A team can rarely land top talent in free agency, but San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch has made relatively easy work of doing so. 

The most notable addition to the 49ers is former Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle, Javon Hargrave. San Francisco signed Hargrave to a four-year $84 million deal. It was a move that cemented the truth many already knew about the 49ers: It is now or never for this group. 

So at Stanford pro day, Lynch provided some insight into this thought process when he was courting Hargrave as this offseason's premium acquisition to an already talented roster. 

"You don't get much of an opportunity [in free agency] because the window is so defined and short," Lynch told Cam Inman of Bay Area News Group when asked about how the 49ers landed Hargrave. "When we went, we went really hard. We didn't soft-shoe into it. We went right in there, and let him know our opportunity and vision."

Thanks to that push, the 49ers' defensive line now includes Arik Armstead, NFL Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa, and also a significant component from an NFC competitor.

The driving factor in Lynch wanting to go after Hargrave was the slippage he noted in the defensive line's production. 

He described it as the line had "fallen off a little." 

That was probably most evident in the playoffs when not even Bosa recorded a sack in three-straight games. 

What is shocking is Hargrave wasn't expecting the 49ers to pursue his services as hard as they initially did. The star defensive lineman explained that much in an interview last week. 

"Sometimes when you're trying to go get the money, you have to go to a team that's in a rebuild mode," Hargrave said last week. "But if you've got a chance to go to a team that was just in the NFC Championship, that's kind of an easy choice for me. So I was real happy about it."

Still, what stood out to Hargrave  — surprise or not — was the clear talent that Lynch has assembled to play in a 49ers uniform during the 2023 NFL season. 

 "They had a lot of talent," he added. "And coming out and wanting to be paid, you just don't see a lot of winning teams like this organization come after [someone like] me like that."

Lynch saw that though the 49ers are talented, the defensive line needed another piece. And like any great general manager, he went out and got that needed player.