Well, wee needed a GM, so naturally, Jed picks the guy standing next to him at the urinal during the Pro Bowl. One John Lynch. Say what you will about Lynch, and I did really like him as a no-nonsense hard-hitting strong safety, but really, this is yet another shot in the dark by a team that is making a habit of being passed over by head coaching and GM candidates these past few years. The list of GMs is fairly long this year by guys that didn’t even bother to come over to the building, so this leads to someone like John Lynch. A guy with no experience in any aspect of being a GM, a talent evaluator, or anything related to football operations. He has spent his retirement from football being the color guy for Fox’s B team announcers since retiring in 2008. Yippee. He gets to learn on the job. Which leads to . . .
Kyle Shanahan salivating over his shot. He has said from day one that he’s balls-to-0the-wall excited to coach this team, mainly because he is the man. Everything goes through him now. Like his father, he’s a control freak. Which in this day and age is a good thing I’d imagine, from a football operations point of view. His GM has no experience, and the 49er front office is a clown-car of suits and bean-counters. I’d imagine at some point Shanahan pulling something akin to Harbaugh’s infamous “the men are in here” line to denote where the real power lies, because at this point there is nothing the suits can do. Not with 4 HCs in 4 years, and a revolving door/trap door policy regarding the assistant coaches and staff.
The thing about Shanahan is that as far as we can see, he is a very good offensive coach. And he KNOWS he has the power, so there’s the fact that if he turns it around he’ll be hailed a hero. And he has a couple years to play with. As with Singletary and Harbaugh before him, the TEAM is not as bad as the collective players are, and there ARE some good points to this misbegotten franchise.
The team is young.
The team is flush with cash.
The team has a great head start in the trenches.
The needs for the team are many, but We have a nucleus of good young players on both sides of the line. Enough to be optimistic? At this point, no. There are too many holes to fill before camp even starts, so we get to wait and see how both these guys, neither with ANY experience at their new positions, will do with the draft, free agency, and trades. The good news is the suits are pretty much in a position that they CANNOT meddle in any of the team affairs as there will be massive revolt if there’s even an inkling of meddling from the Yorks or our infamous red flag bearer, Paraag Marathe.
Forty Niners Forever 
Lynch on Jed York and the issue of leaks:
“If I was going to engage in these conversations (with the 49ers), we can’t beat around the bush,” said Lynch. “We got to get right to, do I want to work for these people? I can tell you what I found, my interactions with Jed York is he’s a guy who all he wants to do is win.
“He’s tired of some strife and contention in the building. He wants harmony. He wants to give us the resources, he wants to be a support mechanism, but he wants to get out of the way and let us work. To me, that’s an awesome deal.”
The article:
12th I’ve beat the drum for football guys from the start. Baalke had his warts, no question.
What NEVER sat comfortably with me was the relationship between Paraag and Baalke.
To what extent either held power was never my concern, it was the fact that they could not have been more diametrically opposed in their roles.
It seemed all along that Paraag had the inside track with Jed too.
Clean slate now.
I’m ALL for football guys doing what needs to be done, to get 9er football respectable again.
All I ask is that business doesn’t get piled on top of football. No interference. Provide all the resources money can buy to the football Ops side of the ledger and leave it alone.
Interesting take from Brent Jones too, which seems very much in line with that topic.
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/brent-jones-takes-jabs-baalke-issues-optimistic-message-49ers-fans
We agree on football guys NJ, but competent ones is my preference.
I’ve read a lot of statements by various people and to a man they are negative on Baalke now he left.
My take is he was prickly and abrasive and “IN CHARGE” of the franchiss.I think the larger issues were between Baalke and coaches over the 53. You attribute more to Paraag poking his nose in and that’s likely a problem too, but not THE problem IMO.
Steve Young supports Lynch too.
It’s way early to judge, but his first hire was impressive and there is an air of excitement again, missing since Harbaugh came.
I liked his first 2 interviews, very open to take the awkward questions head on.
So far so good in my book.
Gotta wonder what the ‘strife’ was in the building that Jed was tired of?
Could it have had anything to do with Paraag and Baalke I wonder?
Oil and Vinegar perhaps?
Jed may be an idiot but I don’t think do, and will think that was Marathe. He’s the constant thorn in the side of all the bullshit conjecture.
The thing is now we have outsiders that aren’t beholden to the machinations of the front office. Baalke was an insider. Whatever his problems were with the brass, or whatever’s they held over him, he sucked as a draft guy.
Lynch certainly isn’t going to take the whisper campaign bullshit laying down. Regardless of his inexperience as a GM.
The Draft is about building a roster with pieces that the GM/HC can agree on as necessary components Chuck.
Shared vision kinda stuff.
I never saw a place in that equation for ‘The Money Man’.
He has to be removed IMO.
Work the Contracts as needed, to keep the proper balance, for team chemistry purposes.
I’m hopeful that Lynch has already identified that component.
Listen to analytics as an option. But, in the end, it’s about guys playing the game and, what makes them tick.
Now, it’s up to Jed, to provide the support to the football Ops piece of this puzzle.
Lynch is as green as green can be from being a ‘Draft Guy’.
Give him experienced help. Lots of it.
You can’t continue to change HCs on a yearly basis, and expect anything to stabilize.
It’s the sheer definition of dysfunction.
Here’s another kid to keep an eye on as we get into the Combine/Draft phase of evals –
Jerry even commented on this kid in Mobile last week.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000780174/article/watch-zay-jones-makes-two-spectacular-catches-at-senior-bowl
NJ, my son is very high on Zay. We saw him in the senior bowl and he looked legit.
Okay the Niners have an untested GM with a good personality that had a TV job. He’s a former player. Now if we can all get past that. The expected HC is the main guy and he’s still coaching in Houston. We all wait for the draft. Niners need a QB in the worse way. Until they get a decent one, they’re screwed for next season. Next season is already a wasted one unless key moves are made mostly on offense. No one wants Kap back. He wants to move to New York.
Oh Nip. Things are looking up for the first time in 4 years. Peters is a very respected guy.
New bread is up