San Francisco 49ers: Reuben Foster disaster falls at feet of John Lynch

The San Francisco 49ers were widely proclaimed to be a closet Super Bowl contender in 2018. Now here they are, watching things fall apart.

People were quick to praise GM John Lynch when he started his tenure in 2017. They thought he outright stole from the Chicago Bears in the infamous Mitch Trubisky trade that netted the 49ers multiple 3rd round picks to move down just one spot. That extra ammunition allowed him to jump back into the 1st round to secure a player he’d apparently considered taking at the top of the draft in Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster.

Initially, it was easy to see why the 49ers coveted him. Foster was a rangy, instinctive player who not only brought a physicality from his position but also rare ball-hawking skills. He seemed to know where the ball was going constantly and found his way to it every single time. There was just one problem. The guy was proving to be a head case.

Things started off bad when he was dismissed from the NFL scouting combine after a confrontation with the medical staff. In hindsight, that should’ve been a red flag at the time. Sure enough a few months later he was in serious hot water being accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend. The charges were eventually dropped because the accuser refused to testify. Foster had dodged that bullet.

Not a second time though.

Foster disaster falls at the feet of John Lynch

There’s no question that the failure of this situation belongs solely to Lynch. It became clear as Foster dropped in the draft last year that teams were wary of his issues at the time. Lynch should’ve heeded those warnings. Instead he traded away a 3rd round pick, the same pick that became Alvin Kamara mind you, to go up and get the linebacker. Just over a year later he’s off the team and likely out of football.

This is even accounting for Solomon Thomas whom the 49ers secured after the Bears trade and has not looked anything like a #3 overall pick. There’s no question that the 2017 draft class is shaping up to be quite a disaster and not the franchise-reviving class so many proclaimed it would be. Lynch best hope he can find a way to get over that flop quickly. Otherwise, he’s in danger of losing his job that many were skeptical he’d earned in the first place.