Colton McKivitz, the 300-pound right tackle who runs the slopes of Telegraph Hill for conditioning purposes (he’s adding the Filbert and Greenwich Steps to his repertoire this year), might’ve sacrificed millions when he re-signed with the 49ers in 2025.

McKivitz, like receiver Jauan Jennings, was still a season away from reaching free agency — an ultimate leverage opportunity for players in their primes – at the time. Unlike Jennings, McKivitz accepted the 49ers’ best offer, which amounted to $15 million per year and ranks 12th among right tackles.

McKivitz is now under contract with the 49ers through 2028; Jennings is now a Minnesota Viking — he signed there for $13 million annually.

The divergence set an appropriate backdrop for organized team activities (OTAs), which the 49ers began this week.

Plentiful new faces abound, including those meant to replace Jennings — veteran Mike Evans (who caught passes on Wednesday before tending to a family matter in Texas on Thursday) and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling are the two most prominent names for that job. Young wideouts like Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, and Jordan Watkins — all of whom are also being asked to pick up the receiving slack — fittingly combined to log several explosive catches on Thursday.

Then, after practice, McKivitz took the lectern and recounted his path from the past year — and it turned out to be colorful context for this offseason of significant 49ers’ acquisitions.

“My goal never was to be the highest paid,” said McKivitz, whom the 49ers drafted in 2020. “With the contract I was offered, I don’t want to leave here. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. I like it here. I want to be on that 10-year wall. There’s a lot more besides the money that a contract can give you that’s available in this city. The connections I make off the field in San Francisco — that’s more important to me than a dollar amount.”

• Kawakami: ‘How dominant we should be’ — Trent Williams and the 49ers’ 2026 mandate

• Brock Purdy put on a spring show. Next, it’s Osa Odighizuwa’s turn

The 49ers successfully lured Evans, a future of Hall of Famer, to leave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a discounted rate of about $14 million annually. Signing him in March and drafting Stribling were moves aimed at attacking the 49ers’ glaring separation issues over the past two seasons.

Shortly thereafter, the 49ers focused on what’s been a languishing defense by re-signing linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who had left for a season to play with the Denver Broncos but said on Thursday that his departure essentially created a tunnel vision to return to the 49ers.

“I think there’s a sense of family here,” McKivitz said. “There’s a reason why Dre was drawn back here. When you have a core group of players that understand the standard that this franchise was built on — everyone knows that winning is the ultimate goal here — it’s hard for guys to turn this away. That’s what makes this team special. That’s why guys flock here. Guys are drawn to this place.”

The coming months of work will set the tone for the 2026 season, during which the 49ers — fresh off 13 wins, including a playoff triumph in Philadelphia — will strive to outlast the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams in the NFC West. It’s set to be a slobberknocker of a divisional fight; both adversaries are juggernauts that will test the 49ers’ targeted additions.

The Rams happen to be San Francisco’s first opponent. The rivals play Week 1 in Australia. A firm progress report will be available right out of the gate.

Have thoughts on this story?

Do the 49ers, fresh off all those wins in a 2025 retool, consider themselves to be ahead of schedule as they emerge from this offseason of addition?

“I don’t know,” McKivitz said. “I guess we’ll see when we play in Melbourne, Australia.”

• Running back Isaac Guerendo tore his pectoral muscle about a month ago and is expected to be out of practice until near the end of training camp. That’s another big setback for the 2024 draftee who didn’t see a single carry in 2025 and may now be looking at three running backs — Christian McCaffrey, Jordan James, and rookie Kaelon Black — ahead of him on the depth chart.

The 49ers emphasized their backs in the pass game on Thursday, as James and Black both made several catches from quarterbacks Brock Purdy and Kurtis Rourke.

“I see a guy that I think could be developed in the pass game,” coach Kyle Shanahan said of Black, who caught only eight passes over his last two college seasons at Indiana. “I mean, we definitely were excited about him and the first thing we loved about him was him as a runner. He’s got the skills to do it, just needs to work at it.”

The 49ers signed two running backs, Jordan Mims and Jermar Jefferson, ahead of Thursday’s practice to help pick up slack in the room. They plan to meticulously manage McCaffrey’s workload this offseason following his career-high 413 touches in 2025.

• OTAs are voluntary, but the 49ers expect to have perfect attendance (outside of receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who of course remains on the Left Squad list). Every other player on the team has reported to OTAs except for left tackle Trent Williams — and Shanahan said the superstar will be in the building next week.

McKivitz believes that the 49ers can field the deepest O-line of his tenure with the team. The biggest remaining question mark is at left guard, where McKivitz listed second-year man Connor Colby — “I think [he’s] come a long way,” he said — as a top contender. Free agent acquisitions Robert Jones and Brett Toth will also compete for that spot.

“We’re looking to be a top-10 unit like we have been in the past,” McKivitz said of the 49ers’ front.

That’d be music to Purdy’s ears.