The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) [4] are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference West Division. [5] The team, founded in 1944 by Tony Morabito, is named after the prospectors who arrived in Northern California in the 1849 Gold Rush. [6] [7] The 49ers joined the NFL prior to the start of the 1950 NFL season. [6] Since 2014 they have played their home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located southeast of San Francisco. [6] [8] [9]
The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", [10] [11] [12] is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. [13] The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them. [14] From 1947 through 1958 the NFL designated the first overall selection as a "bonus" or "lottery pick". The pick was awarded by a random draw and the winner who received the "bonus pick" forfeited its selection in the final round of the draft and became ineligible for future draws. The system was abolished prior to the 1959 NFL draft, as all twelve teams in the league at the time had received a bonus choice. [15] [16]
Since the team's first NFL draft in 1950, the 49ers have selected 87 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in their inaugural NFL draft was Leo Nomellini, a defensive tackle from the University of Minnesota; he was the 11th overall selection. [6] [17] The 49ers have drafted first overall three times, selecting Harry Babcock in 1953, Dave Parks in 1964, and Alex Smith in 2005. [18] In the most recent draft, held in 2024, the 49ers chose Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. [19]
The 49ers did not draft a player in the first round on ten occasions. Nine of the team's first-round picks—Lance Alworth, Jimmy Johnson, Ronnie Lott, Hugh McElhenny, Leo Nomellini, Jerry Rice, Y. A. Tittle, Patrick Willis, and Bryant Young—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; [16] one of these, Lance Alworth, chose to sign with the NFL's pre-merger direct competitor, the American Football League (AFL), and never played for the 49ers. [20] [21]
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
† | Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
* | Selected number one overall |
Position abbreviations | |
---|---|
C | Center |
CB | Cornerback |
DB | Defensive back |
DE | Defensive end |
DT | Defensive tackle |
FB | Fullback |
FL | Flanker |
G | Guard |
HB | Halfback |
LB | Linebacker |
QB | Quarterback |
RB | Running back |
S | Safety |
T | Tackle |
TE | Tight end |
WR | Wide receiver |
The 1994 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 1994, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, New York. This was the first draft in which the rounds were reduced to seven in total. The league also held a supplemental draft after the regular draft and before the regular season.
Kevin Thomas Hardy was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the 1968 NFL draft. He was an All-American out of Notre Dame where he also lettered in basketball and baseball.
The 2013 NFL draft was the 78th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 25 through April 27.
The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park, from April 30 to May 2. This was the first NFL draft held outside New York City in fifty years. The 2015 NFL draft was the first to feature a companion outdoor fair, where fans would be able to see the Commissioner during the selection on the Auditorium Theatre stage from across the street in the park; this area was called Draft Town. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held the right to select first because they had the league's worst record in the previous season. The Arizona Cardinals made the final pick in the draft, commonly called Mr. Irrelevant.
The 2017 season was the San Francisco 49ers' 68th in the National Football League (NFL), their 72nd overall, their fourth playing their home games at Levi's Stadium and their first under the head coach/general manager tandem of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.
The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May 1, 2021.
The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendance of over 775,000, breaking the overall record previously set in 2019.