It is the beginning of a new era for the 49ers’ defense.

Names such as Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward and Javon Hargrave all exited this offseason and head coach Kyle Shanahan says that opens up the door to some young players to make their mark.

“Yeah, there’s a chance we have six new guys starting,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “There’s a chance we could have eight. We’ll see how it plays out and any time you say that, that’s different. That is a different team. That is a different side of the ball so that does take some time. That’s why I’m so excited to get started with camp so we can start working that.”

Shanahan added that with the veterans the team does still have, including All-Pro players Fred Warner and Nick Bosa, he does expect the rookies to be looked after well.

“I think we got a lot of good vets and who have established themselves in our league,” Shanahan said. “I mean, I could go over numbers, but there aren’t many people in this league better than Fred and better than Nick. Loved what [Deommodore Lenoir’s] done here these last few years and the vet he’s become.”

For Warner, he noted he doesn’t believe it’ll take much from the veterans to get the young players prepared.

“I don’t really think it’s going to take anything extra than what we’ve brought to the team, you know, all these years, to be honest,” Warner said. “I think the key is to be consistent, setting the tone every single day as the young guys see that they fall right in line. You see it every single year, guys kind of come in and they’re like ‘oh, shoot, like alright, this is how it’s supposed to be done.’ And they kind of just fall in line.”

In Shanahan’s case, he understands young players come with a particular set of challenges, namely adjusting to NFL speed.

“We’ve all been around enough to know there’s some growing pains with rookies but there’s growing pains with everyone,” Shanahan said. “It’s easy to say it’s because of a rookie, but with vets, there’s areups and downs. You do that with everyone. … Rookies are going to struggle harder at first, they aren’t going to figure it out right away. You can’t just bench them as soon as they make a mistake early. That does take reps, no matter what you do, you need a lot of reps to get good at anything.”

When asked about giving the young players a long leash, Shanahan didn’t shut the door, but he did imply that he won’t sacrifice wins to give young players more experience.

“You’re going to play the best player, whether he’s young or not. We are in a situation where we have a lot of opportunities for young guys to be our best players. … In any situation, if someone’s struggling, we’re going to put the best team out there possible, we have a chance for young guys to really earn that but if there’s someone better behind them, we’re judged on wins and losses.”

In addition to learning what it takes to play in the National Football League, Shanahan also adds that the 49ers’ schedule doesn’t bode the young players any favors with six of the team’s first nine games coming on the road.

“I know that’ll be a huge challenge for them,” Shanahan said. “But I think we have the capability with some of the veterans that we have here … that as long as we keep getting better throughout the year I think we have a chance to turn into a real good defense.”

For a 49ers team that was ranked eighth best in yards allowed per game last season but fourth-worst in points allowed per game, improvements are welcome at a myriad of positions.

Let the best man win.

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