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The San Francisco 49ers acquired a former first round pick on Thursday, trading a 2019 fifth round pick to the Detroit Lions for offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson. A 2019 day three pick is not nothing, but it shows the value Tomlinson held at this point in time. He lost his job last year, and struggled to get past a pair of day three picks on the depth chart.
I shot a quick note over to Jeremy Reisman at Pride of Detroit to get his thoughts on Tomlinson. He had this to say.
Former first-round pick that quickly fell out of favor when GM Bob Quinn took over last year. Lions replaced him with rookie Graham Glasgow last year.
Glasgow and fifth-round pick Joe Dahl have both struggled immensely at guard this preseason, which should tell you just how little the team thought of Tomlinson's play. He basically didn't ever show signs of improvement.
This is actually a very fitting comment because the general manager who drafted Tomlinson now works for the 49ers. Senior personnel executive Martin Mayhew joined John Lynch’s front office this offseason after spending the 2016 season working for the New York Giants. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in the Lions organization, the last seven of which were as GM. I have a hunch he might have had some influence on getting this deal done.
Tomlinson appeared in all 32 games the past two seasons, with 24 starts. The 49ers play their final preseason game Thursday night, and then open the season a week from Sunday. Will we see Tomlinson in the starting lineup that quickly?
Poll
Rate the 49ers trade of a 2019 5th round pick for OG Laken Tomlinson?
This poll is closed
-
3%
1 (Strongly Disapprove)
(65 votes) -
2%
2
(36 votes) -
4%
3
(81 votes) -
7%
4
(121 votes) -
22%
5
(364 votes) -
16%
6
(275 votes) -
17%
7
(289 votes) -
10%
8
(178 votes) -
3%
9
(56 votes) -
11%
10 (Strongly Approve)
(185 votes)