The 49ers draft class ranks number 1 in the NFL in this metric

Narratives can be spun anyway anyone chooses. Cherry-picking stats can tell a story. Cherry-picking plays can tell a story. Neither tells the entire story. Stats should back up what your eyes tell you. Stats also lack context. Either way you slice it, anyone can use pieces of information to push a narrative.

Which brings us to Pro Football Focus and their assessments of the San Francisco 49ers’ 2025 draft class.

And look at that, the San Francisco 49ers are number one in the NFL based on PFF’s criteria.

Here are the rules: Using PFF’s expansive grading database, we can evaluate each draft class by summing the overall grades of every prospect across the final three seasons of their college career. This cumulative metric highlights which teams selected the most consistently productive players based purely on on-field performance.

Naturally, teams with more draft capital — or those picking early — are more likely to rank higher. But this isn’t a declaration of draft winners and losers. It’s a snapshot of how each rookie class performed in college, grounded entirely in what they’ve already put on tape. It’s just one of several ways to assess how teams may have improved their rosters through the draft.

PFF prefaces their ranking by saying the 49ers lead the way after losing key veterans in free agency, but the 49ers reloaded with a class full of proven college producers, including four players with three-year PFF grades above 90.0.

No draft pick was in the negative in terms of PFF WAA (wins above average). The lowest WAA average belongs to WR Junior Bergen at 0.0, with Nick Martin just above with 0.01. QB Kurtis Rourke led all draft picks because he’s a quarterback with 0.68.

The position players with the highest WAA are Alfred Collins (0.28) and CB Upton Stout, and RB Jordan James, tied with 0.21.

Here is what Andrew Ites of Pro Football Focus thinks about the draft class:

After losing several established contributors in free agency, the 49ers needed a strong draft class to reload for the 2025 season. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan responded by selecting 11 players, many of whom graded well in college. Running back Jordan James stands out, as he earned a 92.4 PFF grade over the past three seasons at Oregon and should provide valuable depth behind Christian McCaffrey.

San Francisco added three more prospects with three-year grades above 90.0: quarterback Kurtis Rourke, safety Upton Stout, and interior defender CJ West. The 49ers will need a good portion of this group to contribute quickly to offset their offseason losses, and they’ve made some solid bets by targeting players with proven production.

The bottom line is that the draft class will be determined by their play on the field. It’s just funny how narratives can be spun with pieces of information. It’s officially the dead zone of the NFL offseason.