This will be the last of the Where Are They Now? posts (Don't worry, we've got something else in store). Information is just getting harder and harder to come by on these guys. This batch includes a couple of college hall of famers, a record setter (though not in a good way), and one Canadian Football League Hall of Famer. 

1978--Ken MacAfee TE, Notre Dame (7th overall)

1977--no first round pick

1976--no first round pick (traded this and the 1977 pick for QB Jim Plunkett)

1975--Jimmy Webb DT, Mississippi State (10th overall)

1974--Wilbur Jackson RB, Alabama (9th overall)

1974--Bill Sandifer DT, UCLA (10th overall)

1973--Mike Holmes DB, Texas Southern (18th overall)_

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We're jumping a bunch of years here. Walsh and the 49er FO was very active in trading picks for veteran players during this time frame (which we saw illustrated in the last post). The 1982 and 1983 first round picks were both traded away and both were traded away for defensive linemen. The drafting itself wasn't too hot. We had one absolute miss, two meh players and a HOFer

1984--Todd Shell, LB BYU

1983---no pick (2nd round pick was Roger Craig)

First round pick was traded to the Chargers in a deal that got us Fred Dean--great choice I'd say. 

1982--no pick (2nd round pick was Bubba Parris)

Traded our first round pick to the Patriots for Russ Francis (plus a couple of other players). Francis was a six  year vet (and a very solid TE). He would play another six seasons with the 49ers before finishing up back in New England. Another good trade. 

1981--Ronnie Lott, safety USC

1980--Earl Cooper, RB Rice

1980--Jim Stuckey, DT Clemson

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This is a rather interesting group of players We've got three major busts, one Hall of Famer, and two potential Hall of Famers. We've got one player who's father also had a long professional football career, and another who's father played football at the same school he did. Most unusually we have a group of players who each own a Super Bowl ring, and three players with multiple rings. 

The list of players we're focusing on here are:

1991--Ted Washington, DT Louisville (25th overall)

His dad played LB for 10 years in the NFL

1990--Dexter Carter, RB Florida State (25th overall)

He set an unusual NFL record

1989--Keith DeLong, LB Tennessee (28th overall)

One of only a handful of father/son combos to play for the Volunteers. Eric Berry and his father are another. 

1988--No first round pick

Traded to the Raiders for a 2nd and a 4th. 

1987--Harris Barton, OT North Carolina (22nd overall)

May be the richest of these players

1987--Terrence Flagler, RB Clemson (25th overall)

Only first round RB from Clemson until CJ Spiller

1986--No first round pick

Traded to the Bills for their 1987 first round pick. The Bills would pick Will Wolford, a 3 time Pro Bowler

1985--Jerry Rice, WR Mississippi Valley State (16th overall)
G.O.A.T

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This batch of players is an interesting collection for sure. We've got a future Hall of Famer, a guy who wanted to be the best player in the league at his position and fell short. There's also a ballet dancer, a guy who was one of the biggest busts in Niner history, and a player who uses his Super Bowl ring to get people to sing up for home loans. 

I'm only using three years this time (I normally try to do five years) because the 49ers had five first round draft picks in those years. We had two in 1994, two in 1993 and one in 1992. 

1994--Bryant Young, DT, Notre Dame

6'3", 305 lbs

1994--William Floyd, RB Florida State

6'1, 242 lbs

1993--Dana Stubblefield DT, Kansas

6'2", 290lbs

1993--Todd Kelly DE, Tennessee

6'2", 259 lbs

1992--Dana Hall, DB Washington

6'3", 211 lbs

Carmen Policy became the chief executive of the 49ers in 1991 and held the power of all drafts. I think it's fairly obvious that he wasn't quite sure of himself by looking at 1992 and 1993 first round selections. It's also pretty clear that defense was a huge priority for the 49ers at this time, as well it should be since the 49ers defense of the early 90s was porous indeed. (Luckily we had perhaps the best offense in the league to make up for it). 

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On to the next batch of first round picks. One was a major success for us, one was a career backup, one we traded half of our draft to get and he didn't reward that trust, one dropped off the face of the earth, and one was charged with rape and assault before being dealt away. 

2000: Julian Peterson, 16th overall. LB from Michigan State

1999: Reggie McGrew, 24th overall. DT from Florida

1998: R.W. McQuarters, 28th overall. CB from Oklahoma State

1997: Jim Druckenmiller, 26th overall. QB from Virginia Tech

1996: No pick

1995: JJ Stokes, 10th overall. WR from UCLA 

Peterson is a stud. It's too bad we didn't pay him what he wanted to stick around (which doesn't make me feel comfortable about extending Willis when it's his turn). I was really excited for the Stokes pick and he had his moments, but sadly he never turned into anything more than a #2 guy, especially considering what we gave up to get him. 

For the record, here are the general managers for the 49ers during this time.

1999-2001: Bill Walsh

1998: Dwight Clark

1991-1997: Carmen Policy. Thanks to Policy and his free-spending ways the 49ers ran at a deficit for much of the 90s. They would also get fined multiple times for salary cap violations and in 1997 would be forced to give up our 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th round picks because of it. 

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I have to say that I'm ecstatic with how the draft went down, and in honor of that I thought I would focus this week's installment of "Where Are They Now?" on our first round selections. My initial thought was to do a listing of the last decade's worth of picks, but then I realized that half of them are still on the team so that wouldn't be any good. Ultimately I decided to go with our first round picks starting in 2005 and working backwards. 

2005--Alex Smith starter
2004--Rashaun Woods 
2003--Kwame Harris 
2002--Mike Rumph 
2001--Andre Carter

Mixed reviews for these picks. Two of them are still playing, two of them were out of the league in less than five years (one of them only started one game for the 49ers), and one was in the league for six years but didn't exactly have a productive career. 

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