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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- They couldn't stop anyone. In the NFL, in football at any level, that's a guarantee of failure, no matter how effective the offense, and in the 2016 season, when they won only two games, the San Francisco 49ers' offense wasn't at all effective, second poorest in the league. But the defense, hardly worthy of that label, was the worst. Dead last, 32nd of 32 teams. The axiom is you win on defense. Or when you finish 2-14, lose on lack of defense.
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So despite the early talk that the Niners, with Colin Kaepernick leaving, with only Brian Hoyer as their probable starter, would go after a quarterback, a Mitchell Trubisky, a DeShaun Watson, always a questionable pick when drafting that high -- the Niners were No. 2 in the draft and swapped with No. 3 Chicago, which did take Trubisky -- San Francisco grabbed Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas.
As someone said on one TV draft shows, first you need a quarterback, then you need someone to hit the quarterback. That someone after the third straight draft the Niners went after at defensive lineman as their first-round selection, is the 6-foot-3, 273-pound Thomas.
He is added to a wall that already included Arik Armstead (2015) and DeForest Buckner (2016), both in the 6-foot-7, 300-pound category. The Niners under new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, brought in by new head coach Kyle Shanahan, will use a 4-3 defense, as opposed to the 3-4 last season.
That requires bulk and mobility and an ability to both jam up the line and harass and/or pummel the man who takes the snap. As we know from those old NFL films, the late Al Davis believed in a singular creed: "The quarterback must go down and do down hard."
With the addition of Thomas and Reuben Foster, the Alabama linebacker acquired by trading the 34th pick and the 111th pick to Seattle for the 31st, the 49ers hope to return to the place in the standings and history they held both in the 1980s and not so very long ago.
Foster was sent home from the combine after an altercation with a hospital worker during a long wait for an examination. Before that he had been considered a top-10 pick. It was also reported in the last week that he had a dilute sample at his Combine drug test, which is considered a positive drug test in the NFL testing program. There were also concerns at his medical recheck about a shoulder issue.
Asked about the Combine incident and the drug test, Foster said, "People were concerned about the diluted sample. People were concerned about me just getting kicked out of the Combine. But, they gave me a chance. They gave me a chance and I really appreciate the 49ers. I'm just ready to go hard and work hard and just prove that I'm worthy of that spot and they're not going to regret it."
As for the shoulder, he said, "It's 90 percent. I'll be ready for training camp."
Thomas is the first first-round pick by 49ers general manager John Lynch, who not only played at Stanford, as did Thomas, but a couple of years ago, returning to Stanford to complete requirements for his degree, had a class with Thomas.
"I remember I was star-struck the first day of class," said Thomas. "What, John Lynch is in our class? So I tried to cling to him and learn from him. Very mature man."
Foster spoke almost reverently about Lynch when asked about meeting the general manager during his visit.
"He's a great guy. Real. Real," Foster said. "He gives it to you straight. He's a defensive guy, so we've got to bond together. So, we've got an automatic bond. He's a defensive guy. That itself means a lot, because he's so loved. He's like a family. He's loved. He's humble. I could tell he was interested in me when he saw me on the visit by myself."
Now in effect, Lynch and Shanahan, hired together in February, will cling to Thomas and Foster, along with Buckner, Armstead and what is left of Bowman.
Stanford head coach David Shaw, working with the NFL Network on the draft, was ecstatic when Thomas was picked after Myles Garrett, by Cleveland, and Trubisky.
"He's just an extraordinary young man and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do at the next level," Shaw said. "This is a leader. He's exciting. He's fun to be around. But make no mistake he's a competitor."
Thomas registered 101 tackles in three seasons for Stanford. He can play inside or outside. In the Sun Bowl he faced Trubisky. In the 49ers' 2017 NFL opener, he will face his former Stanford teammate Christian McCaffrey, taken No. 8 overall by the Carolina Panthers.
The mock drafts had Thomas among the top three, and through social media he was very aware. "I saw myself going to the 49ers," he said of a prediction that was accurate. "I thought, 'I love that.'"
The 49ers' practice facility is about seven miles from the Stanford campus. "I kept my mind open," he said. "You can't believe that stuff. I didn't want my heart broken. I had to come in here and be happy for any team that drafted me."
"But the best team for me drafted me. So I'm excited."
So, of course, are the 49ers.
