The 49ers traded up to get a wide receiver. Not Jerry Jeudy. Not CeeDee Lamb. Not Henry Ruggs III. But Arizona State senior Brandon Aiyuk.



You didn’t see that coming. Neither did they, actually. But make no mistake — this wasn’t a fallback plan but a fortuitous bounce in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft on Thursday.



“He was my favorite receiver I evaluated,” coach Kyle Shanahan said of Aiyuk. “There’s no doubt about it. Lamb … was the guy who was in competition with him.”



Aiyuk, the 49ers’ brain trust revealed, was one of the six foundational players John Lynch referenced in his pre-draft video conference with reporters Monday. They held the Nos. 13 and 31 picks, so the hope was to get one of those six — and they did when they traded back a spot to No. 14 and selected South Carolina defensive line stud Javon Kinlaw.



And that was supposed to be it as far as the six players who...