San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday. Here's everything he had to say.
Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers Communications staff.
There's a running back out of Cincinnati, who's played for Oklahoma, meaningful playing time, also Wisconsin on top of Cincinnati. He's had three NIL deals. His name is RB Tawee Walker. What is the positives of a guy with that much experience going into this year's draft class from an NIL perspective versus in previous years?
"Yeah. You know, I don't know specifically from an NIL perspective. One thing we've talked a lot about is I always look at things from a positive lens. We have an opportunity to see how these guys react when they have some money in their hands and how they're going to respond. So, that's one positive way to look at that whole situation. I think the one thing that I'll say, this is going on 10 years now that I've been in this role, we used to stop meetings when a guy had transferred. Why did he transfer? What went into that? That was a big like, hold on, what's going on? There are guys who've transferred four times and most of the time it's a really reasonable history as to why exactly they did it. You can't blame them for doing it, but you do want to know that information. Is there value to it? I think time will tell because it's relatively new, but we do see it a lot more. We had a couple kids yesterday who had been at four different schools. So, it's not uncommon, I'll tell you that."
About an hour ago, Adam Schefter reported that T Trent Williams expects to be released if you and his agent can't come to some financial agreement on his future. Is there any truth to that? Can you shed any light on what's going on?
"Well, what I'll tell you is that in recent weeks I've met with both Trent and with his agent, Vincent Taylor, and had really good, productive and substantive meetings. And so, here's what I know: Trent loves being a Niner, we love having Trent as a Niner and it's up to us to figure that out and to thread that needle. There are some unique circumstances in that we all know what Trent is as a player, how great of a player he's been. He's going to be 38 years old and so there's some things that go into that. But, I think we're all on the same page and feel very positive about where that's going."
Is it years that's the impasse?
"It's everything. I'm not going to get into the specifics of it, but what I will say is we met with Vince just today and I think we're on the right track and I know this, he's been a tremendous asset to our organization. We love having him. My hope, and I've shared this with Trent, is that his name's up in the rafters with the greats that have played for the Niners because he certainly fits that category."
Is there anything that overrides tape in the scouting process?
"I think tape's most important. I will tell you that a lot of the things we track in terms of successful draft choices over the years, there's obviously a requisite amount of ability. A lot of it goes to the person, the intangibles that they possess or don't possess in terms of them making it or not making it. And I think that's because, having done it myself for 15 years, the NFL is very hard. It's tough. It's not easy. You're going to be tested over and over and over. And so, do you have that mental fortitude that when things get tough, because they will and they do and that never goes away, do you have that mental toughness, that physical toughness to endure and get the most out of whatever your abilities are? I think that's really critical, but the tape is very critical."
Is it hard to identify that? Have you been burned on identifying that fortitude?
"Of course. But, I think we've also, some of our best picks, that's kind of, I think one thing we try to do in these meetings, you're not just the ones you have questions with because they've been in trouble. Let's get the guy that is a stud human being in front of us so we can feel that and we can feel the effect he might have. I think the best leaders, they make everyone around them better. And so, if you can get a sense of that, that goes a long way to identifying the right type of people that you want in your building."
What's one area of your team you'd like to make a concerted effort to improve this offseason?
"Yeah, I think you always, you want to get better as a team. Now, one tangible thing, we've always prided ourselves on our defensive front and getting after people. And last year, if you just look at the numbers, now I don't think the numbers are always reflective. I felt like there were games where we put a lot of pressure on, but you've got to put the quarterback down and so that's something that we want to address and we will address."
Why did you hire defensive coordinator Raheem Morris? What do you like about him?
"[Head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] makes those decisions. You know, he obviously consults, but Raheem brings so much to the table. First of all, I go back to, I've known Raheem for a long time. At One Buc Place, he used to sit behind me, right behind me in the back of the defense, [former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin was our DB coach, Raheem was the assistant DB coach. So, I've known Raheem for a long time, as had Kyle. After I left, Kyle came in as an assistant and he and Raheem got to know each other. But it's not just that, I think you go into all of his experiences. Raheem, he's been in this league for a long time. He's done it at a high level. And I think he's got a lot of variety to the type of defense, schematically and in terms of what he's deployed and we like that. He's very familiar with the system we run, but he's also had some more experiences, like what he did with the Rams, that can add some variety to what we do. I think he's a very forward-thinker. He's a guy, he's an energy giver. Any building Raheem's in, you feel that. And we're really excited about working. We lost a really good defensive coach in [Tennessee Titans head coach] Robert Saleh. With him he took [Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator] Gus Bradley, who had a great influence on our building, but to be able to replace that with someone like Raheem and some of the pieces we're bringing in, we're really excited about."
On the offensive side of the football, would you like to get faster, younger, more explosive? Especially seeing how the offense performed against Seattle those last two games.
"Yeah, but wouldn't we all? You know, I think everybody's looking for that. That's a really good combination. Seattle's a really good football team right now as evidenced by what they did this season, but especially late in the season. But you know, our division's really tough. We aren't shying away from that. It's tough in part because of who we are. But, it's tough because it's a quality division, so we understand. But, we tend to focus on ourselves and we're trying to make ourselves better in all areas."
Are you still expecting to major in the Wide Nine as you are looking for defensive lineman?
"I think most teams, you know, so much of this game is played in the nickel front and in the nickel front wide nines are employed by most teams. So absolutely, there'll be some of that. There'll be some variety as well. But, we were doing that with Robert as well."
Last year at this event, you signaled that you wanted to get younger, wouldn't be particularly aggressive in the free agency period. What can you say about how you're going to approach this offseason?
"Yeah, you know, that was true and I think it remains true. I mean, all 11 picks are still with us, with our team and a lot of them contributed in a big way. So, we love last year's class and their contributions. And it did do that, it infused youth. I think the part that maybe has been misconstrued is that we weren't aggressive in free agency. That may be correct. We did re-sign [QB] Brock Purdy, [LB] Fred Warner, [TE] George Kittle and [OL] Colton McKivitz, and we actually set a franchise record in terms of the cash we spent. So, I think we were aggressive, we just didn't go out and do it in free agency. The other part of that, our team was very good, and we saw a lot of really good players leave and go elsewhere. I'm looking at [Denver Broncos general manager] George Paton here, who you know, got a couple of our players, really good ones. So, that's always difficult. But, we want to be targeted in free agency. I think that's always a good approach. But, our lifeblood always will be the Draft and we want to be very proficient at that as well. We don't have 11 picks this year. We'll see with comp picks and all that where we end up, but you've got to hit on that each and every year."
You spent four years with Arizona Cardinals Head Coach Mike LaFleur back when he was an assistant coach. What were your impressions of him then and his addition in the Cardinals organization?
"Yeah, love Mike. He was a big part of us building it when we first got there. Very smart, very skilled, excited for him and his family and their opportunity down in Arizona. I think Arizona made a wise decision. I think don't sleep on Arizona. I do respect the work that [Arizona Cardinals general manager] Monti Ossenfort and [Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator] Jonathan Gannon, for that matter have done. I know last year didn't go how they wanted in terms of the wins and losses. I felt like they improved mightily in terms of their talent. And they've kind of gone through some processes there. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not long before they're a really good football team. So, I'm pulling for Mikey except when they play us. And he's a tremendous human being who was very instrumental in a lot of our success. We've got really fond memories of working together with him."
You've made a lot of trades over your time as GM. Is the lifeline of a trade, like the life path of a trade, does that often trace back to this week, the Combine? Do a lot of conversations start here in person?
"Oh, I think that's accurate for sure. I thought you were talking like evaluations of players long before and that sometimes is the case too. But, absolutely. I think it's very rare, and there's a couple, three probably, inflection points. You know, usually down at Mobile you get most GMs are down there, then at Combine and then at league meetings. So, usually at one of those places a lot of those conversations. And this week it's kind of, everybody's in that mindset coming off the season, now you're really looking forward. And yes, a lot of those conversations have commenced and the inception of them was here and some finish here. So, yeah."
NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent said yesterday that of the replay decisions they review, one of the five decisions that they wish they could have gotten back happened in the one o'clock window. Have you guys discussed that as a competition committee? Do you have any concern about the quality of weekly when there's so many games going on?
"Yeah, that's a really good question. And we have, first of all, like man, the competition committee, that's work (laughter). I've been stuck in a meeting room for three days, but I do feel good. It feels like a very impactful opportunity to help guide our game. And so, that's why I chose to do it. You know, I lived in the broadcasting world for nine years, and I know that when I was on the seventh team, I dealt with a lot less cameras and the type of angles to when I worked my way up to the second team at FOX. So, even within the one o'clock window, there's variation in terms of now the motherload is when you're doing Sunday night, [NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcaster] Cris Collinsworth and [NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcaster] Mike Tirico, and they're basically doing a Super Bowl in terms of the amount of angles. I do think that's something we want to strive for as a league. And I think there's some uniformity you can get by requiring teams to have fixed cameras and things. I know all those things are being discussed, but that is a reality that the one o'clock games, there's multiple games going on at the same time. So, the New York headquarters, they're not going to have all their attention on that game. And then within that, the element that I talked about just not having the amount of cameras and angles. That's a reality and something that we have to figure out because every game is important in our league, not just the primetime games."
When you see, tragically, what happened with former Minnesota Vikings WR Rondale Moore, how does it impact you as a person? As a GM, does it make you say, dang, like, I wish we could reach out to WR Brandon Aiyuk, or he would reach out to us to see if everything was okay?
"Well, I think two very different situations. First of all, my condolences go out to Rondale and his family, tragic situation. We've had a couple of them in our league this year. And your heart goes out to the families and it makes you communicate with everyone in your organization about our opportunity to affect these young men in a positive way and to help them through things, struggles. I think I'll leave it at that. My heart goes out to Rondale. Had the occasion to meet him over the years and our hearts go out."
How do you assess your receiver group? Is there a need in that room that you see right now?
"Yeah, obviously you've got, like [WR] Jauan's [Jennings] a free agent, and we've been in good contact with Jauan. We'll see where that goes. We've got some young players that we really need to come to the forefront. [WR] Jacob Cowing's a guy that we've had, and we've like for a couple years, he hasn't been on to be able to be on the field much because of his hamstring ailments. You know, [WR] Ricky's [Pearsall] a fantastic player. We've got to find a way to keep him healthy. He had a tough injury early, and he kept dinging the same thing over and over and over, and it was a tough year for him. Ricky's going to be a fine player. [WR] Jordan Watkins has to take big steps, and then we've got opportunities to improve ourself by either bringing back some of the players who have been with us or go finding new guys that fit who we want to be and what we want to be both in free agency and in the draft."
Going back to the competition committee, the Tush Push was a big topic last year. Where does that stand right now based on the conversation?
"That's all we talked about last year. I will tell you, it felt like there was momentum going into league meetings that it would be overturned and then it kind of flipped and those things happen. I think, now we went through a year, maybe people have gotten a little bit better at defending it. Maybe they're doing it less. People aren't wanting to put their quarterbacks in those type of situations. You're seeing more variety. They line up in the tush push, they run outside. So maybe just maybe it's kind of solving itself, but we'll see. I think you've got to monitor those things over time to see the trends and that's something we'll continue to do."
With Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak now a head coach, what have you seen just from him, growing up and in his job?
"Well, my history with the Kubiak family initially goes back to when I was a free agent who went to Denver. [Former NFL head coach] Gary Kubiak was on that staff and I got to know their family really well. Gary and his wife Rhonda were tremendous to my family, helping us find schools and all those, and they're just really quality people. That's one thing I know about all the Kubiaks, but really good football coaches, really good football minds. I'm excited for all of them and their success. [Offensive coordinator] Klay's [Kubiak] the one I work with most right now and Klay's doing a tremendous job making us better. Very creative, very hardworking, diligent, and a great person. Klint's tremendous. I'm excited for his opportunity. They made it tough like the Lynches with our girls. We're all J's and L's, they're all K's. So, there's [Dallas Cowboys national scout/special projects] Klein, who's doing a great job with [Dallas]. But, they're all tremendous people and have added a lot to our game."
How has your experience with Los Angeles Chargers QB Trey Lance and Brock impacted your thinking through the quarterback market and how much college experience they have during this year's draft?
"Yeah. I think, what I hear a lot of people even in other sports talking about, kind of using that as a baseline for just an interesting observation that one guy played a ton of college football, one guy didn't so much, and it was during COVID when it was very tough to do evaluations. So, does that say something in every sport? I don't know. But, I know that people have looked at that, taken heed. We certainly have. And you live and you learn and just very fortunate that we got Brock and we were so smart we waited until the last pick just to secure the deal."
I'm only asking about the contractual aspect, but what is the timeline with Brandon Aiyuk's situation with the 49ers?
"I think nothing will happen until the new league year starts and then when it happens, kind of semantics, but that's when something could happen there."
You've had a relationship with Mike Tomlin for a really long time. What can you say about his impact on you, maybe as a player and what was your reaction to him stepping down?
"I miss it for myself. Combine is a time where we often caught up, competition committee, I in part joined it because I knew I'd get a lot of time with Mike Tomlin, who's a dear friend. It's odd to say with someone who's a couple years younger than you, a tremendous influence in my life. He came to coach me in Tampa when [former NFL head coach] Herm Edwards took the Jets job. I could tell he was special right away. And he challenged me to be better. I was at what I thought was the prime of my career and the first mini camp we ever had, he handed me an old VCR and a legal pad and it had like 86 plays of things I could do better. And it actually ticked me off at first. I'm in the prime of my career and this guy coming out of college is going to tell me why I need to be this much better. And my wife, as she often does, said, 'have you read it? Can it make you better?' And I did just that. I listened to Linda Lynch. I started reading it and I became a better player. And that's the way Mike, Mike's special. Our game will miss him. I don't know if it's for good. I'm thrilled for him. I saw a picture a couple weeks ago, his daughter's a tremendous gymnast at Georgia and he was there enjoying her compete, something he hasn't been able to do. So, I know he is enjoying those things. I hope he comes back to the game, sorry, Kia, that's his wife, because I'm sure she's enjoying having him, but he's just such a special human being and has given so much. I'm happy that he made the decision on his terms."
There were some players around the NFL who said maybe the substation theory can impact the 49ers ability to attract free agents. There were others, including RB Christian McCaffrey who said, no, I'd love to play for the Niners. Do you think that that could impact what your plans are of players coming to San Francisco in free agency?
"I sure hope not. I don't think so. We have a tremendous place to live, to play, an iconic organization. The very first event that I kind of went to [for Super Bowl] was Night of Champions that Omaha Productions put on. I kind of went just to support the guys that were up on stage and it was [ESPN broadcaster] Chris Berman moderating a thing with [former San Francisco 49ers QB] Joe [Montana], [former San Francisco 49ers WR] John Taylor, [former San Francisco 49ers FB] Tommy Rathman, [former San Francisco 49ers CB] Eric Wright, [former San Francisco 49ers S] Ronnie Lott, [former San Francisco 49ers LB] Keena Turner and [former San Francisco 49ers OL] Harris Barton were all there as well. And man, the privilege that you felt to be a part of this organization, that's what I think people feel when they think about the Niners and a team that has a chance to compete at the highest level and compete for championships. That's what I think people will think about."
When your own players express concern about the substation, what's your approach? Do you educate them? Do you need to bring in your own scientists and your own research?
"Well, I think when you talk about, and I said this earlier, me having been a player, anything our players, especially when it comes to health and safety, which is so important, absolutely we'll look into that. We're working with our team to do just that. Encouraged by some of the early things. Our chief medical officer, Dr. [Allen] Sills came out and basically stated that there's no literature that speaks to that being an issue. So, we'll continue to monitor that and there's so many great things about being a Niner and I think that will carry the day. We'll obviously always look into the concerns that our players might have."
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