GM Lynch makes 6 trades in 1st draft with 49ers

SANTA CLARA — John Lynch and Mike Shanahan shunned a conservative approach during their first NFL draft together as the new leadership of the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers never stopped trading all the way to the final day of the draft, adding three prospects on each side of the football Saturday to complete what new general manager Lynch and new coach Shanahan believe will be a major step in the rebuilding of the team.

San Francisco orchestrated six trades during the three-day draft, not only allowing the 49ers to select 10 new prospects but also collect second- and third-round picks for 2018 in the process.

“I had no idea I was going to trade that much,” Lynch said. “I thought I was a fairly conservative guy and we were just going to have a calm draft. But the opportunity came our way.”

The 49ers began dealing near the very start of the draft, trading with Chicago to move down one spot to No. 3 in the first round. The 49ers then selected Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas while adding extra picks in the third and fourth rounds this year and a 2018 third-rounder.

San Francisco didn’t wait long to package one of the extra picks from that deal with its own second-rounder in a trade with Seattle to grab Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster at No. 31 in the first round.

Two trades Friday and two more Saturday left the 49ers with the same number of picks with which they began the draft.

“The philosophy is, if you trade, you usually end up getting fewer players,” Shanahan said. “To still get our goal of 10 players and adding other picks for ammo next year, I don’t think that happens very much.”

San Francisco also added veteran running back Kapri Bibbs in a trade with Denver on Saturday that also netted the 49ers a draft pick they used to select Louisiana Tech wide receiver Trent Taylor in the fourth round. Taylor had a NCAA-best 1,803 yards receiving last season, when he was second in college football with 136 receptions.