49ers news: Ran Carthon leaves, Niners gain 2 comp picks for 2023 draft

The 49ers are losing one of their front-office executives, Ran Carthon, to the Titans. But the transaction does net the Niners two compensatory NFL Draft picks.

One of the negatives about being a successful franchise is the hard reality that other teams will come calling to pluck talent from the organization.

The San Francisco 49ers have experienced this aplenty in recent years, both on the coaching side of things and within the front office.

As far as the latter is concerned, the Niners lost a vice president of player personnel, Martin Mayhew to the Washington Commanders at the beginning of 2021. Yet that transaction helped San Francisco garner additional compensatory picks in the following year’s NFL Draft because of the rule that rewards teams for developing minority coaches and executives who take on bigger roles elsewhere.

The 49ers, too, have excelled in this role, not only with Mayhew but also with assistant coaches to head coach Kyle Shanahan, such as coordinators like Robert Saleh and Mike McDaniel, who both took on their own head-coaching duties with the New York Jets (2021) and Miami Dolphins (2022), respectively.

Even though these hirings have forced Shanahan and Co. to dig deeper into the coaching tree.

Ran Carthon the latest player executive to leave 49ers, will become Titans general manager

According to a report from ESPN’s Dianna Russini late Tuesday, the Tennessee Titans are going to hire Ran Carthon, who was serving as the Niners’ director of player personnel, to become their next general manager:

Tennessee fired its previous general manager, Jon Robinson, last December.

Losing Carthon will hurt general manager John Lynch’s staff in a big way, especially considering the former has accompanied both Lynch and Shanahan all the way back to 2017 when the franchise underwent the notable regime change.

In many ways, Carthon played a major role in helping turn San Francisco around from the doldrums of a two-win 2016 season.

49ers will receive 2 compensatory picks in the NFL Draft because of Ran Carthon hiring

The 49ers are notably shorthanded on draft capital after spending multiple assets to trade up for quarterback Trey Lance in 2021 and then to acquire running back Christian McCaffrey halfway through the 2022 season.

That said, because of the rule that rewards teams for developing minority coaches and assistants, the Niners are poised to receive two additional Round 3 compensatory draft picks.

One will be in the 2023 NFL Draft later this spring, while the other will be awarded in the 2024 draft.

San Francisco already has three comp picks in the 2023 draft and will get another because of Carthon’s hiring.

Additionally, the 49ers have two picks in Rounds 5 and 7.