AVENTURA, Fla. — The Bears didn’t think Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was worth the second pick of the 2017 draft. Neither did the 49ers — who traded the pick to the Bears, who drafted Mitch Trubisky.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan explained Tuesday why they didn’t consider Mahomes in that spot.
“[He] was just a freak, could make any throw, had the ability to anything,” he said. “That was a little bit different situation for us. We had the second pick in the draft, did not feel like from all the intel that you get and stuff that he was gonna go that high.”
A contributing factor, Shanahan said: the pending free agency, a year later, of Kirk Cousins, with whom he worked in Redskins. The 49ers wound up trading for Jimmy Garoppolo in 2017 instead.
