Niners' Draft Disasters & Steals: Lance & Purdy

0:00Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have had their share of ups and downs picking players for the San Francisco 49ers. The NFL draft is a gamble, but their biggest bust was trading up to the third overall spot for quarterback Tray Lance, while their greatest steal came. With Brock Purdy as Mr. Irrelevant, they gave up three first-round picks and a third-rounder to grab Lance in 2021, but he only started four games before getting traded, away. Now he's backing up for the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers without much shine. That Lance move still stings five years later, marking one of the priciest flops in team history and putting heat on Lynch's job security back then. A year later, Purdy's path to the roster traces back to a 2017 third-round pick of CJ Bethard, who left and earned the Niners A. Compensatory pick that became Purdy. Purdy stepped up huge, leading them to the NFC Championship, a Super Bowl, and the divisional round even without his top guys. It's like draft karma, turning that old move into the Niners steady signal caller since Steve Young keeping the franchise firing on all cylinders.

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