The San Francisco 49ers performance in the 2012 NFL draft is the stuff of legends, and rightfully so. When you trade away your first round pick after only one season, and have parted ways with the entire class before rookie contracts expire, something has gone quite wrong.
A lot of teams have had issues with the 2012 draft, but the 2013 draft has been fairly close behind for a lot of teams. Friend of the site Danny Kelly took a look at 2013 picks trying to resurrect their careers, and came across a notable number. Of the top 100 picks from the 2013 draft, only 32 remain on their original team.
Interesting stat I found researching this class: just 32 of the top-100 picks from 2013 are still with the team that drafted them. https://t.co/e1nnxCAccD
— Danny Kelly (@DannyBKelly) June 7, 2017
The 49ers had four picks inside the top 100 that year: Eric Reid, Tank Carradine, Vance McDonald, and Corey Lemonier. Three of the four remain, which puts them under a league average of 2.125 players released or traded.
It’s nice to be above that average, but it’s not like the 49ers have hit a home run with these picks. Eric Reid has been solid, but injuries have been an issue. He’s in a great position to make an impact at the strong safety position, which seems more pertinent to his set of skills. He is playing on his fifth year option.
Tank Carradine and Vance McDonald have both received contract extensions last fall, with Tank getting a one-year extension through 2017 and McDonald getting a five-year extension through 2021.
At the time of his extension, Tank was making a transition to outside linebacker after moving back and forth to various roles. He was hoping to use that to propel himself to a bigger deal. So far it hasn’t worked out. This year, he is getting first team big defensive end work, but Solomon Thomas could replace him in training camp.
McDonald’s extension was truly mind-boggling. He has shown some impressive play at times, but his poor hands have regularly been a problem, and he has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. Considering Trent Baalke was three weeks from being fired, and this extension made little sense.
Even though the 49ers are above the line in terms of players released or traded from the top 100 of the 2013 draft, they haven’t exactly performed well. Reid and Tank are free agents, while the team has already tried to trade McDonald. There is a very real chance none of them is around in 2018. The only other player from that class still on the roster is Quinton Dial. He is signed through 2019, but faces plenty of questions with all the additions along the line.