How the Loss of Adam Peters has Affected the 49ers this Offseason

The 49ers lost the brains of their front office this offseason.

No offense to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan, who pick the players and make the decisions and ultimately construct the 49ers roster. They do an excellent job, but they have no personnel background. Lynch was a player and an announcer, and Shanahan is a coach. And until this year, they've always been able to rely on assistant general manager Adam Peters, who was a scout and has more than 15 years of personnel experience.

Now Peters is the general manager of the Washington Commanders, and this offseason he has been extremely aggressive signing high-priced players such as Nick Allegretti, Tyler Biadasz, Austin Ekeler, Dorance Armstrong and Bobby Wagner. As you can see, Peters has a deep knowledge of players from all around the league. He's a terrific resource for his team.

It's possible Peters was at least partially responsible for the 49ers big signings such as Javon Hargrave and Charvarius Ward the past few years, because those are the kind of signings he's making in Washington. And those are the kind of signings the 49ers have not made this offseason.

Now that Peters is gone, the 49ers suddenly are signing cost-effective free agents, which is new for them. In addition, most of the free agents the 49ers are signing have a direct connection to someone on the coaching staff, which suggests that the coaches are more involved with personnel decisions now that Peters is gone.

Coaches always want to work with players they know already, which means their personnel pool is small. Peters' is as large as the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, the 49ers will need to replace him with someone who's just as knowledgeable.