49ers get defensive with first 2 picks of John Lynch era

The final tally from the first draft night of John Lynch's executive career: two trades and two players who could help transform one of the NFL's most incompetent defenses. In a busy debut, the 49ers' novice general manager emerged with Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas with the No. 3 pick and traded up into the first round to grab Alabama inside linebacker Reuben Foster at No. 31. [...] the 49ers received a third-round pick (No. 67), a fourth-round pick (No. 111) and a 2018 third-round pick to move down one spot in a trade with the Bears before taking Thomas. The 49ers subsequently traded their second-round pick (No. 34) and No. 111 to Seattle to move up for Foster. The 49ers selected Oregon's DeForest Buckner (No. 7 overall) in 2016 and his college teammate, Arik Armstead (No. 17) in 2015. Thomas, a team captain, had 11.5 sacks and 25.5 tackles for loss in his final two seasons and won the Morris Trophy as the Pac-12's best defensive lineman last year. Lynch returned to Stanford to finish his degree during Thomas' freshman year in 2014 and they took in a class together, management science and engineering. After landing Thomas, Lynch said the 49ers began calling teams...