John Lynch - 49ers GM

Originally posted by dj43:

From a piece on NFL that sounds good: Lynch has been around every team in the league in his job as an analyst. He has talked to all the GMs and coaches. Got to know how the best franchises in the business work.

If you were going to hire a "secret shopper" to find out how people were doing, Lynch would have been that guy.

There are a lot of ways to run a business. There are some standard templates but that doesn't mean you have to follow that template to be successful. Lynch is a very bright guy. Very well spoken. Understands the game better than 90% of the talking heads out there. He is definitely a "football" guy. It will be interesting to see how he fills in some of the spots around him.

The more I think about it, the more I like it. Going outside the box is not a bad idea, particularly when you have a bright, perceptive guy leading the charge.

A couple of thoughts

1. If the Denver structure holds true you might as well call Lynch VP of football operations not GM. Don't get too caught up in titles - he could be a good leader if he isn't the one picking players and negotiating contracts. I am shocked but am willing to give this a couple of weeks to see who else gets hired around him before I get truly pissed.

2. Regarding the lack of leaks - John Lynch knows what he's doing. He knew the hire and deal duration would be widely panned if leaked early. He knows Jed is thin skinned and the negative reaction might sink the deal. He probably also wanted to test if they were actually capable of keeping anything a secret. This was very well played by John and he now has incredible job security - or a lot of $$$ if they fire him early. Let's hope he brings the same savvy to running the niners.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by jreff22:

Nothing Jed is doing makes sense. Expect the next hire to be something else random.

This is how the NFL sees Jed right now

This actually makes a lot of sense. Its risky, a huge gamble but I can see the logic in it. It helps if you don't think of Lynch as a traditional GM that will be spending a ton of time scouting...etc. Lynch will bring personnel people and delegate to them, he'll handle the role of a vice president of football ops.


In that regard, who knows, its crazy enough to work, or fail dismally but at least there won't be a repeat of the Baalke-Harbaugh issues. Lynch is a close friend of the Shanahan's and the likely personnel guy Dominik has connections to both Lynch and Kyle Shanahan.

Then why didn't they just name him President of football ops?? We're basically setup to have to hire a coach and GM at the same time AGAIN.

So did Ballard just refuse to interview with us?

Originally posted by jreff22:
So did Ballard just refuse to interview with us?

sure does sound like it doesn't it

Originally posted by Wubbie:
OBVIOUS PROBLEM: "What?! John Lynch has absolutely no executive, administrative, and personnel experience in the NFL."

WHY IT COULD WORK OUT:
I have no idea what dynamics are in play, but my assumption is that Jed really wants to focus on building a front office that works harmoniously with the coaching staff and players. Is John Lynch the right guy for the job? I don't know. I don't know what his interview looked like. But I imagine this is what the 49ers braintrust will look like now...

JED YORK: Owner. Intends to step out of the way and sign the paychecks.

KYLE SHANAHAN: Will most likely have all the veto/trigger power and be the one who gets all the glory or finger-pointing. He's a young, innovative head coach that is well-connected throughout the league. He may be a little cocky, but his offenses have succeeded everywhere he went. He turned Matt Ryan into a good/great NFL QB into the league's MVP. He's a solid head coaching candidate.

TOM GAMBLE: He will most likely handle all the administrative/executive things behind the scenes. He's the NFL exec type that we need.

PARAAG MARATHE: He's very good at managing the cap and negotiating contracts. I like to think that he does a good job with a lot of the analytics, but I don't really think they helped Baalke and Chip anyway. I'm pretty sure he's gonna eff things up behind the scenes.

MIKE SHANAHAN (official or unofficial advisor): Mike may or may not get hired by the 49ers, but I'm pretty sure he'll be in Kyle's ear, at the very least. On one hand, he's won Super Bowls... on the other hand, he flopped in Washington and was criticized for mishandling RGIII. Good or bad experience, I think he's a good advisor to have for Kyle and the Front Office.

JOHN LYNCH: John Lynch has no experience in this position. But he's described as being smart, a great communicator, is a Hall of Fame candidate, and was a leader on that tough, tough Tampa Bay defense. He has a history with the Shanahans, is well-connected with the league... and I guess, will be well-liked because he'll throw in that he has ties to Bill Walsh.

I imagine that because Kyle Shanahan will most likely have trigger power and because Tom Gamble has the executive and personnel experience, I imagine that John Lynch one of John's biggest roles will be a liaison from management to not just the media and the staff... but to the players. Players will be able to identify with him because he was such a high-profile player and is a natural leader. He should be able to get along with the staff because of his history with the Shanahans and because chemistry was the biggest thing the Yorks were interviewing for.

I think the other biggest input he'll have is the direction of the defense. Kyle Shanahan should take care of the offense, but I think they'll lean on John Lynch and the DC for the direction of the defense.

With all this said though, I think the 49ers could benefit from bringing in an outsider who can fill an assistant GM role to help shoulder the burden for Lynch's lack of executive/personnel experience.

No idea how this will turn out. John Lynch doesn't have the background that the other interviewed executives have... But... I can see it turning out okay.

a lot of emotional responses happening right now so your response might be ignored. hell of a write up though.

1st time GM, 1st time coach? Jed is desperate to prove he can build his own legacy.

This is surprising. Let's see who he brings in.

This should help with recruiting for fa and coaching staffs. Still think mike shanny will be helping out in some form.

Ha

Maybe lynch will pry ol John gruden away. Jk

Originally posted by sdaddy101269:

Then why didn't they just name him President of football ops?? We're basically setup to have to hire a coach and GM at the same time AGAIN.

You have a guy that can fire all the people that know how to evaluate talent...while he knows 0 about it.

Originally posted by 9moon:
I LOVE IT !!!

NO SARCASM!!!

I DON'T KNOW WHO'S GONNA BE IN CHARGE OF THE DRAFT YET, BUT AS A GM..

LYNCH IS THE MANNNNN !!!!



HERE WE GO BABYYYY !!!!!!!

The pirate captain who will lead us to Camelot or the gallows . . .

Originally posted by jreff22:

So did Ballard just refuse to interview with us?

It's known around here as "volunteering for the job"

Originally posted by sdaddy101269:
Then why didn't they just name him President of football ops?? We're basically setup to have to hire a coach and GM at the same time AGAIN.

With six year contracts a piece, you don't have to worry about the 49ers having to hire a coach or GM for awhile.

Originally posted by tohara3:

Originally posted by dj43:

From a piece on NFL that sounds good: Lynch has been around every team in the league in his job as an analyst. He has talked to all the GMs and coaches. Got to know how the best franchises in the business work.

If you were going to hire a "secret shopper" to find out how people were doing, Lynch would have been that guy.

There are a lot of ways to run a business. There are some standard templates but that doesn't mean you have to follow that template to be successful. Lynch is a very bright guy. Very well spoken. Understands the game better than 90% of the talking heads out there. He is definitely a "football" guy. It will be interesting to see how he fills in some of the spots around him.

The more I think about it, the more I like it. Going outside the box is not a bad idea, particularly when you have a bright, perceptive guy leading the charge.

What do you know about Lynch that makes him bright and perceptive??

The only thing I'm mad about is that this news broke during the royal rumble.. now I can't fully concentrate on both lol