3 years later, Grading the 2016 49er draft

I'm not a big fan of grading drafts right after they ended but they are fun to look at as long as you dont take them seriously because carry no weight and more times than not are wrong. At the time of the 2016 draft most websites gave the 49ers draft a B.

Sports Illustrated: A-
PFF: B+
Bleacher Report: B

Pretty inaccurate huh???

So instead of grading players who haven't even played yet, let's look at the 2016 class. They have had 3 years under their belt and we have a pretty good idea of how they will turn out.

Going into the draft, Baalke just fired Tomsula after only one year as head coach. He then hired Chip Kelly who was just fired from Philly and his offensive philosophy as we all know was all gas and no brakes. The roster needed a major overhaul and it needed Baalke to hit on several picks. The 49ers had holes everywhere on the roster and the most glaring was QB, WR, OL, EDGE, and LB. The good news the 49ers had 11 picks to play with. The bad news is it was Baalke who was playing.

Rd 1 #7: Deforest Buckner – Considered a top 5 pick and was only pushed down to us because of the 2 QBs what went #1 and #2. One of the best DT in the league and is only getting better. Final Grade A+

Rd1 #28: Joshua Garnett – Baalke traded back into the first round to get him and at the time it was somewhat of reach although he was projected as a 2nd Rd pick. At the time there was talk Seattle wanted him at #31 so who knows but with 2 pass rushers on the board (Noah Spence and E Ogbah) and 2 good LBs (Myles Jack & Jaylon Smith) Baalke chose a guard. In hindsight the 2 pass rushers haven't lived up to expectations but the 2 LBs have. I hesitate to give the pick an F just because I think Garnett would be playing if he was in a system that suited him better. Final Grade D-

Rd3 #68: Will Redmond – A typical Baalke ACL tear special. He was considered a round 3 guy so he wasn't a reach in that sense but it was a bad move for a team desperate for talent. Doesn't look like he was the same person after the injury and I don't think he is even in the league anymore. Yannick Ngakoue was picked right after the selection. Final Grade F

Rd4 #133: Rashard Robinson – Back to back corner picks for a team desperate for talent all around. Rashard actually got some playing time but was shipped off a year later by the new regime. I think he is still in the league as a backup but not sure. Final Grade D+

Rd5 #142: Ronald Blair – this is the point of the draft where I ease up on my grades because at this point you just want to find depth and maybe take on a project player. Blair kind of fits both. He did ok as a rotational guy in 2018 and provides solid depth. Final Grade B

Rd5 #145 John Theus – This wasn't a bad pick at the time as he went where he was projected to go but he was a dud. I don't think any other OL picked after him has panned out either so I hesitate to give an F out. Final Grade D-

Rd5 #174 Fahn Cooper – This was a little bit of a reach here especially considering Baalke just took an OT with the previous pick. Fahn bounced around our PS for a while but was finally let go and I believe is no longer in the NFL. Final Grade F

Rd6 #207 Jeff Driskel – This was a good pick and Baalke messed up for releasing him at final cuts hoping to sign him to the PS but the Bengals stepped in and swooped him up. He played well in the preseason and would have provided quality depth in Chip Kelly's offense. I believe he's still a 3rd stringer in Ciny. Final Grade B

Rd6 #211 Kelvin Taylor – This was a good value pick but he just never panned out. Hard to give out an F if you take value into consideration. Final Grade D-
Rd6 #213 Aaron Burbridge – This was another solid pick at the time and he did have an impact on ST when he was here but never panned out as a WR. Final Grade C-

Rd7 #249 Prince Charles Iworah – He wasn't projected to be drafted and never panned out with us or any team that he's been on but he has shown enough to be picked up by 4 different teams. Final Grade D+

Conclusion: Baalke had a whopping 11 picks and only 3 guys (1 starter) remain on the team 3 years later. For a draft class to be successful I've heard (and agree with) that you need to come away with 2 starters and a couple of depth guys for a typical 7 pick draft. We got 1 starter and 2 depth guys on 11 picks. If it wasn't for the Buckner pick at #7, which was a no brainer, this draft would have been a big fat F!!!

Final Draft Grade: D

Looking back at who I would have picked I wouldn't have faired much better but I think 5 of my picks are still in the league so I give myself a C-

#7 Deforest Buckner
#28 Noah Spence
#68 Braxton Miller
#133 Kenneth Dixon
#142 Joe Haeg
#145 D.J. Reader
#174 Jack Allen
#211 Aaron Burbidge
#213 Landon Turner
#249 Victor Ochi

Nailed those two picks out of 10.

Looking at other teams the Browns, Patriots, Seahawks, Bucs, Cards, Broncos had equally bad drafts.

Look at New England's haul:

Cyrus Jones
Joe Thuney (only good player)
Jacoby Brissett (quality backup)
Vincent Valentine
Malcolm Mitchell
Kamu Grugier-Hill
Ted Karras
Elandon Roberts
Devin Lucien

most draft classes end up being trash, you are lucky to get get 2-3 solid plays and hope one of them ends up being an All Pro type talent.

Originally posted by valrod33:
most draft classes end up being trash, you are lucky to get get 2-3 solid plays and hope one of them ends up being an All Pro type talent.

Pretty much. It's okay to grade each pick and give a collective grade for the draft ... however, said collective grade is completely arbitrary unless its compared relative to what other organizations did.

To this day I have no idea what people saw in Redmond

I can't believe we picked Joshua Garnett. And that high no less......

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

I can't believe we picked Joshua Garnett. And that high no less......

Baalke was GM why is it hard to believe?

Mike, I love this!

I love that you put yourself out there too...humbling experience to do. I've done the same.

Originally posted by valrod33:

most draft classes end up being trash, you are lucky to get get 2-3 solid plays and hope one of them ends up being an All Pro type talent.

Yup. 2.3 starters is the average. And "starter" could be classified in 100 different ways.

How's 2017 looking to date?

Originally posted by NCommand:
How's 2017 looking to date?

Too early to tell.

Funny thing about this draft class is last year before the season started this draft class looked really really good. All but 1 guy (Joe Williams) played a part of the 2017 season and many undrafted free agents contributed. Then 2018 happened. It's still not as bad as some on here make it out to be and going by the old saying "to be a good draft class you need to get 2 starters and a couple of depth guys" then this draft class more than meets standard.

1 Pro Bowler - George Kittle
2 starters - DJ Jones, Matt Breida

Quality Depth:
Nick Mullins
Trent Taylor
Adrian Colbert
Kendrick Bourne
Ahkello Witherspoon (played poor in '18 but came on strong at end of year)

The Big Unknown: Solomon Thomas

The mistake: Rueben Foster

Originally posted by miked1978:

Look at New England's haul:

Elandon Roberts

This guy is a total stud. He's not a household name, but people who follow LB play know what's up with Elandon Roberts.

Originally posted by NCommand:

How's 2017 looking to date?