49ers promote two front-office members to director of player personnel

Feb 28, 2024, 11:30 AM | Updated: 11:40 am

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San Francisco 49ers Beat Writer

The San Francisco 49ers enter the 2024 offseason having to make a few changes across the board, including in the front office. This time around, they chose to promote from within.

49ers and general manager John Lynch announced Tuesday that Tariq Ahmad and R.J. Gillen have been promoted to Co-Directors of Player Personnel. The two front-office members will split the former duties of Adam Peters, now the GM of the Washington Commanders.

The front office change was revealed by Lynch at the NfL Scouting Combine, later followed by an official announcement from the team.

The 49ers have promoted RJ Gillen and Tariq Ahmad to the identical titles of director of player personnel, GM John Lynch says. Gillen was previously director of pro personnel, and Ahmad was previously director of college scouting.

— Matt Maiocco (Threads @maiocconbcs) (@MaioccoNBCS) February 27, 2024

“I really like promoting from within,” John Lynch said Tuesday.

Per the team’s statement, Ahmad was promoted from Director of College Scouting to his new role. While Gillen was moved up from Director of Pro Personnel to now player personnel. Both members have been with the organization since Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan took over, working their way up the ranks.

The 49ers have a history of losing top-level coaches and executives in recent years. This year is no different, with Peters and a variety of position coaches leaving for new opportunities elsewhere. While the Red & Gold pride themselves on building from within, losing members always presents a challenge for Lynch and Co.

“It gets annoying at times, like, leave us alone,” Lynch said with a smirk. “But you know what, there is a source of pride. That’s part of it. I think that’s paying it back to the league. I care greatly about this game. So identifying good people, having systems in place that train them to get better throughout the process, being demanding on them, but also having fun in doing so. Knowing who you are as a football team. All those things, I think contribute.”

Both Ahmad and Gillen will be thrown into the fire right away, with less than two months to go before the 2024 NFL Draft.

This year makes the first time the 49ers havre had a first-round pick since 2021, making it even more pivotal to hit the ground running prior to next season. SF is projected have 11 draft picks in April, tying their total from a year ago.

“We’ve got a first-round pick for the first time in a long while. That’s nice. But we really try to focus on making them all count. They’re all an opportunity to improve your organization. And we look at each one of those as such. And you know, we pride ourselves on putting as much into the late rounds as we do into the early,” Lynch added.