FanPost

Is drafting injured players a last resort?

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Kentavius Street pick had lots of us scratching our head or worse. Is a red shirt pick ever a smart strategy? Effectively what you are doing is postponing your pick until next year's draft because that is when the player will join training. Why not trade that 4th round pick for a 2019 third? That way, at around the same time Street will become available, you get a fit player of comparable skill without the red flags. I appreciate you have to find a partner, but wouldn't that be a better option? Or alternately, package the pick to draft up and get a fit player of comparable skill this year.

Furthermore, wouldn't a red shirt draftee be stunted in his growth as a player? He would have lost a year of development in a critical time in his career, so come 2019, he'll be a year older but no better. In fact he's probably going to be a bit worse to start with, as hardly anyone comes back from injury in the same form they were in prior to injury. It can take half a season to get it back together, so now he's not just 12 months behind his contemporaries but 18 months. That makes that fit guy in the 2019 draft look even better.

And it gets worse. By this time you only have a bit over a half of his rookie contract left.

So all you seem to get from a red shirt draft is:

- someone to pay this year

- who will forever be behind in his development

- who, once he starts playing, will cost you more sooner

Of course, if you can't find trade partners and there is literally no other players worth picking for your team, then so be it. But shouldn't it be a last resort and not a sensible strategy?

P.S. Given my theory that a red shirt draft pick is effectively postponement of the pick, why did we need a 3rd round talent of Street's talent in 2019 anyway? That's going alone with Lynch on his assessment of Street's talent.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Niners Nation's writers or editors.