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5. DL DeForest Buckner | 2016 | Pick 7
It’s difficult to find dominant defensive tackles, but Buckner has quickly developed into one of the NFL’s best interior offensive linemen. He was good on bad 49ers teams early in his career, and he continued dominating while they developed into a Super Bowl contender. Buckner through four years has missed just one game, and in his third and fourth seasons posted a combined 19.5 sacks from the defensive tackle spot. He’s also a force against the run, and enters his fifth season as one of the five best players in the league at his position.
4. DE Nick Bosa | 2019 | Pick 2
Perhaps this is too high for Bosa, who’s played only one season in the NFL. He ran away with the Defensive Rookie of the Year award though, and was regularly the best player on the field for a very talented 49ers defense. Despite a Super Bowl LIV loss, Bosa was arguably the best player on the field in that game as well. The Ohio State product gets the benefit of the doubt for now and lands in the top five, with a real chance of becoming one of the 49ers’ best first-round picks ever.
3. TE Vernon Davis | 2006 | Pick 6
Davis took a couple years to get his legs under him in the NFL, but once he did, he became one of the most dynamic tight ends in the league. He made the Pro Bowl twice, and led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with 13 in 2009 for a bad 49ers club. Davis was a ferocious blocker to go along with his wide receiver-like skill set in the passing game. There’s no one season that really stands out for Davis from a production standpoint – he was just a consistently dominant player for 10 years in San Francisco.
2. OT Joe Staley | 2007 | Pick 28
Left tackles like Staley aren’t easy to come by. He’s simply been one of the league’s top left tackles through his 14-year career, and he’s missed just 27 games in 14 years – including nine in 2019 when he broke his fibula in Week 2. When taking a tackle in the first round, the hope is that they’ll be on the team for more than a decade. Staley has not only checked that box, but he’s been an excellent player during his entire tenure, and could wind up punching his ticket to Canton once his career is over.
1. LB Patrick Willis | 2007 | Pick 11
It’s not easy to find many defensive players better than Willis in 49ers history. His career spanned just eight seasons, but in each of those eight years he was arguably the league’s best player at his position. Willis made seven Pro Bowls and was a five-time All-Pro after winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2007. Willis is the type of player who could dominate in any era. His induction into the Hall of Fame feels more like a matter of ‘when’ than ‘if,’ and he was hands down the 49ers’ best first-round pick of the 2000s.