One thing was clear to the San Francisco 49ers decision-makers by the end of the NFL Scouting Combine in February: They were drafting Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa at No. 2 overall if he didn't go at No. 1. EVP of Football Operations and the 49ers' chief contract negotiator, Paraag Marathe, told Bosa's representatives in Indianapolis that was the plan.
Two months later, Bosa ended up with the 49ers, ready to help the team improve its pass-rushing woes.
While general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan were lockstep in their decision to target Bosa, not everyone within the team's scouting department felt the same way. At least, that is what Tyler Dunne reported in his impressive feature for Bleacher Report on Wednesday.
Some scouts wanted the two men in charge to at least consider drafting defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, but Lynch's and Shanahan's minds were set. Bosa would be the pick — assuming he was available.
Most analysts will tell you it was probably the correct pick. It was, however, yet another source of frustration for a scouting department that was already feeling demoralized. Its voices are not being heard, a former 49ers staffer told Dunne. All the work the scouts put in — often years worth on a single player — is easily tossed aside on a whim if Lynch or a coach falls in love with a player based on a few highlight reels.
It's not as though Lynch and Shanahan have a spotless drafting record. Sure there are player finds like tight end George Kittle. There are also several whiffs like linebacker Reuben Foster, a first-round pick, and running back Joe Williams.
Williams wasn't even on the team's draft board the night before San Francisco used a fourth-round pick on the Utah product.
"Voices are being heard, but they're not the right voices," the former staffer told Dunne.
Dunne joined KNBR on Thursday to discuss his lengthy feature on the 49ers and spoke of the discontent among the scouting staff. His words echoed what he wrote for Bleacher Report.
Dunne stressed how much power Shanahan has when it comes to roster decisions. While he and Lynch state they are always in agreement by the time a roster decision is made, Shanahan can be very persuading. Williams, for example, was a player Shanahan desperately wanted. Lynch, and apparently the scouts, didn't.
Shanahan got his way, and it turned out to be a wasted draft pick because the running back is no longer on the roster.
Dunne states that it's not just Shanahan. The rest of the coaching staff can be just as influential on who gets drafted.
"[The scouts feel] they're putting in a lot of work and maybe not being heard like they should," Dunne told Larry Krueger during the KNBR interview.
It wasn't just the decision to draft a running back whose name didn't appear on the team's draft board. The 49ers selected defensive lineman Solomon Thomas at No. 3 overall in what became Lynch's and Shanahan's first-ever draft pick together. The scouts never saw him as a player worthy of a top-five pick.
To make matters worse, the 49ers could have drafted a franchise-altering quarterback with the selection — a significant need at the time.
Dunne added, "We listed off four or five guys (in the article) the coaches probably liked a lot more than the scouts. And hey, if they win, even as the staffer I talked to said, none of this matters."
Winning, after all, cures everything.
For now, things have gotten so bad in the building that some scouts are considering leaving when their contracts expire, according to what the former staffer told Dunne. Several of them feel powerless.
"I believe [them wanting to leave] to be the case," Dunne said. "Some have left already. Some are seriously considering leaving given the circumstances, given the fact that they haven't really been allowed to maybe interview with other teams and other opportunities (that) have come up."
Dunne believes Shanahan is willing to trust his gut when it comes to coaching up a player who fits his mold for what he wants at any given position. Many coaches are like that but perhaps Shanahan even more so.
"I think a lot of the scouts, especially there in San Francisco, trust the tape, and trust what their eyes have told them year-round," Dunne explained. "They're there in person seeing these guys a lot more during the (college) football season. The coaches are obviously coaching the team. They're on the road, and they're going to gravitate to that, and to what they trust, and the notes that they've taken.
"It just seems with the 49ers that it maybe reached a little bit more of an extreme."
You can listen to the entire discussion with Dunne below.
