INDIANAPOLIS — These days, 38-year-old Adam Peters is the 49ers’ vice president of player personnel. It’s a prestigious title, befitting of a hard-charging young NFL executive who was general manager John Lynch’s first hire after the new regime took over last February.



But distinguished job titles don’t discover and acquire valuable players at an efficient price. That process demands sweat — often literally.



Rewind to the summer of 2016. Peters, then the director of college scouting for the Denver Broncos, was scouring training camps on campuses nationwide, looking to identify talent for the next draft cycle.



“I went to Miami, and it was hot,” Peters recalled in an interview with The Athletic at the NFL scouting combine. “It was really hot.”



Nowadays, Peters looks back at it with a smile — it was on that August trip that Peters first noticed a speedy defensive back named...