2014 NFL Draft grades: San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers entered the draft with six picks in the first 100 selections and the flexibility to move up and down the draft to get the players they covet, and that’s exactly what this team did for the second year in a row as they have the best draft class of the year.
Best pick: Carlos Hyde
Worst pick: Keith Reaser*
Analysis: The 49ers needed to address the secondary and that’s what they did in NIU free safety Jimmie Ward who could play corner in the first round. They backed that up with three more cornerbacks on Day 3, including Dontae Johnson. The best pick was the former Ohio State running back who adds to the embarrassment of riches in that backfield. With Frank Gore aging, Marcus Lattimore a question mark and Kendall Hunter and LaMichael James not feature backs, adding the 235-pound Hyde gives the team a potential starter as early as next season.
Marcus Martin in the third round is a steal. He could start at center right away and wouldn’t have been a reach if he was the team’s first round pick. Chris Borland is a pure football player who can fill in for the injured Navorro Bowman initially. Brandon Thomas is a player who was graded as a late first/early second round player before tearing his ACL in a training session this spring, he’s a player the 49ers can take a chance on because they had a whopping 12 draft picks. He’s essentially a free second round pick in next year’s draft.
Liked the Bruce Ellington pick in the fourth round and think he can be a great slot receiver and make big plays after the catch in this offense. Aaron Lynch looked like a future first round pick his freshman season at Notre Dame, but after transferring to South Florida didn’t look like his old self. Again, he’s a guy the team can take a chance on and see if he can play OLB in the 3-4, especially with Aldon Smith having a big question mark attached to his name.
I liked they took a fullback in the seventh when they drafted Oklahoma’s Trey Millard who was the top player at his position on many draft boards and considering this team likes to run the ball down other team’s throats, it’s a great fit.
The 49ers also used one a conditional fourth round pick to steal Steve Johnson from the Buffalo Bills. This was a masterful job by the 49ers front-office.
*Reaser was my worst pick, but that’s grasping at straws, because he’s another redshirt player after coming off a knee injury. He was taken in the fifth round so I wonder if they took him a little bit earlier than necessary, but this is really a reach because the draft was superb.
Grade: A+