San Francisco’s Draft Decision Looms as NFL Draft Nears
49ers eyeing a new quarterback with No. 3 overall pick
Just two seasons removed from a Super Bowl appearance, the San Francisco 49ers made major moves this offseason in effort to return to the big stage.
The Niners completed a trade with the Miami Dolphins less than a month ago to move from the No. 12 pick in the National Football League (NFL) Draft to No. 3. The draft will air on ESPN and the NFL network next Thursday, April 29.
Although the cost to acquire a top-three selection was steep—three first-round picks and a third-rounder—the pick gives the Niners’ leadership duo of head coach Kyle Shannahan and general manager John Lynch an opportunity to snag a premium player at the top of this year's class.
The 49ers will not know if they made the right decision at No. 3 until years into the future, but we do know that Shannahan and Lynch are going to pick a quarterback. This year’s Draft class is quarterback-heavy, and the 49ers are determined to choose Jimmy Garopollo’s successor.
“Ultimately, the decision we made,” Lynch said of the trade. “We felt like putting ourselves in position at three, where we kind of control things, was something very attractive to us.”
After a subpar record of 6-10 last season, the 49ers are looking to rediscover the magic that brought them within hardware’s reach in 2020. The 49ers currently have seven-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo set to lead their offense in 2021, but too many flashes of mediocrity make San Francisco fans unable to trust him with the team’s future.
The newly-acquired No. 3 pick gives San Francisco the flexibility and control to choose a new quarterback: one that will hopefully be a long-lasting force in Shannahan’s offense for years to come.
The first two picks in the draft are expected to be quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson to the Jaguars and Jets, respectively. With the top-two rate quarterbacks presumably off the board at three, many experts claim the Draft truly begins with the Niners’ selection. San Francisco has enticing options to choose from: Alabama’s Mac Jones, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance.
The COVID pandemic has completely reconstructed the 2021 NFL Draft process, with league-wide workouts eliminated. Combines and personal visits have also been limited, so with a lack of interaction, Shannahan and Lynch are evaluating prospects on their own time.
Jones, Fields and Lance each come from a unique university and have various strengths in their game.
San Francisco’s draft boards are hidden and the front office is tight-lipped, leaving the team’s pick up to public interpretation. The 49ers are ensuring they check every box. By making the trade to move up in the Draft in March, the team gave themselves time to travel the country and scout prospects.
Yes, every team has the opportunity to watch these talented quarterbacks work out, but an organization who sent its head coach and general manager to Columbus, Ohio and Fargo, North Dakota a week before draft day is notable. Shannahan and Lynch are sincerely interested in Fields and Lance, but they are not discounting Jones, who was the starting quarterback for this year’s college football champion, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
This year’s draft pick marks the organization’s third top-three selection in the last five years. In 2017, the 49ers picked Solomon Thomas No. 3 overall, and in 2019, the team used their No. 2 selection on defensive standout Nick Bosa.
While Thomas and Bosa were chosen to beef up San Francisco’s defensive line, this pick is different. The 49ers are looking to make a splash, and their time to strike is now.
With a competitive, cost-controlled roster, Shannahan and Lynch are one draft piece away from making legitimate strides towards the Super Bowl in the upcoming season.