The 49ers’ general manager search will end in an unexpected place. The franchise is expected to hire Fox analyst and former Pro Bowl safety John Lynch as its GM, Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com tweets. The 49ers confirmed the hire.
The organization will give Lynch a rare six-year contract to try and turn this franchise around, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Lynch met with Kyle Shanahan this week over lunch, and the 49ers offered him the position, Glazer reports (TwitLonger link), adding the goal appears to be an attitude change in the organization.
Schefter reports Lynch accepted the job today after spending time with 49ers brass this week. Lynch spent Thursday and Friday with San Francisco personnel, Schefter reports, a day before the known finalists for this position — Vikings assistant GM George Paton and Cardinals VP of player personnel Terry McDonough — completed their second interviews in Atlanta.
This idea initially came from Lynch, who called Shanahan to volunteer for the job last week, per Schefter, who adds the prospect then grew on the next 49ers head coach. The former safety plans to hire a personnel man as his top lieutenant and has already identified that executive, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk tweets.
Schefter confirms (via Twitter) Shanahan will receive a six-year contract as well for the purposes of the franchise tying together its GM and HC choices. This six-year deal isn’t designed specifically for Lynch, with Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com reporting (on Twitter) the 49ers designed a six-year contract for Josh McDaniels to negate the aura of instability around the organization.
Lynch having no front-office experience could be a sign Shanahan would assume more control over personnel decisions, but the Falcons OC is not believed to have requested control over the 53-man roster. Lynch played his final four years for the Mike Shanahan-era Broncos, so the expected power duo in San Francisco has a history, to some degree. Lynch’s relationship with Mike Shanahan could point to a role in San Francisco for the former coach. A place for the elder Shanahan with the 49ers emerged as a possibility earlier this week, although Lynch’s involvement obviously wasn’t believed to be part of the equation.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes (on Twitter) Lynch wouldn’t go through with making this career change unless the franchise’s pursuit of him was kept secret. As Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News points out (Twitter link), Lynch had a connection with Bill Walsh as well, playing for the iconic former 49ers coach at Stanford in 1992. Lynch’s leadership and communication skills “wowed” Jed York, Inman notes.
Lynch did not have a formal interview for the position and does not have any experience as a coach or GM. The former Buccaneers and Broncos defender became an NFL analyst after he retired before the 2008 season. Lynch is a Hall of Fame finalist and will edge out the official 49ers GM finalists, who appear to be staying with the Cardinals and Vikings, respectively.
Lynch spent his college years in the Bay Area at Stanford before playing 15 years in the NFL, becoming a two-time first-team All-Pro and a nine-time Pro Bowler. His hire will certainly send shockwaves throughout the league. It’s not completely unlike the Broncos bringing in John Elway in 2011. Elway did not have any previous NFL coaching or front-office experience but did work as an exec in the Arena Football League. Of course, this move also is somewhat similar to Matt Millen‘s Lions hire, with the former linebacker previously working as a Fox analyst.
Uhh what
Didn’t see this one coming! He was a head hunter in his playing days though!
Left field
Hey at this point, why not??
Exactly. But hey, this is a better decision than…. well, actually this is a completely horrible decision. But I guess they at least hired a football guy. The Browns hire baseball guys. Rumor has it the Browns are scouting LeBron James and Sidney Crosby as options for their #1 overall pick.
Seriously? No experience, heck, not even an interview?
And I thought my Browns were dysfunctional.
The browns finally have a good FO and coaching staff and are not dysfunctional anymore, but this is bad
Wrong and wrong again. The Browns FO is analytics focused. The coaching staff is not. Many reports about the HC wanting the GM out at the end of the season. The entire org, from players up to the owner, is in complete disarray. The worst org in sports, hands down, with no improvements in sight.
your first sentence says it all. you are wrong and wrong again. the browns do not have a gm, so how could the coach want someone fired who doesn’t even exist?
WTF is York doing???
posted before I thought Louis Riddick would be interesting…this straight from TV hire makes even less sense
Did not see this coming, obviously! Pretty shocked by this move but I am also very happy. Today, we start fresh and are no longer ran by that stubborn, greedy, prick, Trent Baalke!
we know this, he won’t be worse then balkee. We took aj Jenkins, aldon Smith, arik armstead over alshon Jefferey, jj watt and Marcus Peters.
alshon would have learned from boldin, jj isn’t a dumbass like aldon, and Marcus Peters is one of the best young cb in football
Peters is overrated
And I hate aldon smith he’s such a tool
you must not have seen many chiefs Games Hahahaha
WHAT??????? I’m so shocked
Let’s hope Lynch is as much of a badass as a GM as he was as a player. We have nothing to lose! I’m stoked!!
Who??
If you have never heard of John Lynch before, then I have doubts about your NFL knowledge. Any true football fan has at least heard of John Lynch before unless they’ve been in complete isolation for the past 2 decades.
Well it’s a 9ers fan, so… ya know…
He’s going to be Shanahans puppet in the FO but he really got that franchise by the balls
It’s official…. The worst owner in all of sports is now Jed Dork
Fox Sports sure likes to groom their broadcasters for GM roles don’t they… first millin and now lynch. WOW
so 2 of them?
Steve Kerr from TV to Warriors…how is that working in the Bay Area?
He’s a coach though.
And he was a GM before that.
I like the hire Lynch is a bad mofo and we need his discipline and intensity. I was pulling for Patton but but I’ll take Lynch he’s the culture change we need similar to how Harbaugh did.
He’s not the coach, and who the hell cares about discipline and intensity in a GM if he can’t pick good players then that crap doesn’t matter
This
Look what John Elway has done in Denver.
Amen!
If he’s half the GM that he was a player, he will be one hell of a GM. Very strange hire but it could definitely go well!! Congrats my man!
Very strange sounds like the coach will have a lot of power
I wonder if Mike Shanahan will also be hired in some role in the front office. Wouldn’t surprise me.
lol
If they are taking an announcer from Fox, then by all means, take Aikman!
hell no
No kidding. He’s terrible.
Let’s hope he doesn’t turn into a Matt Millen. This is out of no where.
Comparison to Mullen is way off. Lynch is highly intelligent, competitive and a great communicator. Great hire!
Exaxtly! Just like Elway! People comparing this hire to Mullen have no idea what they are talking about and people doubting someone just because they do not have front office experience obviously haven’t been paying attention to the Broncos ran by Elway. You can’t judge someone when they haven’t even started the job yet but I think he will do a good job. He is a very smart guy who knows football.
And Millen was none of that? Stop it.
Like the presidency, I guess anyone can be a GM too.
I don’t get all the hate towards this hiring. Is it unconventional and is Lynch’s non-existant GM experience concerning? Yes and probably. But the reason none of us heard about this was because he asked it to be kept secret. Also, while Lynch doesn’t have GM experience, he’s one of the smartest football minds and a former player, so anything can happen. Sure he could turn out to be terrible but he might also turn out to be a great judge of character/talent. Even guys with years of experience could turn out to be terrible when they’re actually given full control of a team instead of small portions of control. The fact that he plans to hire a personnel man shows me that he’s not being too ambitious or overconfident about the job and knows he’ll need some help.
Agreed JT! People are ridiculous. That’s all the internet is now a days..people love to hate and talk crap on the internet and social media. It’s ridiculous! Nobody knows how this will turn out wether it’s good or bad and yet everyone is always talking crap and acting like they know. Makes me seriously hate going on any website or or social media post that allows people to comment lol. Glad to see there are a few people out there that have common sense.
Yep, because everyone is hating on what the Colts did. No, everyone is talking about this because it was a dumb move that befits that power structure of that team. Just think about how they’ve run their own team into the ground. They started a rift with Harbaugh basically because York’s cronies didn’t think he deserved to get paid, and now you’re here 2 offseasons later paying a guy who has never done the job but stayed at a Holiday Inn last night and a guy who has thrown everyone under the bus when things go wrong in Shanahan everywehre else he’s been until it worked this year with an offense that wasn’t exactly broken before he got to Atlanta. Yeah, this should work….or shouldn’t and all of us will be exactly right when we’re laughing at the 49ers rightfully so.
This is why he’s going to fail and why it’s nothing like the Elway move and falls more in line with Millen. Elway walked into a team with a great structure in place as far as scouting and the like go. Who thinks the 49ers have that with their terrible drafts they’ve been throwing up since at least 2012? Everyone thinks they’re smart at scouting until they actually have to do it, and you have a guy at the top of the food chain who has never done it in charge of a bunch of guys who have been among the worst in football at it under Baalke. Gamble was so bad that he got fired by the freaking Eagles. But yeah, this should go well….for the rest of the NFC West. Well, at least for the Cardinals and Seahawks because the Rams are just as clueless with Doogie as coach.
Good Lord. I’m not even a 49er fan and this is embarrassing to me!
The embarrassing part is that I’ve read all the way to the bottom of this and can’t believe people think that anyone cares about their own opinions. Like buttholes and mock drafts, everyone’s got one and no one wants to hear someone else’s. Let it sorts itself out on the field. Quick, name me the GM in Atlanta…..did people cheer or jeer his hire? No one knows or cares. They are playing next Sunday and that’s all that matters really (mic drop). Btw, he had no previous GM experience either.
BAM!