Why the 49ers are Successful in the Middle Rounds of the NFL Draft

The 49ers have 11 picks heading into this week's NFL draft in Kansas City.

Unfortunately, none of those picks are in the first two rounds for a second consecutive draft. Day 1 of the draft on Thursday is sure to be an absent one again for the 49ers, which means it won't really start getting going for them until Day 2 on Friday.

The vast majority of the picks for the 49ers are in the middle rounds of the draft. That actually should be viewed as a tremendous benefit. Picking in the first round hardly works out for the 49ers as opposed to later rounds like the fifth. The way they are able to get that magic with so many players late in the draft is simply incredible. It is why they have been able to survive so many whiffs in the early rounds.

On Monday at his pre-draft press conference, John Lynch revealed what it is that makes the 49ers so successful in the middle rounds of the NFL draft.

“I really believe it's collaboration," Lynch said. "I believe it's when your personnel and your coaching staff are in lockstep and there's constant communication, there's constant challenging of each other's views. Hey, we really like this guy, okay, we didn't see it like that, let's see if we can get there. I think we really take pride in doing that. And we do it from the top down. Kyle and myself spend a ton of time watching players together. I think when you do that and you do that throughout the draft, that gives you an opportunity to really hit throughout the draft at any pick. And I think that's something we've done."

Impressive work by the 49ers to unite together in the middle rounds to find so many star, starters, or key role players. It is a huge reason why the team has managed to maintain it's high level playoff contending form. With so many picks on Day 3 of the draft, the 49ers are setup to find themselves a few sweet players yet again.

"I think one of the things too, that we forced ourselves to do early on is really not just be vague about what we wanted at each and every position, but really talk about the traits we want at each position, both physically and mentally and in the spirit, we call it, of each position. I think we've done a nice job of defining that so that when you're in those meetings, everyone knows who's a Niner and when you have that as a starting point, I think you can start finding those guys. We aren't perfect. We've had our share of misses, but I'm proud of our track record and hopefully, that continues because we got a lot right there this year.”

Speaking of those share of misses, as I stated earlier, a lot of the draft woes have come from the first round. It makes you wonder why that is? Lynch cites that it is "collaboration" that allows them to find so many talented players in the middle rounds. So does that mean there isn't collaboration in the first round then? I would say there isn't and that it is Kyle Shanahan who picks the players in that round. Coaches who picks the players commonly don't select great ones and Shanahan is showcasing.

Again, their middle rounds have allowed them to make up for their early misses, but if they would just collaborate in totality, then perhaps they find a couple of more gems in the first round.

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