Can we all just stop for a second?

Grading a draft class before a single player has taken a snap in an NFL game is like rating a restaurant based on the menu. It tells you something about intent, sure, but nothing about execution. The history of the draft is littered with "A+" picks who flamed out and "who?" selections who became Pro Bowlers. Tom Brady was pick 199. JaMarcus Russell was pick 1. Enough said.

The more interesting conversation — and the one Niners fans should actually be having — isn't about the 2026 class at all. It's about the broader trajectory of this front office's roster management. The Shanahan-Lynch era has produced some genuinely impressive draft hits, but also some costly misses and questionable resource allocation that have real salary cap consequences down the road. That's the fiscal responsibility conversation nobody in the building wants to have.

San Francisco is a city that understands the difference between hype and results — or at least it should. We live in a town where billion-dollar startups evaporate overnight and "disruptive" is just a synonym for "unproven." Apply that same skepticism to draft grades.

The real evaluation window for any draft class is roughly three years out. That's when you can see who developed, who busted, and who the front office whiffed on entirely. Until then, the letter grades are content filler — entertaining, maybe, but meaningless.

Check back in 2029. That's when the receipts come in.