Why 49ers expect more competition from 2025 rookie class than ever

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.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...