Safety Adrian Colbert is going to make things interesting for the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. His rise through the depth chart has been a pleasant surprise, and he could be in the mix for a starting role next season. Earlier this season, the 49ers lost safeties Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt to broken arms while Eric Reid is scheduled to become a free agent.

49ers general manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Thursday night and discussed Colbert, who was seventh-round draft pick this year.

"I've got to give people a lot of credit," Lynch said on the "Tolbert & Lund" show. "I remember Adam Peters coming in and saying before the draft, 'Hey, I really like this kid. He's a fifth-year transfer out to Miami. He'd been at Texas. He moved from safety to corner. Let's sit down and watch his film. I think he's really got great value.'

"I will say Adam said, 'Kind of as a special teams guy and then because he played corner maybe he can help us at corner/safety.'

"In camp, we kind of moved him all around and he really showed right away he's going to be a special player on special teams. We didn't think we'd get much out of him at defense but we didn't think we needed it and that's the deal about this league as well. When you have an opportunity, and Jimmie Ward went down, and he got an opportunity to go in there and man, he's made the most of it.

"He's going to make it a really nice situation because we still think very highly of Jimmie, Jaquiski Tartt, Eric Reid, and now Adrian. That position has really become one of strength for us. I give the young man a lot of credit. He's got a long way to go, but he's made the most of his opportunity. When you keep going out and doing it week in, week out, you've got to love that.

"He's also the guy who had surgery on a Monday and played that Sunday the next week (after the team's bye), so I love that about him."

You can listen to the entire interview with Lynch below.