Positional value matters. It matters for the impact on the field, because there are players and positions inevitably more relevant for the outcome of games and the chance of a certain team winning a game. And it matters because of what happens on the market, which positions are more expensive, and how teams can create surplus value with a smart draft strategy.

So how in the world can the San Francisco 49ers have such a strong roster considering that they pay the highest yearly average for a running back (Christian McCaffrey, $16.015 million) and a fullback (Kyle Juszczyk, $5.4 million), the second highest for an off-ball linebacker (Fred Warner, $19.045 million), and have invested so much draft capital in non-premium positions? After all, they used second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-round picks to trade for McCaffrey, they drafted punter Mitch Wishnowsky in the fourth round, and kicker Jake Moody in the third.

"Getting good players. I think holding everyone accountable," head coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned some time ago when asked about his roster-building strategy and how he makes it work. "Just focusing on things as simple as putting people together that do as good as they can and know what they're talking about and always try to just do what's right. Not worry about outside perception, not try to worry about draft status, not try to worry about anything but just what makes sense from a football decision. And I'm in as good of a building as I've ever been in that allows everyone to focus on that in all areas.”

But sure, everyone tries to do that. What does differentiate the Niners?

Cash spending

Well, the fact that the 49ers spend on non-premium positions doesn't mean that they don't care about the premium ones. Brock Purdy is a seventh-round pick, but they used three first-rounders to acquire quarterback Trey Lance, they traded a second for Jimmy Garoppolo and made him the highest-paid player in football at the time of his extension.

They used relatively high draft picks to select wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, they have the highest-paid edge defender in Nick Bosa ($34 million) and the second-highest left tackle in Trent Williams ($23.01 million).

They simply spend more than the average NFL team.

Even playing with a cheap quarterback for the last two seasons — since Jimmy Garoppolo took a paycut —, the 49ers are still third in cash spending over the last five years. In comparison, the Super Bowl opponents Kansas City Chiefs are 29th over the same period.

Role players

The 49ers tend to be more aggressive to acquire players who fit their system. Sometimes it goes bad, like when they didn't even scout the 2017 quarterback class (which had Patrick Mahomes) because their plan A was Kirk Cousins. But for the most part, it works perfectly fine.

Each and every player, premium position or not, has a specific role on the team.

"They're really good at finding guys at other positions who are really good at one specific thing, or have crazy athleticism but didn't test well, or were mid-tier athletes in college," said Rich Madrid, who covers the team for Niners Nation. "Take (former 49ers right tackle Mike) McGlinchey. Bad pass-blocker, but phenomenal right tackle in the run game, moves well in wide zone. Fits what Shanahan wanted to do. IDL, guys who can pass rush from the interior, like Arik Armstead and Javon Hargrave. They're not afraid to just take a really good player at that position or sign one if they're available."

The current roster is full of these examples. Jauan Jennings, Deommodore Lenoir, Oren Burks. You could argue that quarterback Brock Purdy fits that profile as well. They might not be great elsewhere, but the 49ers don't need them to be good elsewhere.

Surplus value

The fantastic aspect of 49ers' roster-building is that any team in the league could have acquired most of the players that San Francisco did. Except for Nick Bosa, who was a second overall pick, the other players were in reach for most opponents.

Trent Williams was acquired for third- and fifth-round picks. Christian McCaffrey was acquired for a series of picks that get a value close to a first-rounder. Fred Warner is a third-rounder, George Kittle is a fifth-rounder. Brandon Aiyuk was selected at the end of the first round, and Deebo Samuel, in the second. Brock Purdy in the seventh is also the big outlier. Extra compensatory picks received because of the Rooney Rule also helped along the way.

With all these moves, the 49ers have been able to extract more out of their resources and compensate for mistakes (like the Trey Lance selection). It's a unique approach in the NFL, but Kyle Shanahan has consistently made it work.

Shanahan almost passed on Purdy as 49ers were set at quarterback

It was not an easy decision for the head coach