49ers’ bad drafts forced them to retread rather than reset

The 49ers held their last practice in front of fans this week, and nothing this training camp has gotten the faithful hooting and hollering more than two particular players.

Any play involving red jersey No. 57 and white jersey No. 19 generally elicits a big reaction.

Almost a month in, maybe the most exciting element of Niners camp so far has been the reunions with linebacker Dre Greenlaw and receiver Deebo Samuel.

Everybody is happy to have two well-liked and familiar faces back in the building. But isn’t this time of year to dream about the future, not to soak in the past?

Training camp is supposed to be where prospects become players. It’s where the next wave of talent proves it can compete at the NFL level. Position battles give way to the roster’s new era.

That’s not happening in Santa Clara. Not like it is in 31 training camps around the league.

The Niners are still waiting for the next generation to arrive.

Depending on the source, the roster assembled by head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch ranks as either the oldest or the second oldest in the NFL.

The current leadership counts as among the most successful and stable in the league. But the same core group of players that took them to their first Super Bowl seven seasons ago remains, in large part, the same one still trying to break through for their first Lombardi Trophy.

There’s a reason Shanahan is one of the NFL’s three longest-tenured coaches. It’s a hard thing to do to build a backbone as sturdy as Samuel, Greenlaw, Fred Warner, Nick Bosa, George Kittle and Kyle Juszczyk, who all played in that Super Bowl 54 loss to the Chiefs.

More recently, the 49ers have shown just how hard it is to pull off.

All of the aforementioned players, with the exception of Juszczyk, were acquired via a bountiful run of drafts from 2017-19. With a few key exceptions, most notably a certain seventh-round quarterback in 2022, that well has since dried up, leaving the 49ers without a clear next chapter.

They’re even turning back a page by bringing back Samuel and Greenlaw, whose best days seemed to be behind them when they left for different teams after 2024. 

But what choice did they have?

Lacking any better internal options, the 49ers went with the free agents they knew.

It’s partially an indictment of their recent draft classes, which have produced next-to-nothing on the field. They haven’t hit on a first-round pick since Bosa in 2019, wasted a third-rounder on a kicker who just got released by his second team and have generally had less success unearthing late gems such as Greenlaw (Round 5, 148th overall).

Their top pick last year, Mykel Williams (11th overall), is still recovering from the torn ACL that cost him nearly his entire rookie season. Their next two selections, Alfred Collins (second round, 43rd overall) and Nick Martin (third round, 75th overall), have been two of the biggest disappointments so far in their sophomore camps.

The good news is that the 2026 draft class looks promising, which is just another reminder how difficult these things are to evaluate. San Francisco was widely panned for its top pick, wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling, who has made among the strongest impressions this preseason.

Still, the 49ers are walking a thin line. The top of their roster is as talented as any in the NFL. But it has also proven to be as fragile as any other, too, with about as big of a dropoff as there is from the guys taking the snaps on Sundays to the ones taking most of them Thursday night.

ESPN recently released its “Future Rankings,” evaluating all 32 NFL teams in four categories (quarterback, roster, front office and coaching) on how well positioned they are for the future. 

The 49ers placed 14th — in the upper half of the league but well behind their competition in the NFC West. The Rams ranked fifth, and the Super Bowl champion Seahawks were first overall.

For as much of a challenge as the draft has been, it’s that easy to fall behind in the arms race.