There are some who question the San Francisco 49ers' decision to trade up in the first round to draft wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk out of Arizona State. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan were in love with the prospect, though, and wanted to make sure he didn't slip through their fingers when he was still available at No. 25.
It's always interesting to look back at what some analysts said about prospects after the draft. One fan sent us a video clip of NFL Network analyst Steve Smith sharing his thoughts on Aiyuk before the draft. He was asked about the top receivers in the class.
Smith didn't feel there was too much separation between guys like Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb as the best of the group.
"A guy, though, that I'm really looking at that does not fall in that top-3 category," Smith told Andrew Siciliano, "but has the ability to be a pillar for this organization, whoever gets him, is Brandon Aiyuk. He is a sensational playmaker, has, I believe, 710 yards after the catch. He's just done some good things.
"And then I had to go look at my notes just to make sure, so I don't not give him his credit, but one of the things I looked at is he's won every foot race, and he's an open-field nightmare when he gets the ball in his hands."
Smith didn't envision Aiyuk lasting long, and certainly not falling into the second round of the draft. He had already been hearing about interest from multiple teams surrounding Aiyuk, and could even understand a team's desire to move up in the first round to draft him, as San Francisco did.
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