There's been some speculation on the San Francisco 49ers drafting a wide receiver in the first round. Going off nickbradley's fanpost, such a prospect could be Laquon Treadwell. Obviously, this has brought back memories of the notorious 2012 A.J. Jenkins pick, a pick that wound up being a letdown. Jenkins' first year in San Francisco, yielded him only 3 games with 37 offensive snaps.
Contrary to popular belief, the Jenkins pick on draft day wasn't near as bad as one might be led to believe. Alshon Jeffery was on the board, yes, but hindsight is always 20/20. That's not to say Jenkins wasn't a reach, he was, but it wasn't as much of a boneheaded pick as it seems to have transformed into over the years. Take the ESPN draft analysis with a grain of salt if you wish, but they certainly were not blasting the 49ers for a stupid pick/reach.
He had speed. A lot of speed and he had decent hands as well--something the team needed in the NFC Championship game aftermath. Regardless if the coaching staff was high on him, or if Trent Baalke was, all signs indicated that he was a decent, if mildly overreached pick. All he needed was to get into the weight room and get a bit bigger. That never happened and the 49ers shipped him off to the Kansas City Chiefs after just one season in exchange for Jon Baldwin. As of this writing, both players are free agents.
Looking back, Alshon Jeffery was certainly the better pick to have been made, but on draft day, you can't look into the future. Jenkins simply didn't work out. Collectively for draft picks, there can be blame thrown around, but for one pick, it's always a crap-shoot.