The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) 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. The team, founded in 1944 by Tony Morabito, is named after the prospectors who arrived in Northern California in the 1849 Gold Rush. The 49ers joined the NFL prior to the start of the 1950 NFL season. Since 2014 they have played their home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located southeast of San Francisco.

The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. 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. From through 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.

Since the team's first NFL draft in 1950, the 49ers have selected 88 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. The 49ers have drafted first overall three times, selecting Harry Babcock in 1953, Dave Parks in 1964, and Alex Smith in 2005. Their most recent first-round draft pick pick was in 2025 when they chose Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams.

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; 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.

Player selections

+ Key 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

+San Francisco 49ers first-round draft picks Season Pick Player Position College Notes 1950 11 DT Minnesota 1951 3 QB LSU 1952 9 HB Washington 1953 1 * TE Georgia Lottery bonus pick 10 TE Texas 1954 11 QB Maryland 1955 10 HB Rice 1956 2 QB Michigan State 1957 3 QB Stanford 1958 8 HB Michigan Pick received from Pittsburgh Steelers 9 DT Texas A&M 1959 5 QB Oklahoma 8 C Ohio State Pick received from Pittsburgh Steelers 1960 11 TE Notre Dame 1961 6 CB UCLA Pick received from Pittsburgh Steelers 9 WR Bowling Green State 11 QB UCLA Pick received from Baltimore Colts 1962 8 FL Arkansas Signed for the AFL's San Diego Chargers instead 1963 8 DB UCLA 1964 1 * WR Texas Tech 1965 2 FB North Carolina 13 DB Illinois Pick received from Cleveland Browns 1966 11 T Ole Miss 1967 3 QB Florida Pick received from Atlanta Falcons 11 TE Northwestern 1968 15 C Auburn 1969 7 TE Penn State Pick received from New Orleans Saints 16 WR Stanford 1970 9 DE North Texas 17 DB Boston Pick received from Washington Redskins 1971 23 DB Ohio State 1972 19 WR Auburn 1973 18 DB Texas Southern 1974 9 RB Alabama Pick received from New England Patriots 10 DT UCLA 1975 10 DT Mississippi State 1976 Pick traded to New England Patriots 1977 Pick traded to New England Patriots 1978 7 TE Notre Dame 24 LB Long Beach State Pick received from Miami Dolphins 1979 Pick traded to Buffalo Bills 1980 13 RB Rice Moved down draft order in trade with New York Jets 20 DT Clemson Pick received from New York Jets 1981 8 DB USC 1982 Pick traded to New England Patriots 1983 Pick traded to San Diego Chargers 1984 24 LB BYU 1985 16 WR Mississippi Valley State Moved up draft order in trade with New England Patriots 1986 Moved down draft order in trades with Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills 1987 22 T North Carolina 25 RB Clemson Pick received from Washington Redskins 1988 Moved down draft order in trade with Los Angeles Raiders 1989 28 LB Tennessee 1990 25 RB Florida State 1991 25 DT Louisville 1992 18 DB Washington 1993 26 DT Kansas Pick received from Kansas City Chiefs and used to move down draft order in trades with Phoenix Cardinals and New Orleans Saints 27 DT Tennessee 1994 7 DT Notre Dame Pick received from San Diego Chargers and used to move up draft order in trade with Los Angeles Rams 28 RB Florida State Moved down draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys 1995 10 WR UCLA Moved up draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns 1996 Pick traded to Cleveland Browns 1997 26 QB Virginia Tech 1998 28 CB Oklahoma State 1999 24 DT Florida Moved up draft order in trade with Miami Dolphins 2000 16 LB Michigan State Moved down draft order in trade with Washington Redskins and New York Jets 24 CB Ohio State Pick received from Washington Redskins 2001 7 DE California Moved up draft order in trade with Seattle Seahawks 2002 27 CB Miami (FL) 2003 26 T Stanford 2004 31 WR Oklahoma State Moved down draft order in trades with Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers 2005 1 * QB Utah 2006 6 TE Maryland 22 LB North Carolina State Moved up draft order in trade with Denver Broncos 2007 11 LB Ole Miss 28 T Central Michigan Pick received from New England Patriots 2008 29 DT North Carolina Original pick traded to New England Patriots. Moved up draft order in trade with Indianapolis Colts. 2009 10 WR Texas Tech 2010 11 T Rutgers Moved up draft order in trade with Denver Broncos 17 G Idaho Pick received from Carolina Panthers 2011 7 LB Missouri 2012 30 WR Illinois 2013 18 S LSU Moved up draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys 2014 30 S Northern Illinois 2015 17 DE Oregon Moved down draft order in trade with San Diego Chargers 2016 7 DE Oregon 28 G Stanford Moved up draft order in trade with Kansas City Chiefs 2017 3 DE Stanford Moved down draft order in trade with Chicago Bears 31 LB Alabama Moved up draft order in trade with Seattle Seahawks 2018 9 T Notre Dame 2019 2 DE Ohio State 2020 14 DT South Carolina Pick received from Indianapolis Colts. Moved down draft order in trade with Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 25 WR Arizona State Moved up draft order in trade with Minnesota Vikings 2021 3 QB North Dakota State Moved up draft order in trade with Miami Dolphins 2022 Pick traded to Miami Dolphins 2023 Pick traded to Miami Dolphins 2024 31 WR Florida 2025 11 DE Georgia 2026 Pick traded to Miami Dolphins

See also San Francisco 49ers draft history History of the San Francisco 49ers List of San Francisco 49ers seasons

Notes

References