Report: Chip Kelly Wanted To Draft Dak Prescott; Trent Baalke Overruled Him

If things went Chip Kelly’s way during the 2016 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers wouldn’t have a quarterback problem, and Kelly would still have his head coaching job. Maybe.

The latest NFL rumor, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, is that Kelly and others in the 49ers organization wanted to draft rookie standout Dak Prescott, but general manager Trent Baalke — who also was fired — refused. Prescott has since helped lead the Dallas Cowboys to a 13-3 record and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

This is the type of situation that’s easier to judge in hindsight, though. It’s the same thing that happens every time a player who was drafted in the later rounds winds up being great and people look at all the teams who passed over him. The Cowboys obviously weren’t extremely high on Prescott, either, as they drafted him in the fourth round with the 135th overall pick. They weren’t even planning on using him until Tony Romo got hurt.

Plus, there’s no guarantee Prescott would have had the same success in the 49ers’ system had they used their 133rd overall pick on him.

Still, it’s hard not to think about what could have been. Could Prescott have led San Francisco to an NFC West division title, while the Cowboys were the ones out of the playoffs thanks to Romo’s injury? We’ll never know, but it sure is fun to speculate.