Kyle Shanahan’s first official draft was with the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. The head coach joins the squad following a successful run with the Atlanta Falcons, where he devised the league’s top offense in 2016 and led them to the Super Bowl.
However, things were very different for the 49ers, who got their third coach in three years. San Francisco had the second overall pick (which they would trade down a place) after a 2-14 season and no established franchise quarterback. Rather than taking a chance on names like Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, they went with defender Solomon Thomas.
The Kansas City Chiefs traded up to select Mahomes with the tenth overall pick, and boy, did they not regret it. However, years later, Shanahan said that passing on the quarterback was one of the biggest blunders he had ever made:
“Anyone who had a chance to take Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun who didn’t, everyone knows… yeah, everyone wishes we had a time machine.”
There were numerous needs on the 2017 San Francisco roster. Shanahan envisioned a long-term project that combined draft and free agency.
“When I came here, I believe we had the 32nd-ranked defense, the 31st-ranked offense, and no quarterback, which is risky.” You hold the second choice in the draft. Now, before I arrived here, I had a very decent sense that we’d be able to sign a free-agent quarterback the next year, one that I knew you could win with. We had the second pick in the draft, and no one at the time thought those guys were top-five picks. But everybody realized they had some talent.”
The squad began the season with Brian Hoyer at quarterback, but things quickly unraveled: everyone recognized the offense had potential, but they couldn’t risk an entire year with Hoyer as their leader. That’s when the opportunity arose. The New England Patriots had Jimmy Garoppolo as a backup to Tom Brady, but he was in the final year of his rookie contract. Prior to the trade deadline in October, the 49ers agreed to acquire the quarterback in exchange for a second-round pick from the Patriots.
It was an excellent deal. Garoppolo remained with the team until 2023, guiding them to three NFC Championship appearances, one Super Bowl berth, and another conference championship as a backup.
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