General manager John Lynch knows history is against the San Francisco 49ers when it comes to the team's chances of returning to and, this time, winning the Super Bowl. The road back will be more challenging, but Lynch believes his squad is capable of overcoming any obstacle.
Lynch has spent the past week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Learning about the incoming draft class is the first step to improving this offseason and tweaking the roster to make it capable of doing what last year's team could not.
Lynch and the 49ers had more offseason equity in recent years. They own just six draft picks this offseason, which doesn't include a day-two selection, and have significantly less salary cap space with which to play.
The 49ers aren't letting their draft situation impact how they scout this offseason. You never know how the draft might play out, so Lynch has to be ready for anything. Still, it is different from previous years when the 49ers not only had more selections but were consistently picking near the top of the first round.
"I will say for that first pick, at least, it's a lot easier," Lynch told Daniel Jeremiah and Rich Eisen Friday on NFL Network. "At number two, you've got a pretty good idea the candidates that will be there. That not so much anymore (now). It just forces you to work even harder."
The 49ers select at No. 31 overall, and then, assuming the team doesn't acquire more picks, not again until the fifth round. The day-two picks were shipped away in trades that brought in pass rusher Dee Ford and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
The 49ers must make the most of the selections they have, perhaps being creative along the way. That means a whole lot of homework leading to April's draft.
"Now, you do that with all your other picks," Lynch continued. "You've got to evaluate everyone, and you can't say, 'Hey, who are we going to take at 31?' You evaluate everybody here (at the NFL Scouting Combine), and then as the process goes, you start to zero in. And then the draft happens.
"It's like John Madden used to say. 'What happens if a game breaks out?' That game always breaks out on draft day, and you see runs at certain positions, and all that. So we'll be prepared for any scenario.
"Our challenge, without a lot of draft equity this year: How do we find a way to make our organization better? Coach (Jon) Gruden always used to say, Kyle (Shanahan) believes in it, I believe in it, you never stay the same. You're either getting better or getting worse, and we're into getting better."
Head coach Kyle Shanahan also discussed earlier this week the importance of knowing as much as possible about each player in the draft, especially with the 49ers sitting at the end of the first round.
"When you're sitting back at 31, you never know what's going to come," Shanahan said. "You've got to be ready for anything. You might be not thinking you're going to go for a certain position because it doesn't make that much sense at the time but then a guy that you evaluated as a top-10 pick all of a sudden slides there, and you've got to make that decision versus something that you need."