49ers serious about Packers execs and tried to pair Sean McVay with one

Former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay was hired by the Los Angeles Rams to be their new head coach. McVay interviewed with the 49ers on Monday and NFL Insider Mike Silver reported that he "crushed" the meeting. How impressed were the 49ers with the 30-year-old? According to Silver, they immediately started thinking about a possible pairing with one of the executives from the Green Bay Packers, both of which they had interviewed with the 49ers the week prior.

On NFL Network's "Up to the Minute," Silver said the following:

"Sean McVay was so impressive in that interview that he was told, 'We've got a couple of GM candidates in Green Bay that we interviewed in [director of football operations] Eliot Wolf and [director of player personnel] Brian Gutekunst. We are serious about them. You don't know them, here are their phone numbers, go ahead and reach out and see what connection you can form with them because we're considering you that seriously.' So obviously this is someone who was being considered at a high level by both of those California teams."

(h/t to Chris Biderman of Niners Wire on the find)

This is interesting for a couple of reasons. We've heard that one of the reservations about McVay going into the interview was his age. With the 49ers interviewing so many candidates, some even wondered how serious the team was about McVay. That apparently changed so much following Monday's interview that the 49ers started trying to figure out how to move forward on possibly bringing in McVay. That sudden eagerness may have even triggered a response by the Rams, who brought McVay in for a second interview this week.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that McVay was the favorite to get the 49ers job. Word around the league continues to support the belief that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has been the frontrunner for the 49ers' head coaching job – possibly since the search began. But did McVay's stellar interview push him ahead of Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who the team interviewed last Friday?

The other reason this report is interesting is because, despite all the talk about ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, it paints a picture that the 49ers are genuinely favoring Wolf or Gutekunst for the open general manager position. Wolf himself is young as well but very respected around the league. A pairing of Wolf and McVay would have made the two main decision makers on the team 30 and 34 years old. Gutekunst is 43.

Outside of Wolf, Gutekunst, and Riddick, the 49ers have also interviewed Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton, Indianapolis Colts vice president of football operations Jimmy Raye III, and Carolina Panthers assistant general manager Brandon Beane for the general manager job.

San Francisco plans to interview Arizona Cardinals vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough on Friday and Seattle Seahawks executives Trent Kirchner and Scott Fitterer on Monday.

The hiring of McVay, who was already the youngest coordinator in the league, by the Rams makes him the youngest ever NFL head coach. It also leaves McDaniels and Shanahan as the remaining frontrunners for the 49ers job. Of course, the team will now have to play the waiting game if it is targeting either of them. Both the Patriots and the Falcons are in the playoffs and neither candidate can be hired until that is no longer the case. After enjoying a week off, both teams host divisional round games on Saturday.