Update: Trotter corrected himself, saying that John Lynch will have final say on the 49ers 90-man roster and Kyle Shanahan would have final say on the 53-man roster.
New San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch has no front office experience, which has made his hiring a controversial topic since the announcement on Sunday night.
It has been assumed by many that the lack of experience meant that Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who is expected to become the new 49ers head coach in a week, would have final say on the team's 53-man roster. That may not be accurate.
According to Jim Trotter of ESPN, Lynch will have the final say on personnel and the 53-man roster. During an exchange with our own Aaron Erickson, an analyst and writer for 49ers Webzone, Trotter said that Lynch would be the final decision maker and said that his source was the 49ers' owner.
From Jim Trotter: York has stated that John Lynch will have control of the #49ers 53 man roster. #49wz
— Aaron Erickson (@EricksonAaron44) January 30, 2017
"If Lynch will have final say on personnel - and he will - the evaluation part is pretty important," Trotter told Erickson during a back-and-forth discussion via Twitter. When asked how he knew Lynch would have the final say over the roster, Trotter said 49ers ownership informed him.
Of course, that doesn't mean that Lynch won't let Shanahan's opinion heavily influence roster decisions. The hope by 49ers CEO Jed York is that the duo will work well together to rebuild the talent-depleted roster.
Lynch, who wanted his candidacy to remain a secret, met with York at his home on Thursday. He was actually the one who contacted Shanahan about the possibility of working together and the pair met with each other on Friday when Lynch flew to Atlanta with York and chief strategy officer Paraag Marathe.
The new 49ers general manager will take part in a conference call with Bay Area media at 4:15 p.m. PT where he will likely be asked about final say over the roster.
Lynch is the 11th general manager in franchise history. He enjoyed a 15-year NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Denver Broncos and was a four-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowl selection. Lynch was part of the Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl XXXVII.
Lynch replaces Trent Baalke, whose firing was officially announced by the team on January 1 following the 49ers' final game of the 2016 season.
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