Joseph Almendarez

Here to talk football and pray the 49ers do the right things 😂

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

The #49ers #nfldraft is over.
My 49ers shadow draft:
P 33 Cashius Howell T A&M
P 70 Emmanuel Pregnon Oregon
P 90 Chris Bell Louisville
P 107 Keionte Scott Miami
P 127 Mathew Hibner SMU
P 139 Joshua Josephs Tennessee
P 154 Landon Robinson Navy
Pick 179 Eli Heidenreich Navy

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@NBASummerLeague @NBA Been trying to buy tickets all day and the website is bricked. Everytime I put in my info and submit it fails 🫪

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@BDPeacock I was with you and crock on the first couple! Excited and hopefully the 49ers prove us all wrong! Still drafted some quality players. Just seemed like very bad asset mgmt veering from consensus so bad when you could’ve got the same players much later potentially.

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

The #49ers #nfldraft is over.
My 49ers shadow draft:
P 33 Cashius Howell T A&M
P 70 Emmanuel Pregnon Oregon
P 90 Chris Bell Louisville
P 107 Keionte Scott Miami
P 127 Mathew Hibner SMU
P 139 Joshua Josephs Tennessee
P 154 Landon Robinson Navy
Pick 179 Eli Heidenreich Navy

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

The 49ers made a few solid picks in Height, Halton, and Cruz Jr. The other late round guys I haven’t watched enough but taking swings on athleticism is never bad. But a 3rd rd running back no matter who and a WR 2 rds early killed it.

D grade for reaching and passing on talent.

[Jim Tomsula's Ghost @tomjimsula49]

All told, the 49ers selected 8 players and reached a whopping total 430 spots for those picks. They took what should've been a solid class of the top 30-150 players and walked away with the equivalent 3 3rd round picks, 1 late 4th, 1 late 5th, 1 6th and 2 UDFAs.

This has to be unheard in recent draft history. @SharpFootball can you confirm?

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

Can the #49ers hire her and replace John Lynch? Look at the browns draft this year and last vs what the 49ers have done the past 6-7 years.

[Leah Doherty @LeahDohertyTV]

#Browns assistant GM Catherine Hickman said one thing that stood out to her about S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren was the fact that he chose to remain at Toledo when he had other offers:

"He was loyal to the school that gave him a chance."

[Jim Tomsula's Ghost @tomjimsula49]

Something is rotten in Santa Clara.

The 49ers draft process isn’t just off, it’s systematically broken. The 2026 class is just the latest entry in a 5+ year pattern of pissing down their own leg.

Here's a summary of the 2026 class:
- A 60-pick reach in Round 2.
- A flawed “need” player over higher-upside talent.
- And, of course, the "Shanahan classic:" a RB taken 40-70 spots earlier than expected while premium positions sit untouched.

This isn’t misfortunate. It’s a pronounced, fundamental failure to understand value and evaluate talent. One reach is defensible. Doing it every year, while consistently flaunting the board, is malpractice.

Take Stribling: the Niners passed on higher-graded players at positions of need - Bisontis, T.J. Parker, Kayden McDonald, Cashius Howell, C.J. Allen, Colton Hood (all who went within the next 8-9 picks) - to draft a traits-based WR projected for the middle of Round 3, if not later. Best case, he develops into a good player but contributes nothing this year while immediate impact options at guard or edge go elsewhere.

Then they trade back from 58, passing on players like Anthony Hill and Keyron Crawford, only to land Romello Height, a 25-year-old with a capped ceiling. Even if he produces, the opportunity cost is glaring. You don’t pass on young, ascending talent for marginal contributors unless you’ve got a broken framework for evaluating talent.

And then the signature move: reaching ~60 picks for Kaelon Black. A fine player, sure, but with no distinguishing traits (call him Jordan James redux...but taken 60 picks earlier). A Day 3 back taken on Day 2 while OL (Trey Zuhn, Gennings Dunker), WR (Chris Bell), EDGE (Barham), and S (Jalon Kilgore) talent remained on the board. It’s not just suboptimal, it’s flat-out incoherent.

At some point, this stops being debatable. Under @JohnLynch49ers, this regime has gone 6 drafts without producing a single Pro Bowl player. The results aren’t unlucky; they’re consistent. And consistently mediocre at best (see 2024/2025) and disastrous (2021, 2022 and 2023) at worst.

@JedYork, tolerating this is a choice. And that choice is settling for permanent underachievement. Enough is enough.

cc: @grantcohn @sportslarryk @Chase_Senior @SharpFootball @dieter @hutchdiesel

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@BDPeacock Same. This draft class is ridiculous 😂 all of us 49ers fans are the definition of insane expecting different results from this regime.

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@nfldraftscout F-

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@Graham_SFN Show him bending the edge

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

@BDPeacock Love it Brian I’ve been on the Howell train since day one. It’s been him or KC for me. No brainer with him still sitting there but I believe we will be picking someone else unfortunately

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

Some options with the new picks. I prefer Pregnon to Bisontis but you can pick either or. #49ers #nfldraft

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

The dream is still alive!!! #49ers #nfldraft

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

Now obviously that’s a lot of names and players ranging from round 1-UDFA but these are all players I like and would love to see on the #49ers this #nfldraft let’s get it!

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

My favorite players in all rounds that I’d be happy if they ended up #49ers

QB
Mark Gronowski
Joe Fagnano UCon

RB
Mike Washington Jr Ark
Chip Trayanum Tol
J’mari Taylor UV
Emmett Johnson Neb
Jonah Coleman Wash
Adam Randall Clem
Jamal Haynes GT
Dean Connors UH
Jam Miller Bama

[Joseph Almendarez @joealmendarez]

S
Eric Gentry USC (convert from lb)
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren Toledo
Bud Clark TCU
Dillon Thieneman Oregon
Cole Wisniewski TTU
Jalen Husky Maryland
Jalon Kilgore SC
Louis Moore Indiana
Treydan Stukes AZ
AJ Haulcy LSU