{"id":881235,"date":"2026-05-03T10:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T10:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881235\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T10:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T10:03:19","slug":"nfl-com-ranks-49ers-2026-draft-class-shockingly-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/881235\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL.com ranks 49ers’ 2026 draft class shockingly low"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Francisco 49ers received a wide range of grades for their eight selections in the 2026 NFL Draft, with evaluations spanning from an A- to a D-<\/a>, depending on the outlet. Much of the criticism centered on perceived “reaches”\u2014players selected earlier than their projected value would suggest.<\/p>\n

Gennaro Filice of NFL.com is the latest to weigh in, assigning the 49ers a C- and ranking their class No. 30 overall<\/a>\u2014ahead of only the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n

So why the low marks?<\/p>\n

“After trading down twice on Thursday, the 49ers had the honor of picking first on Friday, and they made a selection that took many by surprise,” Filice explained. “Truth be told, De’Zhaun Stribling<\/a> was a name that picked up serious steam as the draft cycle played out — that 4.36 40 in Indy didn’t hurt — but 33rd overall still felt aggressive to me.”<\/p>\n

RELATED Shanahan: 49ers would have drafted De’Zhaun Stribling in Round 1<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, Filice pointed to past 49ers receiver selections in a similar range that ultimately paid off\u2014Brandon Aiyuk<\/a> at No. 25 overall in 2020 and Deebo Samuel<\/a> at No. 36 in 2019. While neither tenure ended ideally, both players contributed during their time in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The 49ers also selected Ricky Pearsall<\/a> at No. 31 overall just two years ago, though it remains too early to judge that pick a success or failure.<\/p>\n

Filice was particularly critical of the team’s addition at running back.<\/p>\n

“One position this Niners regime has truly struggled to evaluate in the draft: running back,” he wrote. “San Francisco regularly spends middle-round currency on rushers, but the returns are seriously lacking. Will Kaelon Black<\/a> be the back to break the dry spell? It felt like a reach to me in Round 3.”<\/p>\n

Head coach Kyle Shanahan recently revealed that Black was actually the second-rated running back<\/a> on the 49ers’ draft board, helping explain the decision to select him at No. 90 overall.<\/p>\n

RELATED Shanahan: 49ers ranked Kaelon Black as the No. 2 RB on their draft board<\/a><\/p>\n

Filice also identified his favorite and sleeper picks from San Francisco’s class. Defensive tackle Gracen Halton<\/a> earned the nod as his favorite selection.<\/p>\n

“After trading a third-round pick to the Cowboys for Osa Odighizuwa<\/a> back in March, San Francisco made another move to upgrade its interior pass rush with this fourth-round selection,” Filice wrote. “Halton’s undersized but disruptive, having piled up 8.5 sacks over the last two seasons at Oklahoma.”<\/p>\n

Cornerback Ephesians Prysock<\/a>, also a fourth-round pick, was named the team’s sleeper.<\/p>\n

“An exceedingly long corner (6-3 3\/8, 33 1\/8-inch arms) who can move (4.45 40-yard dash), Prysock offers a rare traits package for the position,” Filice added. “His lack of polish in coverage is why he was available on Day 3.”<\/p>\n

Despite the outside skepticism, the 49ers have made it clear they remain confident in their draft approach and don’t put much emphasis on consensus rankings.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got consensus in this building<\/a>, and that’s the consensus that I care about,” general manager John Lynch declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers received a wide range of grades for their eight selections in the 2026 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,5305,432,37457,7,80026,2810,80207,2812,6,15,9115,2392,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":["post-881235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco-49ers","tag-49ers","tag-brandon-aiyuk","tag-de","tag-ephesians-prysock","tag-football","tag-gracen-halton","tag-john-lynch","tag-kaelon-black","tag-kyle-shanahan","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-draft","tag-osa-odighizuwa","tag-ricky-pearsall","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sanfrancisco","tag-sanfrancisco49ers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116510077975216596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}