49ers' top executives making fewer pre-draft visits this spring

SANTA CLARA - When Stanford and Notre Dame held their pro-day sessions on the same March day last year, the 49ers fanned out.

A large contingent led by general manager John Lynch, personnel department executives Adam Peters and Martin Mayhew, and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello went to South Bend, Indiana, where Lynch took Fighting Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer to dinner. An even larger group, including head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina, drove to Stanford to watch Solomon Thomas work out.

This year the two schools again landed on the same date, but the 49ers mostly stayed home.

Lynch and Peters were at Stanford. The 49ers were represented in Notre Dame, too, but it was a far more modest and anonymous group than last year.

“As this draft approaches, you just want good office time,” Lynch said after the Stanford session.

The differing approaches illustrate how much the 49ers’ situation has changed in a year.

Heading into the 2017 draft, San Francisco had the No. 2 overall pick and was keeping its options open. The same crew that checked out Kizer at Notre Dame also watched North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky and Clemson’s DeShaun Watson on the East Coast.

This year, the team not only has a franchise thrower, Jimmy Garoppolo, under wraps, it doesn’t have a top-five pick to trade to another team eager for a top college quarterbacks.

The 49ers’ travel budget instead is being used to send top coaches for workouts. As reported earlier this week, Zgonina worked out Florida State pass rusher Josh Sweat and likely will do the same with other prospects. Offensive line coach John Benton looked at UCLA’s Kolton Miller and Scott Quessenberry.

The 49ers’ most senior decision makers mostly will stay home.

“Last year, we got out and saw the quarterbacks,” Lynch said. “But I think film is our best friend right now.”