ROOKIE REVIEW

After building the 49ers into NFC champions with young talent during their first three years together — when San Francisco had a total of 40 rookies see action from 2017-2019 — the team’s leadership tandem of general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan found themselves with considerably less draft capital at their disposal in the fourth year of their partnership.

- Craig Massei

But with a veteran lineup returning all but a handful of starters on a stocked roster deep with talent, their needs from San Francisco’s rookie class of 2020 were much fewer and much more specific. Or so they thought. But with one of the NFL’s best rosters decimated by injuries and other health factors throughout the season, the 49ers found themselves playing just as many rookies in 2020 as they did the year before. In all, nine rookies made it onto the active roster and saw playing time this past season, including the first four of the team’s five 2020 draft picks and a handful of others that were called upon to fill out a skeleton roster over the season’s final weeks. Here’s a breakdown of that rookie class, putting each youngster into categories based on performance in their debut NFL season.

STARS

WR Brandon Aiyuk (Round 1, No. 25 overall selection): San Francisco traded first-, fourth- and fifth-round picks to the Minnesota Vikings on the opening day of the draft just to move up six spots in the first round to select Aiyuk. But the smooth and poised youngster quickly showed everybody the 49ers knew what they were doing on his way to a standout rookie season, particularly considering he played only 12 games with three different quarterbacks.