The NFL has succeeded building up its yearly player selection in a way that far outweighs its importance

SANTA CLARA — A funny thing happened after one of the most ridiculed NFL drafts in recent years was conducted by the 49ers.

In a week’s time, it got better. Consensus be damned.

Maybe De’Zhaun Stribling, taken with the first pick in the second round, is actually pretty good. NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell seems to think so, and he’s not alone. The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen, one of the small handful of non-coaches who can actually look at film and see what coaches are seeing, thinks he’s perfect for coach Kyle Shanahan.

But The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, whose yearly “Beast” assessing the draft has become an industry standard, had the 49ers checking in at No. 27 out of 32 teams, and without going down the rabbit hole, the reviews of most amateur tape-grinders and educated guessers were negative.

It all speaks to something the NFL has built into an event as if it’s a World Series, Super Bowl or World Cup even if there is no scoreboard or final score.

It’s a list of names. And 320,000 people showed up in Pittsburgh on Day 1 and 805,000 overall to hear a reciting of a list of names over three days. Names and positions, heights and weights. Forty-yard dash times. Three-cone drills. Not a final score or end result in sight. Viewership was 13.2 million for the first round, according to ESPN.

It’s on two networks (although NFL Network and ESPN are merging), almost as if it’s a presidential election.

It’s a bunch of guys (and a few women) in a room deciding on who to pick. Covered by the media of all 32 teams who are also sitting in rooms, deciding who teams should pick. That’s it. The NFL has built this into can’t miss-TV which far outweighs its importance to the bottom line.

That’s the case where the 49ers are concerned and their spotty record under coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch in identifying premium talent in the first two rounds.

The 49ers got Christian McCaffrey from Carolina with draft picks. They got Trent Williams from Washington with draft picks. They got Fred Warner (third), George Kittle (fifth), Deommodore Lenoir (fifth) and Brock Purdy (seventh) with non-premium picks.

Anyone want those picks back?

The 49ers blew it when they traded up for Trey Lance, losing valuable first-round draft capital but there’s no guarantee based on their record they’d have drafted the right guys anyway if they’d kept their original picks.

While you can debate whether stocking rosters with draft talent is as big a deal as people seem to think, what can’t be debated is that nobody really knows which players will succeed or fail in the draft when figuring in system fits, potential injuries and character.

And even sure things are wrong sometimes.

For whatever reason, upon further inspection, there’s a feeling that maybe the 49ers didn’t reach as much as everyone thought at first glance.

That Stribling could play a key role in a wide receiver corps that over the years has been shorn of Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings.

Was Ole Miss wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling a reach at No. 33 in the NFL Draft? Depends on who you ask. AP Photo

That third-round pick Romello Height (No. 90 overall) might provide their first pure-speed pass rush from the outside since Dee Ford was injured.

That third-round pick Kaelon Black could be a valuable piece in tandem with an existing back (Jordan James?) if McCaffrey isn’t up for another ironman season with 413 touches and misses time. Shanahan has already gone through Joe Williams, Trey Sermon and Ty Edwards-Price, so skepticism is rampant.

Surely, Shanahan blew it again. But the draft can be a slot machine, and coming up empty three times doesn’t preclude getting lucky pulling the handle on No. 4 even if it’s not a progressive jackpot.

That fourth-round pick Gracen Halton adds another interior rusher who for once isn’t a hybrid defensive lineman.

Frankly, once you get past the third round, the “bust” factor is long gone. Because it’s pretty clear that anyone picked in Day 3 is a maybe, no matter what team is doing the selecting.

Bust is the most overused term in the draft, because the only way to truly be a bust is by being a first-round pick who never plays. A player who underachieves relative to draft status (Solomon Thomas or Clelin Ferrell, anyone?) isn’t a bust if he’s found a way to stay employed in the league.

But debating such topics is the lifeblood of the draft, which manufactures would-be experts for the kind of second-guessing that helps fuel rampant and often inaccurate speculation. Talked with someone I respect recently who has covered the league for years that convinces himself every year about the importance of the draft, only to wind up wondering what all the fuss was about once it’s over.

And next year, he’ll do it all again. The tanker that is the NFL Draft isn’t about be turned around on the small matter of perspective.