the 49ers’ best first-round picks ever.
3. TE Vernon Davis | 2006 | Pick 6
Davis took a couple years to get his legs under him in the NFL, but once he did, he became one of the most dynamic tight ends in the league. He made the Pro Bowl twice, and led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with 13 in 2009 for a bad 49ers club. Davis was a ferocious blocker to go along with his wide receiver-like skill set in the passing game. There’s no one season that really stands out for Davis from a production standpoint – he was just a consistently dominant player for 10 years in San Francisco.
2. OT Joe Staley | 2007 | Pick 28
Left tackles like Staley aren’t easy to come by. He’s simply been one of the league’s top left tackles through his 14-year career, and he’s missed just 27 games in 14 years – including nine in 2019 when he broke his fibula in Week 2. When taking a tackle in the first round, the hope is that they’ll be on the team for more than a decade. Staley has not only checked that box, but he’s been an excellent player during his entire tenure, and could wind up punching his ticket to Canton once his career is over.
1. LB Patrick Willis | 2007 | Pick 11
It’s not easy to find many defensive players better than Willis in 49ers history. His career spanned just eight seasons, but in each of those eight years he was arguably the league’s best player at his position. Willis made seven Pro Bowls and was a five-time All-Pro after winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2007. Willis is the type of player who could dominate in any era. His induction into the Hall of Fame feels more like a matter of ‘when’ than ‘if,’ and he was hands down the 49ers’ best first-round pick of the 2000s.
