This Chart Confirms John Lynch's Biggest Draft Issue as 49ers GM

If you asked San Francisco 49ers fans what one of the biggest flaws that John Lynch has when it comes to drafting, most would say that he reaches for his guys as one of the top criticisms. That has always been the talk around Lynch, and now there is visual proof that this is one of his biggest issues.

Do the San Francisco 49ers reach too much in the first round?

CleveAnalytics looked into which General Managers have reached the most based on consensus mock draft boards. This goes all the way back to 2018 to collect a good enough sample. John Lynch ranked second when it comes to reaching, only behind Brian Guetenkunst of the Green Bay Packers

Looking at how much certain GMs might deviate from consensus mocks (@GrindingMocks). Gutekunst, Lynch and Schneider have "reached" the most in round one since 2018. No surprise, Howie reaches the least (besides the ill fated Jalen Raegor over Justin Jefferson pick. Which is prob… pic.twitter.com/JpyoXJWR7P
— Clevta (@Clevta) April 3, 2026

Funnily enough, Gutenkunst has a few value picks as well; he just reached more often, and a touch more than Lynch. Meanwhile, according to the chart, Lynch has never made a pick in the first round that was lower than the consensus board. Based on projections, he either took the player at their typical value or he reached for them in the first round.

The chart seems to show that there were two outlier level reaches, and then the rest were at least in the general area of where they should go. Those are likely Trey Lance and Ricky Pearsall.

Most boards had Justin Fields as the next quarterback to be drafted, and a lot of analysts were down on Lance due to his small school play and lack of experience. Pearsall was widely regarded as a mid-second to third round pick before he was taken in the first round.

Mike McGlinchey and Brandon Aiyuk went slightly higher than expected, Nick Bosa, Mykel Williams, and Javon Kinlaw went about exactly as expected, but none of those threw off the overall tracking as Lance and Pearsall did.

Still, when you have two outliers one way and nothing to offset them, it makes sense why the perception is that Lynch is going to reach, even if five of his seven first-round picks were within a few draft slots.

This makes the 49ers' pick at 27 all the more interesting now. There are players like Chase Bistontis, who is in the 40s on mock draft boards but would start at left guard day one. What would stop the 49ers from reaching on him, or another player in that same range, given their history? This should make mock draft projections more open-minded over the next few weeks.