[Giants]

The 49ers traded away a king's ransome to move up to the #3 overall spot to draft Trey Lance.  The Miami Dolphins have parlayed those picks into a very nice roster.  Think of how much better the 49ers could be if we had not traded away those picks.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2023/8/23/...ld-lessons

Ok, I'll bite. How much better would the 49ers have been if they had the two first round picks (both #29 overall picks) and the third round pick (#101)? And which starter(s) or key backup(s) would have been eliminated due to salary cap reasons? And what kind of guarantee are you claiming that those picks would have worked out perfectly?

The Dolphins picked Cole Strange, who started 17 games as a rookie at right guard, and graded out #61 of 77 qualified guards in 2022. Would he have been better than Banks or Burford?

Channing Tindall, a LB was the third rounder taken last year. He played nine defensive snaps last season.

Saints picked Bryan Bresee, who had a terrific frosh year at Clemson, was injured most of his soph year, backslid a little bit as a junior with fewer tackles, TFLs, assists, and sacks than his rookie year. We'll see how well he does this year. Would he have cracked the DL four deep for the 49ers?

Hypotheticals and musical chairs aside.

The Niners, at this point, got nothing for their 1st round pick in 2021, their 3rd round pick in 2021, their 1st round pick in 2022, and their 1st round pick in 2023. Not hard to imagine that if they had done things differently and used those picks, they'd be a stronger team than they are now. 

Adding in the money factor, Trey was guaranteed $34 million. The 12th pick that year, Micah Parsons (the new Face of the Cowboys), was guaranteed a mere $17 million. The additional $17 million could have paid for a lot more depth across the team.

Under Lynch/Shanahan, the 49ers have hit numerous times on Day 3 of the draft.  Here’s a partial list of their 5th, 6th and 7th rounds draft choices:

Kittle
Greenlaw
McKivitz 
Woerner
Jennings
Moore
Lenoir
Hufanga
Mitchell
Womack
Purdy
Winters
Bell
Graham

That list has more than mitigated the loss of three high round draft choices.  Of course, one could say, what about three more guys on top of those players.  Sure, but how are you going to pay them and Kittle and Greenlaw big bucks now with several others coming up for a new contract soon.  You simply can’t keep everyone.  

Speaking as one who advocated selecting Lance (with Fields as my second choice), I can’t say it was a mistake.  It was a calculated risk based on information available at the time.  Sometimes things don’t work out.  I would rather see the Niners roll the dice than make the “safe” choice (i.e. Jones) every time.  

Jones is a latter day Steve DeBerg - just good enough to lose. I have no use for guys like that.  

(apologies to cardcrimson for dinging a Bama grad.  I hope that being Najee Harris’ biggest fan makes up for it).

[Giants]

The 49ers traded away a king's ransome to move up to the #3 overall spot to draft Trey Lance.  The Miami Dolphins have parlayed those picks into a very nice roster.  Think of how much better the 49ers could be if we had not traded away those picks.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2023/8/23/...ld-lessons

Ok, I'll bite. How much better would the 49ers have been if they had the two first round picks (both #29 overall picks) and the third round pick (#101)? And which starter(s) or key backup(s) would have been eliminated due to salary cap reasons? And what kind of guarantee are you claiming that those picks would have worked out perfectly?

The Dolphins picked Cole Strange, who started 17 games as a rookie at right guard, and graded out #61 of 77 qualified guards in 2022. Would he have been better than Banks or Burford?

Channing Tindall, a LB was the third rounder taken last year. He played nine defensive snaps last season.

Saints picked Bryan Bresee, who had a terrific frosh year at Clemson, was injured most of his soph year, backslid a little bit as a junior with fewer tackles, TFLs, assists, and sacks than his rookie year. We'll see how well he does this year. Would he have cracked the DL four deep for the 49ers?

Hypotheticals and musical chairs aside.

The Niners, at this point, got nothing for their 1st round pick in 2021, their 3rd round pick in 2021, their 1st round pick in 2022, and their 1st round pick in 2023. Not hard to imagine that if they had done things differently and used those picks, they'd be a stronger team than they are now. 

Adding in the money factor, Trey was guaranteed $34 million. The 12th pick that year, Micah Parsons (the new Face of the Cowboys), was guaranteed a mere $17 million. The additional $17 million could have paid for a lot more depth across the team.

Under Lynch/Shanahan, the 49ers have hit numerous times on Day 3 of the draft.  Here’s a partial list of their 5th, 6th and 7th rounds draft choices:

Kittle
Greenlaw
McKivitz 
Woerner
Jennings
Moore
Lenoir
Hufanga
Mitchell
Womack
Purdy
Winters
Bell
Graham

That list has more than mitigated the loss of three high round draft choices.  Of course, one could say, what about three more guys on top of those players.  Sure, but how are you going to pay them and Kittle and Greenlaw big bucks now with several others coming up for a new contract soon.  You simply can’t keep everyone.  

Speaking as one who advocated selecting Lance (with Fields as my second choice), I can’t say it was a mistake.  It was a calculated risk based on information available at the time.  Sometimes things don’t work out.  I would rather see the Niners roll the dice than make the “safe” choice (i.e. Jones) every time.  

Jones is a latter day Steve DeBerg - just good enough to lose. I have no use for guys like that.  

(apologies to cardcrimson for dinging a Bama grad.  I hope that being Najee Harris’ biggest fan makes up for it).