The 49ers made a splash in the first round of the NFL draft when they traded up from No. 31 instead of trading back like many anticipated they would. San Francisco packaged the 31st, 117th and 176th picks to slide up six spots to No. 25 and select wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. Draft Wire listed it as one of the least valuable picks in the first round.
Draft Wire’s Luke Easterling ranked every first-round pick based on value, and Aiyuk landed at No. 24 on the list. Easterling took the player’s draft position and subtracted from the player’s place on his final big board to generate a number that determined the ‘value’ of the pick. Aiyuk checked in at No. 38 on Easterling’s board, and went No. 25 in the draft, so his value was negative-13. The highest-rated pick was Michigan OL Cesar Ruiz. He went 24th after getting ranked 16th – a plus-eight value score.
This is where the disconnect can happen between draft analysts and teams. The 49ers, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan, were ready to use the No. 13 pick on Aiyuk if Javon Kinlaw wasn’t available and they couldn’t trade back. Shanahan said Aiyuk was his favorite receiver in the draft and the metrics the team has access to put him higher on the board than his combine numbers would have.
Whatever the value was based on the 49ers’ internal player evaluations, the fact is the team bet huge on Aiyuk. The 49ers are of
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