The fast and furious storm known as NFL free agency is winding down. The San Francisco 49ers are still communicating with a handful of players, but the major upgrades to the roster have already been made.
So now priorities are shifting toward the NFL Draft. GM John Lynch called into the Murph and Mac show Friday to discuss what’s next for his front office and Kyle Shanahan’s coaching staff.
Lynch, VP of Personnel Adam Peters, senior executive Martin Mayhew and quarterback’s coach Rich Scangarello will be making several trips to colleges next week, which will include Notre Dame (DeShone Kizer), Clemson (Deshaun Watson), North Carolina (Mitch Trubisky). Simultaneously, every NFL team gets to host 30 college prospects at their facility. The 49ers began that process Thursday night, and ESPN’s Adam Caplan is reporting Reuben Foster — the Alabama linebacker booted from the combine for an outburst on a medical worker — will be one of those invited to Santa Clara.
“We met with all the kids we’re going to see at the combine,” Lynch said. “But now we get to go see them in action. A couple of them are pro days and we have one private workout. We’re going to go see these guys, get to know them. The film kind of speaks for itself. But there’s always great value to seeing someone in person, maybe you catch something you didn’t on film. I think the most important thing, like you said, is we’re having some dinners, those types of things. Just getting to know the young men, know what they’re all about. What drives them? You get to learn about their families and it’s all a part of the equation.”
Watson’s workout in Clemson will be semi-private, Lynch said, where the 49ers and another team will give him more specific instructions on certain throws and drills.
Whether the fruits of their spring labors turn into wins in the fall is up for debate, but Lynch and Shanahan are off to a strong start on paper. Many of the new free agent players turned down deals from more competitive teams to come play for the 49ers. As I’ve written, money talks, but the type of persuasive pitches going down between the 49ers, players, and their agents is a new calming force from an organization who specialized in turmoil the last three seasons.
“I think we’ve been having a lot of small victories along the way,” Lynch said. “We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do in a short amount of time. We’ve hit the ground running. The most important thing, we put together a tremendous staff. And that was going to be our biggest challenge. I’m really happy with our coaching staff, with the staff I’ve put around me up in the front office. As you know, we’ve been active in free agency, we had a bunch of money to spend but I think we were strategic and very calculated with how we used it and the type of players we looked for. And now we take that same approach in the draft.”