Colts hire Chris Ballard to be GM, leaving 49ers with only open spot
Jan 29, 2017 at 3:15 PM
•
Once again, the San Francisco 49ers are the only team with a general manager opening. The Indianapolis Colts have hired former Kansas City Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard to be their new general manager. Indianapolis entered the hunt when they fired general manager Ryan Grigson on January 21 after five seasons with the team.
This is important to the 49ers because there was some overlap in interest between Indianapolis' general manager search and San Francisco's – most notably, Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton, who interviewed with the Colts this past week. Paton is considered to be the frontrunner for the 49ers job and met again with the team and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who is likely to be named the head coach following the Super Bowl, on Friday night and again on Saturday. The 49ers and Shanahan also met with Arizona Cardinals vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough on Saturday.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik's name has also emerged as a possible third longshot candidate for the 49ers' general manager job. The team has only had discussions about Dominik and have not yet met with him,
per Matt Maiocco of
CSN Bay Area. If the 49ers were interested in meeting with Dominik, it would likely be early this week. Maiocco reports that the 49ers hope to make a decision on the general manager opening during that timeframe with a candidate being hired by the middle of the week.
The 49ers did show interest in Ballard early in the search, but the Chiefs blocked the interview request. It was also assumed that Ballard had no interest in the opening in San Francisco. The Colts job offers more weapons on the roster, including at the quarterback position where the starter is Andrew Luck. Albert Breer of
TheMMQ also reported that Ballard
preferred to go to a smaller market and stay in the Midwest.
Prior to the hiring of Ballard, the Colts publicly committed to head coach Chuck Pagano for at least another year. Ballard is reportedly sticking to that plan and will work with Pagano in 2017.
LISTEN
Facebook Comments
More San Francisco 49ers News
Podcast: 49ers with Grant Cohn: Are the 49ers the favorites in the NFC with Trey Lance?
By Rohan Chakravarthi
Mar 24
Rohan Chakravarthi and Grant Cohn discuss whether the 49ers are favorites in the NFC after free agency.
The audio for the show is embedded above, while the video is available below.
?feature=share
You can listen to "The Rohan Chakravarthi Show" from our
49ers considered trading Mike McGlinchey last year
Mike McGlinchey received a life-changing payday, signing a five-year, $87.5 million deal with the Denver Broncos. The offensive tackle has known for a while that he would not return to the San Francisco 49ers, the only NFL team he has played for and the one that made him the No. 9 overall pick in 2018.
General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear to McGlinchey that he was likely playing his final months for the team. There was too much money invested in other spots, and the 49ers knew they couldn't compete with other interested teams.
Behind the scenes, Lynch and Shanahan kept McGlinchey in the loop of what the team was thinking, and everything pointed to the tackle playing elsewhere in 2023 … maybe even
Photo: Recovering 49ers QB Brock Purdy spotted by fan
Brock Purdy can begin throwing again sometime in June. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback is expected to be ready to hit the field—practice or in-game—sometime in September.
Purdy is recovering from surgery to repair the tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow, an injury sustained in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He hasn't been seen since the surgery, with his last public appearance taking place In Arizona, during the week leading to the Super Bowl.
One fan spotted Purdy, though, getting a photo with the 49ers quarterback (h/t TheSFNiners). As expected, Purdy is wearing a massive brace on his throwing arm,
49ers signing OT Matt Pryor, per John Lynch
San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch sat down with reporters at the owners' meetings in Arizona on Monday morning. One of the tidbits he offered is that the team has signed offensive tackle Matt Pryor.
The #49ers signed OT Matt Pryor, general manager, John Lynch said. Prior has appeared in 60 games with 24 starts over four seasons with Philadelphia and Indianapolis.— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) March 27,
