Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy and the 49ers’ Super Bowl belief is growing again

The San Francisco 49ers have seven of the NFL’s best players and one of the league’s very best play callers in Kyle Shanahan. But that’s not why they are confident in their Super Bowl chances this season.

They know it might seem a little hokey, but players point to the team’s winning culture and a standard the veteran players set, something that is carried over from season to season.

“It’s different here, for sure,” linebacker Dre Greenlaw said Thursday.

Greenlaw, who turned 29 last week, spent last season with the Denver Broncos before returning “home” to the Bay Area this offseason. He spent the first six seasons of his career with the 49ers, reaching two Super Bowls.

Some of the names and faces have changed, but Greenlaw said the goal of winning the Super Bowl still seems very attainable.

“One thousand percent,” he said. “Even when I was gone, I knew that San Fran was still gonna have the capability of getting to the playoffs, get into the Super Bowl. And that’s just because of the guys that’s on the team.

“You’ve got the best leadership, just great quality of guys here. You don’t get that too many places. No matter what position it is, there’s a leader somewhere, somebody that you can look up to. … It’s just our turn to get it done.”

Fred Warner is “the voice of the defense” and leads that unit with Nick Bosa. Meanwhile, the offense is stocked with skilled players and leaders in George Kittle, Brock Purdy, Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk and now former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mike Evans.

“There’s a sense of family here,” right tackle Colton McKivitz said, “a core group of players who understand a winning culture.”

Former Niners tight end Charlie Woerner, who was the best man at McKivitz’s wedding, is entering his third season with the Atlanta Falcons but has not forgotten what it was like in San Francisco.

“Even (Woerner) still talks about it,” McKivitz said. “How there’s a core of players who understand the standard of what this franchise was built on and what the standard is, and that’s the sixth Super Bowl. … It’s the goal every year.

“You have that buy-in from veteran players and the front office and coaching staff as well. The whole goal is winning, and that’s what makes this place special … and why guys flock here. I never want to leave.”

The accountability is passed down year to year and decade to decade.

“It’s the way the culture is built up,” Purdy said at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event two weeks ago. “The base root guys have been there — Kittle, Fred, Bosa, Christian, Juice, myself. We have these guys that still maintain that standard, so whoever new comes in, we teach them the standard, and they go along with us and find a way.

“That’s a credit top-down to the guys who laid the foundation for what it means to be a 49er in the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and their success. We play and have pride as a 49er because of those guys.”

The 49ers added Evans, receiver Christian Kirk and Greenlaw in free agency, re-signed kicker Eddy Piñeiro and also traded for Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa this offseason.

“It feels good,” McKivitz said. “You see the front office working, and it adds a little confidence that obviously they know there’s a bigger goal at hand.”

It’s a far cry from last offseason, when players like Greenlaw left as the 49ers performed a mini reset of the roster and salary cap.

“I don’t think there was a lot of hope for us last year,” McKivitz said. “But we reset our goals as a team, the young guys like (Alfred Collins), (Upton) Stout and Mykel (Willians) bought in … and just played really well.

“They played up to the standard, and now it’s their turn to talk to the rookies.”

Many of the Niners’ key players are on the older side, with five key starters age 32 or older and five more, including Greenlaw and McKivitz, who are at least 29. But there is also plenty of youth, including 19 draft picks from the past two years alone. That mix is “awesome,” McCaffrey said.

“It feels competitive in the building in the best ways,” he said. “Just the energy that Dre brings to the locker room and adding a guy like Mike Evans. The new faces and old faces, and it feels like home.”

The 49ers start their second week of organized team activities Tuesday before the mandatory minicamp next week. There is a long way to go before the plane lifts off for Australia and the season opener.

“We’re at a good starting point,” McKivitz said. “This group is ready to win.”