7:55pm: According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), Ballard will not be taking the interview with the 49ers. The executive believes he’s in an excellent situation in Kansas City and has a great relationship with general manager John Dorsey.
8:21am: The 49ers’ general manager search is underway and it sounds like Chris Ballard is a priority candidate. The Niners have reached out to the Chiefs for permission to interview the exec, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (on Twitter). 
It seems likely that the Chiefs will grant permission for the interview since Ballard has been a GM candidate for some time and was allowed to interview for the Titans job last offseason. Ultimately, that job went to Jon Robinson, partially because Ballard’s assessment of coach Mike Mularkey didn’t align with that of team ownership.
Ballard, who just completed his third season with Kansas City, has been an NFL personnel man for 16 years. This offseason, he could interview for multiple vacancies and this could be the year that he breaks out from John Dorsey‘s shadow.
another GM from the Ron WOLF TREE