Sporting Green
Team selects Stanford’s Thomas, Alabama’s Foster in busy 1st round
NFL Draft:
S.F. chooses Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas; Raiders get Ohio State cornerback.
The final tally from the first draft night of John Lynch’s executive career: two trades and two players who could help transform one of the NFL’s most incompetent defenses. In a busy debut, the 49ers’ novice general manager emerged with Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas with the No. 3 pick and traded up into the first round to grab Alabama inside linebacker Reuben Foster at No. 31.
Thomas and Foster, who was viewed as a potential top-10 pick, will join a defense that was major reason the 49ers went 2-14 last season.
“An extremely productive
day,” Lynch said. “We had a board with just under 200 players and in terms of how we rated them, we got two of our top three players. We were able to do that. We’re thrilled. We’re ecstatic.”
That’s right. The 49ers graded Thomas and Foster as the best prospects after Texas A&M pass-rusher Myles Garrett, whom the Browns selected at No. 1.
In addition, the 49ers received a third-round pick (No. 67), a fourthround pick (No. 111) and a 2018 third-round pick to move down one spot in a trade with the Bears before taking Thomas. Chicago selected North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at No. 2. The 49ers subsequently traded their secondround pick (No. 34) and No. 111 to Seattle to move up for Foster.
The 49ers have 10 selections in the final six rounds, including two in the third and fourth rounds. They don’t have a second-round pick.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said, “We definitely don’t think we’re just one or two players away.”
One player, Thomas, is a Pac-12 defensive lineman. Sound familiar? The 49ers selected Oregon’s DeForest Buckner (No. 7 overall) in 2016 and his college teammate, Arik Armstead (No. 17) in 2015.
Thomas, a team captain, had 11.5 sacks and 25.5 tackles for loss in his final two seasons and won the Morris Trophy as the Pac-12’s best defensive lineman last year.
Lynch returned to Stanford to finish his degree during Thomas’ freshman year in 2014 and they took in a class together, management science and engineering.
“I was star-struck the first day of class,” Thomas said. “He introduced himself as John Lynch and I was like ‘What?’ ” Thomas said. “… It was a really cool experience.”
After landing Thomas, Lynch said the 49ers began calling teams that were picking in the “early teens” in an effort to snag Foster, who won the Butkus Award given to the nation’s best linebacker last year.
Foster’s draft slide was a result of health and off-the-field concerns.
At the combine, he tested positive for a diluted urine sample, which the NFL counts as a positive drug test, and was sent home from the combine after an argument with a hospital worker.
Foster did not participate at the combine after undergoing offseason rotator-cuff surgery. On Thursday, he said he would be ready for training camp.
“He’s my kind of player,” Lynch said. “He plays sideline to sideline and he’ll hit anything that moves.”
Lynch said the 49ers were “exhaustive” in their research of Foster, with whom they met at the combine and hosted for a pre-draft visit. Lynch and Shanahan spoke with Foster on the phone, and the team sent vice president of football affairs Keena Turner and pastor Earl Smith to meet with Foster for two days in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“I would anticipate people questioning some of his character,” Lynch said, “but I would tell you his character is what drew us to him — when he starts talking football ... he lights up a room. He’s a good kid and I believe in the kid.”
Foster figures to compete with free-agent signee Malcolm Smith to start next to linebacker NaVorro Bowman.
“People were concerned about the diluted sample,” Foster said. “People were concerned about me getting kicked out of the combine. But (the 49ers) gave me a chance ... and I really appreciate the 49ers. I’m just ready to go hard, and work hard, and prove that I’m worthy of that spot and they’re not going to regret it.”