John Lynch - 49ers GM

Originally posted by socalfan21:
I have no faith in the niners building in the draft. Lynch and Shanny got lucky with Warner Kittle etc. can the niners steal an exec from under Seattles front office?

Are any Seattle front office guys getting GM interviews? Anyone been hired?

Originally posted by tommyncal:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Stanley:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:
I honestly don't think we can go on with him. Look at how the Rams, Seahawks, Broncos, Patriots, Eagles draft. Plus free agency. Internal extension contracts. Then compare it to us. It's a complete catastrophe. He can't be making the picks. We need to rebuild. Not more busts and reaches. We are stuck with Shany. But at least get rid of Lynch.

"Stuck" with Shanny. What a simplistic take.

I don't think the DORKS will get rid of him. So yes we are stuck with Shany. At least get rid of Lynch. You can't say he's good at draft, free agency, internal extension contracts, letting key free agents leave, cap management and dead money, trades. Can you honestly say he's good at any of those? At least get rid of Lynch. It's the best we can hope for.

Lynch fired and a new player personnel guru hired to rebuild the team. Shany can do his shifts and motions. Just stay away from the draft and free agency and the cap. Because he's also obviously not good there. Shany should just coach only. Lynch should be gone.

While I don't disagree with you completely on Lynch, I'm kinda sitting on a fence. How and who would you replace him with ? Take a chance on an unknown 'guru' who has never run a draft by himself ? It could end up being a disaster. Move Josh Williams up to GM ? He's being interviewed for GM . Do you give the new 'guru' 1 year and then fire him if the rookies don't perform at pro bowl level the 1st year. I'm not opposed to moving on, I just don't know how you do it without great risk.

Almost anything is better than this. Realistically he's a disaster. Get somebody from the Eagles, Patriots, Broncos, Rams, Seahawks war room. Somebody that really knows how to identify good players. From a good organization. It's clear by now Shany and Lynch are both lost in that category. Shany can do his shifts and motions but stay way from player personnel. He won't like it. But who cares? Lynch needs to be gone.

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

Originally posted by pillageDatazz:
Are we interested Kayvon Thibodeaux tho...

For the right price I'm sure. Edge rushers tend to get stupidly overpaid in free agency meanwhile safeties can be had for 70% off discount. I think the value is always in safeties in free agency. Some of the top safeties Xavier McKinney, Jessie Bates, Talanoa Hufanga and Javon Holland were all free agents at one point.

Id rather spend on free safeties as well, tight ends, and a guard. Use the draft edge rushers, receivers, DTs, a FS to develop, CB, and FB. More bang for our book and we can hopefully address the more expensive positional needs like receiver and edge rusher in the draft.

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:
Hey, just heard a fun fact on TV.

The Pats have only 6 free agents next year, and they're in the super bowl. Imagine that.

The Rams have the 13th overall pick from ATL and the 8th most cap space

The Hawks have the 4th most cap space and just a handful of free agents

We are screwed

They have to start extending guys soon. Good drafting eventually costs. Those teams couldn't run away with the division when we were busted up. They surely wont do it if we are healthier.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
People still think Lynch is making the draft picks with Kyles mouth and hands tied in the basement as hes making those picks ? And Kyle has no input on offensive picks ? It's comical at this point.

You know, I remember Belichik when he had absolute control of the Pats org. Superbowl rings aside, he was also their GM and making draft picks. Bill was pretty awful at drafting. Like, real bad and his failures are well-documented, even when he traded down (which he did a lot) stuff didnt work out. Just like Kyle, Bill was not drafting BPAs but guys who fit the system and the "patriot way". But once pats stopped winning, there was no more "patriot way".

Back in 2017 when Adam Peters joined the 49ers, John Lynch said they were implementing the New England Patriots' drafting grading system. Man, I wish I could find the article. It was on KNBR.com featuring an interview with John Lynch where he went into detail on the NE system, but the article has long been deleted. It essentially said that the Patriots' graded players based on whether they could win a starting spot and fit on the team. In other words, players' value is heavily weighed by the roster's needs and culture. The article also mentioned how the individual coaching staff's opinions on players carried significant weight and if a they had a guy they loved, they were likely get drafted. These two factors explain why there's SOOOOOOOOO many f**king ill-advised reaches by the 49ers.

When you consider all of this, you really do get a better understanding from a roster and draft perspective of what Shanny meant when he said, "you don't come in and take Cassius Marsh's job" back in 2018 or whenever it was. Adam Peters' brought this trash to the 49ers, and it's been here ever since.

Looking at what Peters has done in Washington, I'm convinced he was the problem. 2024 looked good initially and hopefully we can get closer to the true potential.

Originally posted by niner4life21:
We have drafted 3 impact players since 2020: Aiyuk, Lenoir and Purdy. Aiyuk is gone. Purdy was the last pick.

The FO has completely ruined this team.

It is the same front office that built this team to be a SB contender in three years.

Do you an explanation for why you think the same guys have now ruined the team?

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
I think if we can get blistering speed all over the offense next year and beef up the OL to allow that speed to work, we will be able to cook Seattle.

Shanny clearly wants speed. Seattle has bigger guys who can be beat with elite quickness. The only teams to beat them were us, LA, and Tampa. Our defense made the difference in week one, but we're gonna need more firepower to keep up next year.

Actually, the Rams made a shift to a larger and more powerful OL. To me, it looked like Stafford had more time in the pocket than Purdy did. Of course, that could be they just have better talent. I think they need to beef up the OL and get speed elsewhere. Seattle is the team they will have to beat each year and they need a bigger and better OL

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
One thing I do miss about Baalke is his ability to work a draft and rack up a whole bunch of extra picks. Of course he didn't do a lot with those picks once he got them but he sure got a lot of them.

I kind of like that shotgun approach to the draft. No matter how good you are at evaluating talent, you are going to miss a lot so get as many bites of the apple as you can.

We did that immediately in 2017. Paraag negotiated the trade, lol.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:
This is revisionist history IMO. The 49ers first GM target was Chris Ballard, and he wouldn't take the interview. Kyle was very likely not even their 1st coaching choice… especially when you factor in the idea that Ballard was their top choice and he was 'tied' to Josh McDaniels, a long time target of the organization.

They also interviewed a couple Packers executives who dropped out before 2nd interviews. The top candidates did not want this job.

The organization couldn't land a GM. They boxed themselves in. They haven't hired any kind of external GM-in-waiting candidate for 20 years. This is exactly how Kyle was able to leverage personnel power and him and Lynch were able to get the contracts that they did (with no offsetting language if they were fired and hired by someone else).

I dont get what you're calling revisionist history. Hes the one who was hired by Kyle, with no experience. Kyle himself suggested it. This doesnt negate your post that it wasnt a desirable job, but I dont see how your post contradicts what I said.

John Lynch was a media guy with zero experience when Kyle talked to him and decided to hire him. Kyle signed off on it. Its not even remotely close to the Baalke/Harbaugh standoff we used to have where Baalke wielded considerable power. And honestly the whole Baalke/Harbaugh thing was probably a debacle Jed wanted to avoid again.

Originally posted by Heroism:
damn, I love AI.

Here's what's known about Adam Peters joining the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 and the impact of the grading system he brought with him from his time with the Patriots (and through Denver):

The Grading System He Helped Introduce at the 49ers When Peters arrived in 2017, the 49ers switched their draft grading system to one that was used by the Denver Broncos, which itself had roots in the system originally developed and popularized in New England. This change came during the 49ers' draft meetings leading into the 2017 NFL Draft.

John Lynch explained that the 49ers initially were using an older grading method from the previous regime, but transitioned to the Broncos/New England system under Peters and Martin Mayhew. That framework was familiar to others in the league from New England, including Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, making it a natural culture fit for the 49ers.

🧠 What This Grading System Means While teams don't publicly detail the specifics of their internal grading scales, systems like the one from New England typically share these characteristics:

Standardized Prospect Evaluations – Each player on the draft board is given detailed grades based on traits, positional fit, character, and coach/GM criteria rather than purely on traditional stats.

Collaborative Scouting Language – Scouts, coaches, and executives use a common set of terms and scorecards so everyone evaluates prospects against the same benchmarks.

Consistency Across League-Proven Models – The New England system has historically emphasized thoroughness and discipline in the scouting process, which carried over to Denver (where Peters worked) and then to San Francisco.

📈 Impact on the 49ers Adopting this grading structure is widely seen as part of the broader culture shift that helped the 49ers build a stronger roster via the draft and free agency in the years after 2017, contributing to drafting key players and building consistency in evaluations.

In short, Peters didn't just bring his résumé from successful franchises — he brought a structured, collaborative draft grading philosophy rooted in New England's processes (filtered through Denver) to the 49ers, helping standardize how prospects were evaluated and contributing to the organization's talent-building approach.

I dislike AI, but I dont know about this anyway.

I know they touted their "gold helmet" thing since Foster didnt pan out and try to take high-character guys and leaders, when someone like Eagles dont have a problem taking someone like Jalen Carter when he falls due to maybe character concerns

https://www.hogshaven.com/2024/5/9/24152778/how-have-san-franciscos-gold-helmet-draftees-performed-in-the-nfl

"The San Francisco 49ers will designate about 15 to 20 prospects as "gold helmet" players heading into the draft. The designation is reserved for players considered "exemplary" in several areas, including performance, leadership, and intelligence"

Its a mixed bag of results, but again the main thing is that the picks that they hit on out of these gold helmet guys were late rounders.
And the big bust here was the QB they spent 3 first round picks on

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
I dont get what you're calling revisionist history. Hes the one who was hired by Kyle, with no experience. Kyle himself suggested it. This doesnt negate your post that it wasnt a desirable job, but I dont see how your post contradicts what I said.

John Lynch was a media guy with zero experience when Kyle talked to him and decided to hire him. Kyle signed off on it. Its not even remotely close to the Baalke/Harbaugh standoff we used to have where Baalke wielded considerable power. And honestly the whole Baalke/Harbaugh thing was probably a debacle Jed wanted to avoid again.

You said:

'The only reason Lynch is in this position is because of Kyle.'

This is what I'm arguing against. We couldn't attract our GM targets because of the state and structure of the organization. That is not because of Kyle, as I briefly described in my post. This position was open and filled by Lynch for actual reasons. That Kyle signed off on him is one small facet of how he was able to get the job.

Ultimately, you and I agree a lot… or rather, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I just would point out that I think you are looking for responsibility in the wrong direction. This is an organizational issue that predates Kyle's tenure. We have had some version of a Frankenstein GM since McCloughan was shown the door.

Originally posted by SmokeyJoe:

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
I dont get what you're calling revisionist history. Hes the one who was hired by Kyle, with no experience. Kyle himself suggested it. This doesnt negate your post that it wasnt a desirable job, but I dont see how your post contradicts what I said.

John Lynch was a media guy with zero experience when Kyle talked to him and decided to hire him. Kyle signed off on it. Its not even remotely close to the Baalke/Harbaugh standoff we used to have where Baalke wielded considerable power. And honestly the whole Baalke/Harbaugh thing was probably a debacle Jed wanted to avoid again.

You said:

'The only reason Lynch is in this position is because of Kyle.'

This is what I'm arguing against. We couldn't attract our GM targets because of the state and structure of the organization. That is not because of Kyle, as I briefly described in my post. This position was open and filled by Lynch for actual reasons. That Kyle signed off on him is one small facet of how he was able to get the job.

Ultimately, you and I agree a lot… or rather, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. I just would point out that I think you are looking for responsibility in the wrong direction. This is an organizational issue that predates Kyle's tenure. We have had some version of a Frankenstein GM since McCloughan was shown the door.

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
I dislike AI, but I dont know about this anyway.

I know they touted their "gold helmet" thing since Foster didnt pan out and try to take high-character guys and leaders, when someone like Eagles dont have a problem taking someone like Jalen Carter when he falls due to maybe character concerns

https://www.hogshaven.com/2024/5/9/24152778/how-have-san-franciscos-gold-helmet-draftees-performed-in-the-nfl

"The San Francisco 49ers will designate about 15 to 20 prospects as "gold helmet" players heading into the draft. The designation is reserved for players considered "exemplary" in several areas, including performance, leadership, and intelligence"

Its a mixed bag of results, but again the main thing is that the picks that they hit on out of these gold helmet guys were late rounders.
And the big bust here was the QB they spent 3 first round picks on

Lance being a bust was a huge hit to their roster. That is the kind of move that normally gets people fired but Purdy really bailed them out. But missing those three first rounders, guys who should be entering their primes right now really was a major drag on this team.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Lance being a bust was a huge hit to their roster. That is the kind of move that normally gets people fired but Purdy really bailed them out. But missing those three first rounders, guys who should be entering their primes right now really was a major drag on this team.

I still think it was worse than just losing those picks and missing on Trey. I believe we drafted several guys because we took Trey. Don't think Aaron Banks, Trey Sermon or Danny Gray are 49ers without Lance being drafted.

We invested a ton to make it work with Trey. Just a really crappy situation. Have to wonder how much Covid played a factor in the poor evaluation.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Lance being a bust was a huge hit to their roster. That is the kind of move that normally gets people fired but Purdy really bailed them out. But missing those three first rounders, guys who should be entering their primes right now really was a major drag on this team.

I still think it was worse than just losing those picks and missing on Trey. I believe we drafted several guys because we took Trey. Don't think Aaron Banks, Trey Sermon or Danny Gray are 49ers without Lance being drafted.

We invested a ton to make it work with Trey. Just a really crappy situation. Have to wonder how much Covid played a factor in the poor evaluation.

Investing that much capital in a project QB AND drafting a bunch of guys who are dependent on playing with said QB is a pretty idiotic strategy, no?

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Lance being a bust was a huge hit to their roster. That is the kind of move that normally gets people fired but Purdy really bailed them out. But missing those three first rounders, guys who should be entering their primes right now really was a major drag on this team.

I still think it was worse than just losing those picks and missing on Trey. I believe we drafted several guys because we took Trey. Don't think Aaron Banks, Trey Sermon or Danny Gray are 49ers without Lance being drafted.

We invested a ton to make it work with Trey. Just a really crappy situation. Have to wonder how much Covid played a factor in the poor evaluation.

Ithink Trey Sermon was just the front office. They have been awful with top 4 round RBs since Joe Williams.

I realize under Eddie D we fired coaches for not WINNING the Super Bowl. I get that then because Eddie D spent the most money to ensure we had the best players. Nowadays under the salary cap things aren't that simple. We didn't have the best players this year at least as far as being healthy yet our coaching staff turned in one of the finest coaching jobs in the NFL

I realize now to expect the front office and coaching staff to give us a chance to make the postseason and compete for the ultimate prize.