John Lynch will give Tom Gamble through the draft to prove himself

What will happen to San Francisco 49ers assistant general manager Tom Gamble now that John Lynch has replaced his former boss, Trent Baalke? Gamble will be given a grace period to prove himself to the former NFL safety turned TV analyst. Gamble will have through the 2017 NFL Draft in April to prove that he should remain with the 49ers organization, per Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area.


The 49ers had been without a general manager since January 1 and Gamble has been leading the 49ers scouting department in preparation for the draft. Lynch and soon-to-be head coach Kyle Shanahan will likely rely greatly on the information that Gamble and his group have assembled. Of course, that group was part of the previous regime and Lynch will likely want to bring in his own people and reportedly already has a name or two in mind.

Lynch has no front office experience and will need to surround himself with a good staff in order to succeed. He will be learning on the job. However, despite the glaring similarities to the hiring of Detroit Lions general manager Matt Millen, there are some who believe that Lynch can succeed.

"I know Lynch," Peter King of TheMMQB wrote on Sunday night. "He knows his limitations. He knows he needs a couple of great scouts to help him."

"John Lynch is EXACTLY who you'd want turning a place around," wrote FOX insider Jay Glazer, a colleague of Lynch. "Ultimate out-work-the-world type with zero politics to him and has different level of respect from players and coaches."

As for Gamble, he returned to the 49ers organization in January of 2015 after two years with the Philadelphia Eagles as their vice president of personnel. Prior to his time in Philadelphia, Gamble spent eight seasons with the 49ers within their personnel department. He ended that stint as the team's director of player personnel from 2011 through 2012.