The first night of the 2017 NFL Draft couldn't have gone much better for the San Francisco 49ers and rookie general manager John Lynch.
After moving down a spot from No. 2 overall, and later back into the end of the first round, the 49ers managed to come away with a pair of top defensive prospects in Solomon Thomas and Reuben Foster.
As Peter King of The MMQB detailed after spending draft weekend in the 49ers' war room, the decision after trading back to the No. 3 spot in a deal with the Chicago Bears actually came down to those two players.
Not knowing who the Bears would take at No. 2, accepting the entirely realistic possibility that it could have been Thomas, the 49ers gladly would have gone with Foster.
"Had Solomon been gone, we'd have gone Reuben. And been happy," Lynch told King.
As it turns out, the Bears had been willing to part with the package of picks to move up the one spot and secure a potential franchise quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky.
Coming away with both their targets, taking Thomas at No. 3 and later swooping in ahead of the New Orleans Saints at No. 31 to steal Foster, stands as an incredibly strong start to a rebuild that the 49ers organization needed in the worst way.
"That's the most electric day I've had in 17 years working for this organization," Paraag Marathe, the team's chief strategy officer and executive VP of football operations, said. "It's definitely my most exciting day here."
Thomas and Foster add an infusion of talent to the front seven, providing the defense with a pair of marquee talents that will have every opportunity to emerge as franchise cornerstones sooner rather than later.
