San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke with reporters as the team prepares for the 2025 NFL Draft. Here is everything he said.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
Opening comments:
"Alright, first thing, hopefully everybody had a great weekend. I wanted to start by passing on some prayers and condolences for a member of the NFL community. [Indianapolis Colts director of college scouting] Matt Terpening, who is the college scouting director for the Indianapolis Colts, on April 12th, lost his wife unexpectedly, Coral. And our scouts, I was at home doing some work on the Draft, and our scouts called, and they were really shaken. These guys are out on the road constantly, these gals are out on the road constantly. it's a really close community. And a lot of our, I don't want to say a lot, some of our staff went to the funeral this last weekend, but to the Colts, I was on the phone with [Indianapolis Colts general manager] Chris Ballard today. To the Colts family, we just wanted to let them know we're thinking of them. Tough time for that to happen, any time is a tough time. So wanted to pass that along. Hate to shift to a matter of business, but one note that, I haven't seen you guys for some while, I wanted to announce that [vice president of player health and performance] Dustin Perry has been named our vice president of health and performance. Dustin's been with us since we got here. At the end of this season, we interviewed, kind of a global search for that and looked at all angles. People from rugby, people from football, people from basketball, different sports, and we ended up right here in our own house with Dustin, who's been a valued member of our community. So, we're really happy and proud of Dustin and excited with his leadership where we can get, we always want to be top of class in our health and performance. There's nothing more important for what we do, and we thought Dustin was the right guy for us. So, I wanted to share that with y'all. And with that, I'll open it up to questions about this year's Draft."
You have so many needs and probably so many position coaches and scouts who have their own opinions. How do you go about building consensus to determine, to just line up your draft board for that first 11?
"Yeah, we just go through our process. I think our process is one that, I think, because of our familiarity with so many people in our organization, it's a well-oiled machine. And we go through that process. And that process encompasses a lot of things. It starts out last May and our scouts are out on the road. And oftentimes, I say last May, but they've been on these guys for three, four, sometimes we're seeing now the six-year player, still the remnants of COVID. And so, you're getting players who have been here longer with NIL. Later in the process, we bring our coaching staff, our medical and performance staff, they're very involved, our R&D staff, player engagement. And we just, we have a process where we work through this. And real proud of that because, and to me, I think I've said this to you guys often, I think it's the best representation of our organization coming together as anything, because it really is a collective process. And ultimately, decisions have to be made, but we really have heard everyone. You used a word, consensus. Consensus is something we look for. When we have consensus throughout our organization and alignment, we do really, really well in the Draft. We have our R&D guys look at that, as they look at so many things. And so, consensus is a big part of it. And I think it's a big part of the successes we've had. And when we've maybe tailed off from not having consensus, is maybe when we've made some of our things we wish we could have back. So, it's something we strive for."
R&D, do they conduct polls within the organization?
"They do a lot of things. They look at every facet of the game. Our coaches, [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] does a great job of allowing them in meetings. You guys have heard [defensive line coach] Kris Kocurek, and you know, what's he do, he gets squatted over and, 'Get the you-know-what off.' And so, we have a G-T-F-O grade [laughter]. And that was born out of them just listening to Kris Kocurek. And so, they take, not just abstract, but applicable things that they know that we covet, our coaches covet, we covet in our schemes, and they study it from a research and development. But then yes, they look at our past successes, our past failures, and they look at the reason behind it. They look at trends or patterns with certain position groups. What goes in, from hand size or 10 time or to things that tend to be more about intangibles. So, they look at, they're very thorough. [Director of research and development] Matt Ploenzke does a tremendous job leading that group. And you know, it started when I got here, it was [Minnesota Vikings general manager] Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] did a tremendous job. And I think Matt Ploenzke has even taken it to another level, along with his group. So really proud of the work they do."
When you're looking at defensive ends, what else besides the G-T-F-O grade, what are the other top-two or three traits that you want to see in a defensive end?
"Yeah, you hear us talk a lot about setting edges. You've got to have the ability to set a firm edge. When we're playing that wide-nine technique, setting an edge, there's space. And so, you have to be able to take that space away that is initially there. And so that's something we covet. And then obviously, you take a look at, can they put pressure? Much like a wide receiver who can put pressure on a corner by coming at them, first and foremost, and threatening with power, and or speed. Very similar with an edge player is that they can threaten and that gets a tackle or any player on their heels. And then their repertoire that Kris and his group does such a great job with, coming up with a plan for each player that's specific to their game and then specific to their opponent. So, we look at all those things and we have a really good idea of what we're looking for."
Follow up to that, on the defensive line, no secret what your needs are there. But when you're trying to evaluate production versus measurables and all the athletic abilities and things like that, how do you kind of mesh that? It seems like this year's class, there are guys who maybe, heavy on production, not so much on measurables and vice versa.
"Yeah, that's a good question. And it's a good mix of that. There's no absolute as to what exactly the right formula is, because it takes both. You want see skills that translate to what we do, but you also want to see that they've done it at a high level, or at least that there's evidence that they can do it, we believe if put in our system that they can translate. I think you generally go, you end up struggling though when you project too much because these guys have had ample time and there's always circumstances and context that you take into account as to maybe why this guy is so talented, but he's never had the production. At some point, the production doesn't lie. So, it's a good mix of those things and I think the process kind of takes care of that."
Tail end of COVID and a lot of these guys, with NIL, having to kind of manage themselves from a business perspective. Are you seeing kind of more maturity from this class than maybe the last class and maybe in the past?
"Well, you hope it's maturity. I can't say that all the time. I think the one thing, if you're looking at it, I always like looking at things optimistically and I do think, I've talked to a number of college coaches, maybe one advantage, if you're looking, you can say, 'You know what, NIL, this is awful for football.' And I think one positive, we get to see how guys respond to having some resources and does it, can they handle that? And then there's an added bonus that typically, I think we've all experienced, you've got to make some mistakes with finances and things of those natures, the pressures, the inherent pressures. And so, we get to see a couple years in, how do they respond to having some money? Some guys can't handle it, some guys handle it extremely well. And so, I do think if you're looking at it from an optimistic standpoint, that there are some positive things that can come of that."
Last year everybody you drafted except for CB Rernardo Green had transferred to another school, and it turned out that, you were able to see how these guys could adjust to a new system and maybe that helped it. Are you seeing a ton more guys in the Draft this year that are the same thing? Do you think it'll happen again?
"There aren't many who haven't. I tell the story often that when I came here in '17, in our first Draft meetings, and the ones I had done with the Broncos before, you used to stop the meeting and say, 'Hold on, why did he transfer? What's wrong with them? Let's look deeper into this.' And now it's the rarity when a guy, 'Hey, this guy's been at one school for five years,' and like, 'What's wrong with him?' Nothing's wrong with him. And so, there is a different dynamic. The one thing you can't let your old school views like, 'Man, this guy's transferred everywhere he's been', that's kind of the way of the world right now. And I think you look into the reasons why because that might tell you part of the story and the makeup as to who this kid is. And then I think at other times you appreciate this guy could have transferred. You had a lot of smaller school guys that had a lot of opportunity, but they stayed loyal to that school or sometimes that makes you think, 'Man, was he afraid of playing at a higher level?' So there's so many different ways you can go down it, but you try to identify. And then I think you certainly don't penalize them for that because then you'd be penalizing most of the players in this Draft."
You said you probably need to find multiple starters, especially on defense. Last year was clearly a good example of that. Why do you believe that you can repeat that same success?
"I'd tell you that I think generally people probably create narratives that fit to their needs for how this Draft plays out. I don't think we do. I do think the hallmark of this Draft, I was talking with some of our guys before I came down, I like the depth of this Draft. I like that there's a lot of quality starters throughout this Draft. I think it runs deep into Day Two and even into Day Three. I think with our process and knowing what we like and knowing that really well, who we are and who we want to be, I think there's a lot of starters in this Draft. You could argue that maybe the high end and the front isn't as deep as it might have been in other years, but I think the quality depth that runs deep into this Draft is a strength of this Draft. And that's exciting for where we're at."
Adam Schefter reported yesterday that you've been in contact with teams about potentially trading down. Is that true? Is that something you'd be interested in?
"Yeah, I had a good friend call me a couple weeks ago and said, 'Hey, we're in the top six and I'm hearing you're calling everyone in the top six and you haven't called me.' And I said, to that person, 'I've known you for 30 years. You think if you're in the top six and I was truly doing that, I would've called you?' [laughs] I think generally this time of year, you're kind of calling just because a Draft breaks out and you never know what's going to happen. You want to have done your work so that hey, if we do want to go back, there's this opportunity. So, you do kind of just go down the line, saying, 'Hey, not sure what we're going to do. If our guys are there, we'll probably stay put, but would you have an appetite to come up? That's good to know.'"
Do you have a guy in mind for 11 right now?
"We've got a few guys, yeah."
With the uncertainty of like what the first 10 picks are. Do you see that this is more uncertain this year than it has been historically just because of teams and which direction they may go?
"I think when you're drafting 32, there's even more. So, I think each step that you're back further, there's more variables that are involved there. So, I think it's just you do your work, you grade every player. You have a lot of conversations at the highest level, [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] and myself, [CEO] Jed [York] even as to here's what we want to come out of this Draft with our coordinators, and then you take it to the whole group, and we rely a lot on our scouts. Tomorrow we'll get in there and our scouts will kind of, we call it table talk. They stand on the table, and they say, this is the three guys I'm most convicted about in this Draft at any kind for the value. And so, it never stops. It will go right down to the pick. We'll have a pretty good idea. We'll have it ranked as to, 'Okay, if this guy's here, we're going here, if this guy's not here, we're going here.' It actually makes it really fun, and you got to think on your feet and I really enjoy it. So, it's one of the things I enjoy most about this job."
It's a new era where you see more coaches and GMs communicating and collaborating more. It seems like kind of old school, there were GMs that made the decision and didn't matter what the coach wanted.
"I don't know. I think it's what we've always done, and I like it. I always tell our scouts, I always tell our coaches, I was a byproduct. I ended up having a decent career and ended up being able to play 15 years. But for the first two years, I struggled to get on the field, and I didn't know at the time, and I take full accountability for not being good enough at that time. But I was thinking to myself, 'I left a baseball opportunity to go to the worst organization in football, and I can't get on the field. What's wrong with me?' [laughs] And it turns out I find out about five years in that the defensive coordinator, who's a good man and a really good coach, [former defensive coordinator] Floyd Peters, he didn't want me. The [former Tampa Bay Buccaneers] head coach, Sam Wych wanted me. And so, I felt that I could do everything. And what I thought was perfect, other people thought was perfect. Nobody's perfect, but I could do my assignment, hit it, and he would find fault. And Floyd and I later had a really good discussion, and he goes, 'It's not that I'm okay if there's three players, and I didn't get the guy I wanted, but I was good with all three. I didn't want you. I'm fine saying that, and I screwed up.' Floyd was a man about it. So that always just stuck with me. You don't have to take the exact player that if you have a clump of guys that coaches are interested, but it's probably not a good idea to take a player that coaches don't want because that can manifest itself in a lot of different ways. That's always stuck with me."
You've been doing this a number of years now and some people say there's going to be a lot of trades this year. Do you get a feeling for something like that at this point in relation to the Draft, or is it just random year to year?
"What I believe, I feel like there's a lot of people trying to go that way, probably because what I talked about, the quality of starters that run deep into this Draft, and generally when everyone wants to do the same thing, there's not as much opportunity. So, I think early in the Draft, that's what I feel a lot of people are going to end up staying put because everyone's trying to do the same thing. I think every time we say that somebody throws a wrench in it, and then it's kind of a free-for-all. So, [Hall of Fame football coach] John Madden, at Fox, one of the things they used to say, you do all this pre-produced stuff and Madden used to 'What happens when a game breaks out?' I think it's the same thing with a Draft. You can have all the plans in the world, but a Draft is going to break out. A bunch of different things are going to happen, and we'll see what happens, but my inclination is at least in the first round, I think a lot of people are probably going to try, but when everyone's trying to do the same thing, there's not much opportunity to do."
The depth at certain positions impact what you do in Round One, maybe if you know you can get a guy, fulfilling it on Day Two at a certain position and maybe not so.
"I think the most important thing, I think anybody, and yes, there's certain teams that don't Draft to need, and that's a core philosophy of theirs that they're not going to let need ever enter. I think they believe that, but they're not always doing that. You have to address your roster at some point. But I do know that especially in the first round, we have a relatively high pick. You can't go wrong picking a quality player. And if that isn't like a glaring need on your team, that's all right because this player is going to end up playing for you and contributing and hopefully moving the needle. And so, I think you have to. It's a fine balance between drafting towards need, especially when you're drafting up high. I think you got to be cognizant that you can't go wrong, taking really good quality players."
Do you think that you guys' kind of go the defensive route throughout the draft? Which I'm sure that's on your mind when you go into this draft. Knowing that your defense coming into next season may be on the younger side, how much more comfortable does it make you to know that you guys have brought in defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, someone who of course has a great track record on the defense side?
"Yeah, it gives a lot of comfort. Robert's a really good football coach and I think has a lot more experience now than when we last left him. And so, it's been really fun being in the draft meetings and also hearing how Robert's evolved, it's not the same as when he left, and that's what good coaches do, they constantly evolve and hearing what he wants in certain positions and articulating, it's very clear with Robert, and that's always a good thing for someone like me and our scouts and our front office is we really try as an organization to make people be able to verbalize, very clearly, what they're looking for at each position. And Robert and his staff, they're very clear with what they want, with what they need, with what they aspire to be. And that's very helpful."
Is T Trent Williams here for OTAs and have you talked to him recently about his mindset and his ankle?
"Yeah, Trent is here, and I don't want to go down that road of saying who's here, who's not. It's a voluntary time. I can tell you we're really thrilled, almost our entire team's here, almost every player. And we're excited about that. I think we need that. We need that togetherness. We need that shared sacrifice. Having said that, we got a lot of great players and great people that have intrinsic motivation, and whether they're here or not, they're going to be working, and we trust that, we believe in that, but it's always nice to have your guys here and Trent's doing really well."
When you drafted QB Brock Purdy a couple years ago, could you have ever imagined going from last pick to now working on extension as a face of your franchise and a quarterback you hope to have for the next 10-plus years?
"Oh, I knew it. I mean, we wanted him early and we just said, let's just wait till the end and drag this thing on a little, no. We did know that we liked the player, and I've told you the people, you know, there's a lot of people who deserve a lot of credit for that, those successes. One no longer working with us, [former quarterbacks coach] Brian Griese was very involved with that, [49ers pro scout] Steve Slowik, I've talked about him numerous times, but there is a great example of the process working. A guy we had kind of later and that's like kind of during this, the last couple weeks, our scouts, once they're in town and our coaches, they've been working together, but they work together on the back end of the draft and they get very excited and motivated, and Brock happened much earlier than the last couple weeks, but they spent a lot of time, it was, you know, the zooming and you know, really got a great feel. And then they bring it up to, we had seen Brock, but they come with the information they're armed with, and you can feel the conviction that they have. And so, then you bring it to the entire room and then [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] and I focus on it, and you know, we knew we wanted to add Brock, and I've finally had the courage to ask him, 'Hey, would you, would you have come to us as a free agent?' And he kind of plays with me on that one. So, I still don't know. I'm glad we didn't take it to chance, and you know, we made him the last pick of the draft and it's served us well."
What does it say to you that Brock is here amid all the contract stuff that's still ongoing?
"Just that's Brock. You know, he's a pro and he's going to, Brock's very clear minded and not going to let other people influence like what he should be doing. And that's one thing everybody I think respects about Brock. He's done a lot for this organization and we're grateful for him and looking forward to having him as our quarterback for a long time."
Does that indicate that you guys have made progress on the contract talks since the last time we talked to you at the owner's meeting?
"Yeah, I think there's been some substantive talks that have this thing going in a good direction, and I'll leave it at that."
He is your starting quarterback, and some players have insight into personnel, some don't. Does a guy like Brock want to take a look at some tight ends or some receivers? Does he have opinions about these guys?
"That's usually about year six or seven. He's not, not yet. But you know, I think Brock, he does have opinions that generally comes more with he and [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] when they're probably on the pro players. He hasn't got into the college stuff. I know he is very high on Iowa State guys and there's a few good ones this year. They do a great job. What a program. I mean, they just find a bunch of three stars, they don't really go after the, you know, and [Iowa State head football coach] Matt Campbell and those guys do a tremendous job. So, you know what you're getting when you get an Iowa State player. Brock has shown us that. And there's some other guys in this draft that kind of are representative of that."
Do you also feel that things are headed in a good direction with TE George Kittle and do you expect him to be here for the 11-on-11 OTA portion of the offseason?
"We'll see on that. You know, these things are voluntary right now, but again, with that we've had good communication, good talks, and we'll see where that goes."
There was a story in which Los Angeles Rams WR Davante Adams said you were among many teams that expressed some interest in him and made it clear like, this is our financial situation. Was that, I mean, were there other guys, like notable names where you at least like say, hey, we'll have to take our take our shot and be realistic about where we are financially and just see what happens?
"Yeah. [vice president of football communications] Corry [Rush] made me aware of that quote, and I saw the quote and it said his agent had told him that, that wasn't me. I've always had great deal of respect for Davante, that didn't line up, he's on a division rival. We're going to have our work cut out covering him and playing against him. He's a really good player. So, if there was any disrespect taken, you know, none was intended."
It's become a bit of a tradition that you tell us how many draftable players you have and how many first round grades. So, what are those numbers?
"You know what's funny? I started doing this and my buddy up north, [Seattle Seahawks general manager] John Schneider, I used to say like, we made 661 formal school visits. And John would say, I'm really excited with [Las Vegas Raiders head coach] Pete Carroll, they'd sit up there, we made 662 school visits, and he'd always point, and it finally took me, I'm a little slower, took me two years to see he was playing with me. So, but we, so this year we've got about 20 first round grades compared to 23 and 15 the last couple years. We have 200 players considered draftable, that's up from 170. So, I do think that speaks to the depth of this draft, so, yeah."