Chris Borland
The 49ers would end up holding on to that extra third round pick they grabbed from the Titans in the Justin Hunter deal. In fact they would keep it all to themselves even through the next draft as well, using it on heralded linebacker Chris Borland.
It’s easy to look at the bigger picture from the outside and think, “How did the Niners mess up with all these picks?” However, it’s not that simple. The best argument for this is the surprisingly short career of Chris Borland.
Remember this: coming out of college, Borland had been told all the reasons why he would never make it at the pro level. He was too slow (he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.83 seconds) or too short (5’11). He didn’t test well at the Combine and many scouts couldn’t project him to succeed at the next level. Trent Baalke and his staff knew better.
They knew that Borland had been an all-world linebacker at Wisconsin, that he was a tremendous tackler who could get after the passer as well as play in coverage. They knew he played through pain and served as a strong leader on the defense. They knew he could captain the middle of any field, including the NFL.
They were right. He didn’t even start until Week 7, but he had 18 tackles in his second start, 17 more in his third start and 2 interceptions in the game after that. In just 8 total starts that year (and 14 appearances overall), he had 103 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 5 passes defended and 1 sack. In a year where Patrick Willis was getting ready to call it quits, Borland’s emergence was a revelation.
And then it was over.
That next offseason, less than one year after hearing his name called by the 49ers in the draft, Borland decided to retire due to the increased warnings about CTE and head trauma related to playing football. Rather than give the Niners a true star linebacker in the middle of their defense, they were left searching to fill another hole.
They were also 0 for 3 in their use of Dorsey’s draft picks.