Vinny Cerrato, the former director of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers, joined Chad, Joe & Lo on 95.7 The Game Tuesday morning to discuss numerous topics from around the NFL and some that were related to the 49ers.
Trent Baalke and the Hot Seat
One of those topics that he touched upon was whether or not 49ers general manager Trent Baalke should be worried about his job heading into the 2016 season.
On Monday, it was announced that the 49ers had promoted Tom Gamble to assistant general manager. Prior to that, he had a role as a senior personnel executive. Gamble returned to the organization in January of 2015 after two years with the Philadelphia Eagles as their vice president of personnel. Before his time in Philadelphia, Gamble spent eight seasons with the 49ers within their personnel department, ending that stint as the team's director of player personnel from 2011 through 2012.
"Tom Gamble, he's a quality football guy – comes from a football background and he's a good guy," said Cerrato. "So it all depends on if ... did Trent promote Tom or did the owner promote Tom? If I'm Trent and the owner promoted Tom – and maybe only Trent knows who promoted who – but I'd be nervous if I was Trent.
"Trent's very stubborn. He's a hard worker and all that, but he's very stubborn and he wants to do it his way or the highway so a lot of times, that's very difficult. If you're stubborn, a lot of times it's hard for you to learn and Trent's a very smart guy.
"So I would say this: If Jed York promoted Tom Gamble, Trent needs to keep his head on a swivel."
Anthony Davis
Cerrato was also asked about Anthony Davis filing for reinstatement to the NFL, the 49ers, and whether or not the team would look to keep or trade him.
Cerrato responded by saying, "It all depends on this: How good does he look when he comes back? Because here's what teammates are going to do. If he can help us win, they'll bring him back in a hurry. Y'know, the players in the locker room will. And players know first if a guy can help or not help after just a couple of days of practice. So, if they reinstate and they see that he can help, yeah, he'll be back in and with Trent, y'know, Trent can do two things. He can bring him back in, see how he looks, and if he doesn't look great, try to trade him or if he look good and you want to still get rid of the headache, then he becomes more valuable. You're going to have to play him in a couple of preseason games just to showcase him because – think about it – everybody always needs offensive lineman."
Cerrato went on to say that the decision to keep or get rid of Davis has to be a club decision and not just a decision made by either Chip Kelly or Trent Baalke. There has to be communication between the coaching staff and Baalke on whether or not Davis can help the team or not.
"They're not good enough anymore where they can turn away good players," said Cerrato. "They need to have every good player that they can get. I think it's got to be a group decision."
Best Quarterback Fit for Kelly
There has been some debate on which quarterback, Blaine Gabbert or Colin Kaepernick, is a better fit for Chip Kelly and his offense. Cerrato touched on that topic as well.
"To me, it's got to be the guy who's going to make quick decisions," said Cerrato. "It's got to be the guy who's not going to turn the ball over for you. It's got to be the guy who's not going to get you beat. You need somebody that can help you win. Who is going to make the fewest amount of mistakes?"
Cerrato concluded by asking, "Who's going to be the most efficient? That's who is going to be the starter for them."
Cerrato was with the 49ers for nine seasons, starting as a scout in 1991. In 1995, he was promoted to director of player personnel.
You can listen to the entire interview here on 95.7 The Game with the portion about the 49ers starting at about the 3:45 mark.
