Beat writer Grant Cohn of the Press Democrat joined was on 95.7 The Game on Thursday to discuss the San Francisco 49ers. He believes that the 49ers should not wait until the end of the season to fire general manager Trent Baalke. Cohn believes it should happen at the bye week.
Baalke is reportedly on the hot seat, with this season being a major factor on whether or not he remains with the 49ers organization. The team is off to a 1-4 start and Baalke, after years of poor drafting and a steady lack of activity during free agency, has to be worrying about his job security.
"I really don't think [Colin] Kaepernick's going to make a difference," Cohn said. "This is a terrible team. He doesn't have receivers. I mean, what's Kaepernick going to do? Throw to [Jeremy] Kerley? Throw to Torrey Smith? It's going to be the same problems. To me, I'm already looking past Buffalo. You always ask me, Zakariah, about Baalke and whether he should go. To me, yes. And he should get fired at the bye week. Like, let's not mess around. You know he's going out. Let's get him out of the building."
"I'm talking about in a week and a half at the bye week," Cohn continued after being praised by the host. "Just say, 'Trent, you're done. We want to start the new future. We want to make Tom Gamble the interim general manager. We want him to work with the scouts. We want the scouts to work on the draft and free agency without your influence. You're out.' I think that's the way to go."
Cohn was asked if head coach Chip Kelly's decision to start Kaepernick seemed like a power move. "That's exactly what it seemed like," he answered. "And you know, the last couple of days before practice, as the players are warming up, Baalke has been on the field talking very intently with Chip Kelly and I haven't been able to overhear/eavesdrop. But what it looks like, is Baalke pleading his case, talking a lot, and Kelly sort of shining him on. Just sort of nodding his head, being like, 'Yes. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh,' like, 'You can say whatever you want Trent, you're out. I have the power. I don't need your approval. You can make whatever case you want to make for Blaine.' This is what I imagine is going on.
"I don't think Chip Kelly worries about Trent at all anymore. I think Chip Kelly is one of the most brilliant Machiavellian power grabbers I've ever seen. He took Baalke's power away from him so fast. It's been quite something to watch because Baalke's main attribute in life is accumulating power and keeping it. He's done it for about 10 years now and Chip Kelly took it away from him in about three, four months. It's been amazing."
You can listen to the entire interview on 95.7 The Game.