San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch's wait to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will have to continue. The former NFL safety was not among the names of inductees voted in on Saturday, according to Mike Klis of 9News. Instead, former Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos safety, Brian Dawkins, was named to the Class of 2018.
Source familiar with Hall of Fame voting: Brian Dawkins was elected. John Lynch, Boulder's Tony Boselli will have to wait till next year. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) February 3, 2018
Lynch was a finalist for his fifth-straight year. He played free safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1993 until 2003 and then for the Denver Broncos from 2004 until 2007. Lynch was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection over the course of his 15-year NFL career. During that time, Lynch registered 1,051 combined tackles, 26 interceptions, 13 sacks, and 16 forced fumbles, according to ESPN.
"I do know that I took a lot of pride in what I did, and it was important for me to be special, and to be a special player that impacted every game I played in," Lynch told NFL Network on January 3. "I think that's one thing I'm proud of. I played on what I think is one of the great defenses in the history of our league in Tampa and we did it for a long time. We won a championship. And I think it was one of the featured positions in that defense."
Following his retirement as a player, Lynch entered the FOX broadcast booth as a color commentator for NFL games from 2008 through 2016. During that final year with FOX, he was inducted into both the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor.
Lynch had no front office experience when hired by the 49ers in January of 2017. The roster that he and head coach Kyle Shanahan built last year started the season by losing nine consecutive games. However, the 49ers finished as one of the hotter teams in the NFL and went on to win six of their final seven games, including three consecutive wins against playoff teams (Titans, Jaguars, Rams).