The Worst NFL Drafts From All 32 Teams Since the Year 2000
By Erik Lambert
San Francisco 49ers – 2012
Looking for a reason why Trent Baalke was such a terrible GM and that the San Francisco 49ers made a huge mistake firing Scot McCloughan? Look no further than their 2012 draft. It was the first year where there was no influence from McCloughan during the entire offseason and it showed. San Francisco didn’t get off to the best start when they took wide receiver A.J. Jenkins in the 1st round out of Illinois. Many were surprised by that move given he had few polished qualities aside from nice speed.
It didn’t get much better with LaMichael James in the 2nd round, an athletic but undersized running back who joined what was already a pretty loaded depth chart at the time. Really it never felt like any of the picks could be taken seriously as eventual starters. Jenkins was the only one because the 49ers were light on receivers but even then there were doubters. Not a single player from that class ended up starting for them.