Sports Illustrated Ranks the 49ers’ Draft Class 11th in the NFC

Everyone wants to find nice things to say about the 49ers’ draft class, but the truth is that it was underwhelming at best.

Draft analysts gave the 49ers lots of Bs and Cs for their draft, which is generous, considering most teams in the NFC had better drafts than the 49ers. Sports Illustrated recently the NFC’s draft classes, and the 49ers finished 11th.

“The 49ers passed on wide receivers who had more hype from the draft experts to select Ricky Pearsall with the 31st pick,” writes Gilberto Manzano. “San Francisco deserves the benefit of the doubt because Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk weren’t high-profile prospects when the team selected them. The 49ers might be forced to decide between Samuel and Aiyuk because they have drafted so well in recent years and don’t have enough cap space to keep all of their star players.”

Like most analysts, Manzano is reluctant to criticize the 49ers, because they’ve won lots of games the past few seasons. But he did acknowledge that they reached for a player who won’t play much until Aiyuk or Samuel leave. Which means the 49ers didn’t improve their team for next season.

The following NFC teams all had better drafts than the 49ers according to Manzano: The Vikings, the Packers, the Buccaneers, the Saints, the Cardinals, the Rams, the Eagles, the Lions, the Commanders and the Bears. Each of these teams drafted players who will make significant contributions in 2024, as opposed to the 49ers, who primarily drafted for 2025.