GM Trent Baalke and Jim Tomsula prepare for first draft together

General Manager Trent Baalke and head coach Jim Tomsula prepare for their first draft together as head coach and GM.

Baalke was asked if he must prepare differently now that Tomsula is in a new role. 

“No different,” general manager Trent Baalke said recently. “We’ve said from Day 1, it’s been an eight-and-a-half year relationship we’ve been around each other so there’s no new nuances. He knows how we operate from a personnel standpoint, he’s always been on board with the way we’ve operated and just because he’s become the head coach, (that) hasn’t changed his mindset on that.

“To be honest, he has spent a lot of time focusing on getting his coaching staff and the players and the structural things necessary to get going in the offseason. That’s where he’s spent a lot of his time.”

Tomsula has a defensive background, but says he has been trying to gather as much information as possible. 

“The thing that I’m really appreciating is the inclusion of all information from all people, and the way Trent and all the personnel is working and obviously, that’s the lead right there,” Tomsula said. “That’s where it’s going."

He wants to learn from his assistants as well.

“A lot of learning, I’ll tell you that right now, the learning curve and making sure that I’m listening,” Tomsula said. “Doing a lot more listening than I am talking to see where people are.

“You’ve got people who know what they’re looking at. So, I’m really trying to pay attention and listen.”

(h/t ESPN)