SANTA CLARA — The 49ers might have lost a good one last month when the Washington Commanders hired Adam Peters as general manager.
Peters was regarded as a major part of a personnel department that helped put together one of the top rosters in the NFL, but 49ers general manager John Lynch said he is optimistic about the future.
“I’ve thought about it a lot and I’m really excited,” Lynch said. “We got the plan in place.”
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Lynch said he is not ready to make any announcements about promotions or the structure within the personnel department because he does not want to take any of the focus off Super Bowl LVIII.
The 49ers take their 53-man roster comprised of 28 draft picks, 21 free agents and four players acquired in trades into Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Peters was highly regarded as assistant general manager, a position to which he was promoted three years ago. Peters was among the first individuals Lynch brought to the 49ers when he was hired as general manager in 2017.
Currently, the top-ranking individuals in the 49ers' personnel and scouting department under Lynch are director of pro personnel RJ Gillen and director of college scouting Tariq Ahmad.
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“We got a really good plan,” Lynch said. “It’s going to come internally — not to say that later on there might not be an add. We’re always looking.”
Lynch expressed pride in the organization’s long-standing system for developing scouts. Ethan Waugh, now assistant general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Peters were closely involved in creating the program.
“Tariq Ahmad is very instrumental in that,” Lynch said. “We really do a nice job of training these guys, such that there is always a pipeline.
“I think it’s only right when you have capable people, you stay within because that speaks to what we preach, that, ‘Hey, if you work your tail off and produce good work, there’s going be opportunities.’”
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