49ers finally lose Adam Peters, he's off to Commanders for general manager role

The 49ers couldn't hold onto Adam Peters forever, and he finally departed for the Commanders to become a full-time general manager.

From the outside, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch called plenty of the shots that helped turn his team into a perennial Super Bowl contender.

Behind the scenes, and known well within Niners fans' circles, assistant general manager Adam Peters was a massive part of that success.

Peters got a bump up in his role from VP of Player Personnel to assistant general manager in 2021. Then, with Lynch taking on a new title earlier this season, there was speculation that Peters could be named San Francisco's new general manager.

But it ended there.

Peters had turned down interview offers last offseason, but he ultimately accepted both an interview and an offer that'll end his seven-year tenure with the 49ers.

Adam Peters departs 49ers for Commanders' general manager job

According to a Friday report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Peters accepted an offer from the Washington Commanders for their general manager job:

This means that Peters is pushing out Washington's former GM, Martin Mayhew, who happened to be another one of Lynch's understudies from the Niners' tree of executives. While Mayhew isn't entirely dismissed from the Commanders, and Peters could ultimately elect to retain him in some role, the likelihood of that happening seems slim.

Especially if Washington wants wholesale changes within the front office.

Perhaps that helps link Mayhew back to Lynch and San Francisco, but it's hard to grasp the full reality that Lynch just lost one of his top lieutenants and an individual who bore a lot of responsibility for getting the 49ers toward the very top of the NFL food chain.

It's a solid opportunity for Peters, too, as Washington owns the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and will have the most cap space in the league at $75.5 million, per Over the Cap.

Hopefully, Peters can turn that franchise around but only to the point of being behind the Niners in the overall pecking order.

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