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Was 2017 our Best Draft Ever?


Ricky Spanish

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Excluding the most recent draft because while things look great, it's still only been one year and it's too early to judge - But I have been looking over past drafts in anticipation of the next one, and I am honestly surprised at how good the 2017 draft class, as a whole, has performed in the NFL. 

  1. CMC
  2. Curtis Samuel
  3. Taylor Moton
  4. Daeshon Hall
  5. Corn Elder
  6. Alex Armah
  7. Harrison Butker

Of that list, the only true bust is Daeshon Hall, who is still farting around on the 49ers practice squad (I just found this out looking into it), But the other 6 players are still in the league and contributing at high levels, yes even Corn Elder who is playing Nickel incredibly well for us this season. 

Maybe I'm just so used to the old Hurney years where guys taken in rounds 2 and 3 were out of the league before their rookie deals were even over - but the 2017 draft, top to bottom, was solid as hell. The only other year that we drafted that well was probably all the way back in 2001 where we took Dan Morgan, Kris Jenkins, and Steve Smith with our first 3 picks. The rest of the draft was nothing to write home about (Chris Weinke, Jarrod Cooper, Dee Brown, Louis Williams, and Mike Roberg) but that top 3 is hard to ignore. 2020 seems like it has a chance to be just as good, but time will tell.

It's a real shame we won't be able to retain all of the talent from the 2017 draft class, and it's a damn shame we haven't been a good team with such a solid draft under our belts. Makes me even more content with our move to get rid of both Rivera and Hurney because 2017 is the kind of draft that good orgs use to build a winner. 

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