Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Tim Fuller USA TODAY Sports

Few NFL teams have improved their lot more in the last year than the San Francisco 49ers.

From the acquisition of Jimmy Garoppolo to the hoarding of more draft picks — they have four of the first 74 choices later this month — the 49ers have become a popular pick to contend for a playoff spot in 2018.

And 49ers general manager John Lynch said at the NFL’s annual meeting last week that his trusted sounding board, former Lions general manager Martin Mayhew, has been a big part of the 49ers’ success.

“He’s been of tremendous value to me,” Lynch told the Free Press. “Elephant in the room, I hadn’t done this before. And I know what I know and I felt like I had some strengths and my experiences would come in handy — both as a player and as a broadcaster you get exposed to a lot. But there were some things that I just didn’t know, hadn’t been exposed to, so I knew I had to surround myself with good people.

“And one of the things we first talked about with (49ers CEO Jed York) was finding a guy who’s been a general manager who’s sat in that seat, and it took me about 10 minutes to, ‘I’ve got the guy, if I can get him.’ I played with him and so I trust him implicitly.”

Mayhew, a teammate of Lynch’s with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1993-96, spent parts of eight seasons as Lions general manager and 15 years in the team's front office.

He drafted or signed some of the Lions' current cornerstone players, including Matthew Stafford, Darius Slay, Glover Quin and Golden Tate, but was fired in November of 2015 after an ugly start to the season and a slew of draft misses, especially with late-first and second rounds.

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Detroit Lions 2018 NFL draft fits (2.0)

Lynch, who went straight from the broadcasting booth to the GM chair (as Mayhew's predecessor Matt Millen did), said Mayhew “was one of the guys that I tried to pattern the way I went about my work."

“Because I saw him as a great example of how to do that,” Lynch said. “He’s smart, he’s intelligent. I think in Detroit he was very close to turning that thing. It didn’t work out. And I also wanted to give him an opportunity to have that opportunity again if he did well and so he’s been invaluable. He’s been exactly what I thought he’d be and more.”

Mayhew has made it clear he'd like another crack at running an NFL team, even interviewing for the Panthers' GM job in February.

Lynch did not detail any specific advice that Mayhew has given him in his current role, but he acknowledged that Mayhew provided “valuable” insight on Laken Tomlinson that helped pave the way for the Lions-49ers trade last fall.

The Lions acquired a 2019 draft pick in the deal, while Tomlinson started 15 games for the 49ers last season.

“Laken played exceptionally well,” Lynch said. “We were really pleased with that. We needed somebody, and to get there Week 1 and be force-fed a pretty complex offense is tough, but we felt like his skill set matched up with what we’re trying to do. And the coolest thing is he got better kind of throughout the course of the year and at the end was really playing at a high level so we have high hopes for him.”