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The Kansas City Chiefs in 2017 traded two first-round picks to move up to No. 10 in the draft and select quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who took over the following year. They did so despite veteran caller Alex Smith playing well enough to take the team to the playoffs in 2016, then having the best season of his career in 2017. The 49ers in 2021 find themselves in a similar situation, but Head Coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t looking at how the leaders’ transition went at all.
The 49ers traded three first-round picks to move up from No.12 to No.3 in this year’s draft, where they will likely pick a quarterback who will sit behind veteran Jimmy Garoppolo for a year before taking over the next season.
It would make sense for San Francisco to try and ask Kansas City for advice on threading this very difficult needle. At a press conference on Monday, Shanahan declined to make a comparison between the 49ers’ situation this year and Kansas City’s in 2017.
“I think that’s the most obvious example of having a really good quarterback and drafting a young man and still being successful that year with your veteran and moving on the next year.” , Shanahan said. “It’s the closest we need to get away from, but I don’t really look at things like that because I think every situation is its own situation. When you go back to other years they traded it in for that, so is it worth it? Each situation has its own situation.
“I watch ours, I learn from everything from my own experience, just reading about football and watching it over the years. That’s why we all develop our opinions, but just like the perfect play call or the perfect cast, you don’t know until the end. Things are changing all the time and you should always be ready to adapt and make the most of the opportunities that are available to you. “
The Chiefs drafted Mahomes, pitched him in the final game of the year – which didn’t affect their position in the playoff race – and then inserted him as a starter in 2018 after he traded Smith to Washington during the offseason. Smith had the best season of his career, but failed to earn a playoff victory for a second straight year.
It’s still unclear how the 49ers would handle a similar situation, which is why Shanahan hasn’t made a commitment to say they’re going the Kansas City way. The Chiefs were seated on Mahomes, who won the MVP in his first year as a starter. The 49ers may not be sitting on that type of talent, and if Garoppolo plays the best football of his career and brings the team back to the Super Bowl, it could change the way they handle the ensuing offseason.
There’s also a chance that a team will blow the 49ers with a trade before this season and they’ll negotiate Garoppolo to start the rookie or another veteran.
As Shanahan said, each circumstance is unique. Maybe the 49ers are following the same mold as the Chiefs. However, there are a ton of different directions for that, and just sticking to one path because another team did it wouldn’t be the best way for San Francisco to behave in an extremely sticky situation.
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