The San Francisco 49ers, like every other team in the league, have made their share of fatal mistakes in the NFL Draft. While they have largely been adept in this realm of roster building, however, it is the peak of the offseason and hypotheticals are all that anyone can talk about.
Bleacher Report's [Matt Holder recently went through](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25213462-re-drafting-every-nfl-teams-worst-draft-pick-over-last-5-years) and listed each NFL team's worst draft pick from the last five years. To nobody's surprise, he selected quarterback Trey Lance, who the team selected No. 3 overall in 2021.
"There isn’t much of a debate here since Lance might be the biggest draft bust in 49ers’ history," Holder wrote. "Not only did the organization use a high pick on him, but it traded three first-round picks and a third-rounder to get him. That comes out to one draft pick per start that the North Dakota State product had in San Francisco."
49ers should have selected Rashawn Slater in 2021 NFL Draft
-----------------------------------------------------------
While fans have long been fixated on the failure of Lance himself and the front office's decision, not many are aware of the options that were on the table when he was selected. Holder gave the 49ers a second chance with this pick, and he chose now-Chargers offensive tackle Rashawn Slater.
"In this exercise, the 49ers get the benefit of knowing Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones are not worth taking in the first round. So, we’ll assume they’ll stick at pick No. 12 in this scenario, meaning the new pick has to be at that spot or later," Holder wrote. "The team could have used a right tackle, which Slater played during his first two years at Northwestern. Having the two-time Pro Bowler play opposite Trent Williams would have given San Francisco a nasty offensive line, and Slater could've been the heir apparent to Williams on the blind side."
A world in which Christian McCaffrey is running behind a line that features both Williams and Slater is likely also a world in which the 49ers win the Super Bowl in 2023.
**RELATED:** [**Painful 49ers draft mistake is still being dissected about 4 years later**](https://ninernoise.com/painful-49ers-draft-mistake-is-still-being-dissected-about-4-years-later-01jykzwr7ewt)
While Slater is certainly a solid option and one that likely would have raised the ceiling of this team, Holder also considered another option for the Red and Gold.
"Micah Parsons (drafted 12th by the Dallas Cowboys) was also considered here, but San Francisco had taken Nick Bosa just two years prior," Holder wrote.
A duo of Parsons and Bosa might be even more lethal than Williams and Slater, so it is hard not to think about what could have been for the Niners.
_**More 49ers news**_
---------------------