San Francisco 49ers: A Look Back at the Concept Class of 2017

The San Francisco 49ers will have nine picks in the 2021 NFL Draft and will try to tackle a few positions of the need. All we know is that the Niners will select a QB with the third global selection, but we don’t know which signal caller it will be.

San Francisco originally helped number 12 in the first round, but closed a blockbuster hit with the Miami Dolphins to move up nine places. After choosing their QB, the 49ers will need to focus on closing gaps in the secondary line and use some depth on both the offensive and defensive lines and the linebacker.

The 2021 Draft will be the fifth under general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan. The pair were hired for the 2017 season and have done a good job finding bona fide NFL talent in the later rounds.

Lynch and Shanahan also had some misses. The two first-round picks they made in 2017 are no longer with the team. Only two players remain with the organization from the 2017 concept.

Here’s a look back at the first draft under the watch of Lynch and Shanahan.

2017 NFL Draft:

Round 1, pick 3: DL Solomon Thomas
Round 1, pick 31: LB Reuben Foster
Round 3, pick 66: CB Ahkello Witherspoon
Round 3, pick 104: QB CJ Beathard
Round 4, pick 121: RB Joe Williams
Round 5, pick 146: TE George Kittle
Round 5, pick 177: WR Trent Taylor
Round 6, pick 198: DL DJ Jones
Round 6, pick 202: LB / DL Peter Taumroepu
Round 7, pick 229: S Adrian Colbert

Kittle clearly was a homerun for the organization. The Tight Ending is one of the best players overall, and it looks like he’ll be spending at least a decade with the franchise. Not bad for a fifth round pick.

The 27-year-old has 264 receptions for 3,579 yards and 14 touchdowns. But its impact goes beyond catching passes. Kittle’s blocking ability is what makes him so valuable to the 49ers’ running game. He is also one of the leaders of the squad and is loved by his teammates in every way.

The 2019 campaign was the best of Kittle’s career. Pro Football Focus gave him an overall rating of 95.0 and he was named the Stephenson Award winner, which gives PFF the best overall player in football. Kittle signed a five-year deal worth up to $ 75 million ahead of the 2020 season, which should keep him in the Bay Area until 2025.

Defensive lineman DJ Jones has become a solid contributor to the team. He has started 25 games in the past two seasons and had 70 tackles in his career. Jones has been an underestimated part of the defense and will continue to have the opportunity to take the plunge in 2021. The 49ers again signed him to a one-year deal.

Lynch did well acquiring three additional picks from the Chicago Bears by swapping a spot back from No. 2 to No. 3. It was no secret that the Niners were interested in Thomas leading up to the draft, where they eventually chose the Stanford product. . Thomas never looked quite comfortable with San Francisco.

It was used in several places along the line and missed the expected production of a third overall crop. Thomas played in 48 games, scoring 95 tackles (16 for a loss), 23 QB hits and 6 sacks during his four seasons with the 49ers. He dealt with a personal tragedy following the death of his younger sister, which he admitted hampered his performance on the field. The team did not take up his option for the fifth year and allowed him to roam freely off-season.

Foster was another precarious selection. No one could argue with his field production. He won the Butkus Award as the best linebacker in the nation during his senior season and was the best linebacker available, according to several draft experts.

But off-field concerns with Foster were a big red flag leading up to the design. First, he was sent home from the combine after falling out with a student health care worker during treatment. After that incident, it was revealed that Foster had a diluted urine sample, which resulted in an automatic positive drug test. Still, he was considered one of the best linebackers available with the draft.

The incidents deterred other NFL teams, and Foster fell off the draft board as a result. He was still available with just two tips left in the opening round, so Lynch took the opportunity and sent second and fourth round tips to the Seattle Seahawks to come up and pick Foster. Lynch was thrilled to get Foster, who he says is one of San Francisco’s top three rated players in the draft.

“I can tell you right away that what we had on the board was just under 200 players, and in terms of how we rated them, we have two of our top three players,” he said, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com . . “We were able to do that, and we are very happy. We are ecstatic. We think these guys have a lot of characteristics of what we want to be about as a football organization. “

After sustaining an ankle injury in Week 1, Foster missed five games but returned with some impressive performances. He was outstanding in his rookie season, playing in 10 games, finishing with 72 tackles, 5 QB hits and getting an overall mark of 90.7 from PFF, the second highest of all rookies.

It appeared that the 49ers had found an anchor point for the defense, but again Foster was plagued with problems off the field. He missed the first two games of the season after being suspended due to allegations of guns and drugs he faced off-season. He was then arrested on domestic violence charges after a loss in week 12 that led to his release from the team. Foster was picked up by the Washington Football Team, but suffered a serious knee injury in May 2019 and has not played in another regular season game.

Both of the Niners’ third-round selections stayed with the team for four years before hitting this off-season free agency. Witherspoon had all the physical tools to be a successful NFL turn, but he couldn’t find consistency on the field. He started nine games as a rookie and had some fun moments. Witherspoon finished with 32 tackles, seven defended passes and two tips in his freshman year and received an overall mark of 74.5 from PFF.

Witherspoon was one of the 49ers’ starting corners in 2018, alongside veteran All-Pro Richard Sherman. He played in 14 games, giving up a 55.1 completion rate to opponent QBs before injuring his knee in Week 15.

In the 2019 NFC-winning team, Witherspoon fell out of favor with the coaching staff and was replaced by Emannuel Moseley as the starting corner. Witherspoon was pulled out of the Divisional Round win over the Minnesota Vikings after being burned by Stefon Diggs for a touchdown. He didn’t play a new snap in the last two postseason-games.

Witherspoon didn’t return to the field until 2020 after injuries ravaged San Francisco high school. He played well in the last four weeks of the season, but the Niners let him roam free, where he signed a deal with the Seahawks.

The 49ers advanced to beat Beathard in the third round, and although he started five games for the team in his rookie season, his limitations were clear. He started five more games in 2018 after Jimmy Garoppolo was injured, but was removed from the line-up in favor of UDFA Nick Mullens. Beathard was tough in the pocket, but he didn’t have the arm strength or processing speed that would allow him to be a reliable QB. He started last season in the week 16 win over the Arizona Cardinals, which was a nice show after his brother was killed in an incident outside a Nashville bar in December 2019. Beathard signed a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars during the off-season.

Taylor and Colbert had their moments for the Niners. Taylor seemed on his way to becoming a sneaky slot machine receiver after putting in some solid numbers in his first two seasons. Unfortunately, Taylor suffered a Jones breakup that kept him out for the entire 2019 campaign after requiring five additional procedures to fix the issue. He didn’t look the same in limited play time in 2020 and remains a free agent.

Colbert had a great rookie year in 2017. He started six games and played a total of 14, 37 tackles and five defended passes. Colbert was the team’s starting free safety in 2018, but he took a step back in his development.

Colbert gave up 20.4 yards per completion, and opposing quarterbacks had a rating of 132.4 when they hit him in cover, according to Pro Football Reference. He sustained a high ankle sprain in week 7 of the 2018 season and never played in another game for the 49ers.

Taumroepu and Williams never got to grips with the Niners and neither are currently on the NFL rosters. Williams was Shanahan’s husband, and running backs coach Bobby Turner was targeted, but he never played an NFL game for San Francisco.

The 2017 design wasn’t strong for Lynch and Shanahan, but getting a talent like Kittle and a solid contributor like Jones makes it a bit more palatable.