Within the first week of the new league year, the 49ers knew a dozen starters or key contributors would not return to the team.
The 49ers’ offseason goals were to create salary-cap space for the future and inject some youth into their roster.
The organization’s plan revolves around restocking the roster through this month’s draft. The 49ers hold 11 scheduled draft picks, including eight within the first 160 selections.
“Going into OTAs, going into training camp, I feel there will be as much competition on our team for starting spots as there has been in a while, especially on defense,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said last week at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.
“But we want to create that everywhere. We haven’t had that in a while.”
Shanahan pointed out that the 49ers mostly had the top of their depth charts set when the draft rolled around in recent years.
Often, the 49ers made picks with the idea of landing starters one year ahead of time in anticipation of replacing a starter who was in the final year of a contract.
San Francisco 49ers
Last year, the 49ers were coming off a Super Bowl appearance and mostly kept the roster intact with the intent of making another run.
But the 49ers ended up getting a lot of production from their 2024 rookie class, as injuries opened the door for guard Dominick Puni, cornerback Renardo Green, safety Malik Mustapha and running back Isaac Guerendo.
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Two years ago, coming off a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, the 49ers had very little turnover.
“The only starting position we could find was a kicker,” Shanahan said of the 2023 NFL Draft, when the 49ers selected Jake Moody at the end of the third round to replace veteran Robbie Gould.
However, this version of the 49ers has some notable holes to fill. There were the free-agent departures of linebacker Dre Greelaw, defensive backs Charvarius Ward, Talanoa Hufanga, Isaac Yiadom and Rock Ya-Sin, as well offensive linemen Aaron Banks and Jaylon Moore.
In addition, the team traded receiver Deebo Samuel and running back Jordan Mason and released defensive linemen Javon Hargrave, Leonard Floyd and Maliek Collins.
The 49ers did not sign any guaranteed starters during free agency. Safety Jason Pinnock, cornerback Tre Brown and receiver Demarcus Robinson will compete for roles, and Luke Farrell was added as a No. 2 tight end. The biggest name the 49ers brought in was backup quarterback Mac Jones.
The 49ers' expectation is that the draft will yield talent to surpass some of the veterans who are currently penciled into spots as placeholders.
“We’ll go into this draft, and hopefully add 11 people,” Shanahan said. “And we’ll see how that plans out, and add them into OTAs and hopefully have some really good competition in training camp.”
