49ers CEO Jed York has matured, is passionate about winning

On Tuesday, San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York had a chance to speak to the media at the NFL owners meetings in Florida. Naturally, he was asked about quarterbacks Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance. York noted he was happy with the production of both quarterbacks and supported general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan on decision making.



"I want to win football games," York said. "... I don't want to ever tell those guys, 'Well, you have to do this.' They know what the salary cap is."


York clarifies in his statement that Garoppolo is a winner and an outstanding quarterback. He believes Garoppolo has value but realizes the shoulder surgery hindered that value. York makes it clear that if the 49ers can't move him, and Shanahan and Lynch want to keep him, he's willing and prepared to pay him.

"We always spend to the salary cap, and if this is where we want to put our resources, quarterback is not a bad place to put more resources [compared to] somewhere else," York added.

York is showing significant signs of maturity. In 2014, the 49ers and Jim Harbaugh mutually parted ways.

"Jim and I have concluded that it is in our mutual best interest to move in different directions," York said at the time. "We thank Jim for bringing a tremendous competitive nature and a great passion for the game to the 49ers. He and his staff restored a winning culture that has been the standard for our franchise throughout history."

Harbaugh went 44-19-1 in his four-year tenure with the 49ers, taking the team to three NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl appearance, losing to his brother's team, the Baltimore Ravens, in Super Bowl 47.

After Harbaugh's tenure, York hired Jim Tomusla. In 2015, Tomusula went 5-11 as the head coach of the 49ers. York felt Tomusula was a player's coach, and would be a great internal hire for the job.

Next was Chip Kelly, who the 49ers hired on January 14, 2016. Kelly went 2-14 and was fired at the end of that season. York also decided to fire general manager Trent Baalke. The 49ers CEO was ready for a change and hired Lynch and Shanahan in 2017.

Under Shanahan, the 49ers are 39-42 in the regular season and 4-2 in the postseason. With Garoppolo as the quarterback, the 49ers have appeared in two NFC Championship games and Super Bowl 54, where the 49ers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Not only has York shown signs of maturity over the years, but his original statement also stands pat. York wants to win games. He did that with Harbaugh as the coach. Now he's doing it again with Shanahan. Is it safe to say that York has learned from his mistakes? It appears that way.

York has put all of his faith and trust in Lynch and Shanahan. He states, "It pisses me off to lose, but there's some things that are just out of your control, and you have to be able to deal with that. And if you're going to deal with adversity, you better have a really, really good group of people with you, and I can't imagine two better people to be with than Kyle and John to get through tough times."

• Written by:
  Wayne P. Brown
  Wayne Breezie is a 49ers content creator. He had his first guest appearance on Ronbosports in 2012. He began writing for a Facebook group called the League of the 49ers. Next, he began writing for Nothing But Niners in 2017. In 2018, Wayne Breezie made his debut on YouTube’s Nothing But Niners show. In 2019, he started his podcast called Nitty Gritty Niners. After putting the pen down for several years, Breezie saw an opportunity to write for 49erscap.com. His first published article was in January of 2022 with 49ersCap, and he currently writes and produces weekly podcasts.
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