John Lynch - 49ers GM

Literally nobody knows how a draft will work out. Nobody. Not the team. Not the bloggers. Not the player. And not the players mama. Nobody has any idea.

it's okay to just say we don't know and move on.

We don't have to pretend to be authorities on s**t that will happen years from now.

I trust my eyes and they tell me his picks suck. Consistently suck. That's my process and I trust it. We need a real GM. He is not the guy shanny needs to put us over the hump.

With the signing of UDFA M. Black, we are slowly becoming Indiana Hoosiers West

Originally posted by FL9r:
I trust my eyes and they tell me his picks suck. Consistently suck. That's my process and I trust it. We need a real GM. He is not the guy shanny needs to put us over the hump.

Its the scouting approach as a whole. There's still a bunch of Baalke holdovers in the building.

Originally posted by glorydayz:

Originally posted by LifelongNiner:

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Thought this was interesting…Tariq Ahmad, RJ Gillen, and Josh Williams explaining SF's draft process.

I watched that earlier. I'm not sure how to feel about what I heard. Dude brought up Dre Greenlaw and George Kittle as proof of their process...my guy, that was seven years ago. You have no new Kittles or Greenlaws to show for the last four drafts.

I feel like these draft issues might be a systemic problem...

They really didn't say much that we all don't already know. One thing that stood out to me is that they self scout two years back and look two years back as to what went right and what went wrong.

So I'm sure they will be reviewing this two years from now.

So that mens they have reviewed the drafts of 2022 and 2023 by now. Admittedly, I feel better about the last three drafts than I do those two. But that's a pretty low bar. 2022 and 2023 yielded absolutely nothing. Whereas as it stands right now, we've only acquired decent role player. In the 2024 draft, I can only see Pearsall and Puni having any kind of chance to be a major player due to having a couple of big games for Pearsall and Puni's rookie year. Hopefully Pearsall can remain healthy and Puni can return to form from rookie year. Mustapha finally gets his first real offseason not as a rookie or injured, so we'll see. But it's all a bunch of projection.

Ditto for Mykel Williams the following year. We'll see what the unit looks like altogether over the course of a year.

Originally posted by Chance:

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
I think what bugs me most about their approach to the draft is that they just don't solve stuff. They went into the draft with major needs at edge, safety, offensive guard and tight end and they leave the draft with all of those same needs.

Height is a nice pickup but if you want to see a team knocking out their issue at edge, look at Dallas as an example. I want them to commit to addressing specific things or simply going best player available. Instead they reach for weird needs and often miss because they are reaching and simply trying to outsmart everyone else while a team like Baltimore makes the smart, conventional picks year in and year out and year in and year out they manage to acquire a bunch of productive players.

Given the cowboys used half their picks on EDGE, I would hope they addressed their issues there. Our issues were a bit different insofar our two high first round EDGEs that were lost to season ending injuries. Height looks like a perfect replacement to Huff, and being back to full health gives us a major boon to the position over last year. We also freed up about 11 million before the draft. I don't think we've finished addressing the position.

I think we addressed G in this draft seeing as we took two. It'll be a competition between Colby, the rookies, and the two FAs to see who takes that position. Seems we're banking on a game of numbers here, and hoping a clear winner emerges.

we didn't grab a S, which also surprised me. I don't know if it was due to where we picked and not loving any player above what we have. I like Mustapha and Sigle quite a bit, but recognize neither is a true center fielder. But who knows, maybe an improved pass rush will alleviate the concern some. Still would have been nice to grab a guy to develop, hopefully one of our UDFAs is up for the task.

TE, I'm less worried. This class seemed pretty weak at the position and we saw last year that we have a capable guy to step in for Kittle.

I agree that we didn't address some of our weak spots, but I'd argue that we did address others. As much as we all hate Black being picked at 90, backup RB is a huge question mark, and a big need with CMC taking a beating year over year. Wish one of the last guys we picked at the position took better, but it is what it is.

Someone will win the guard position because someone has to. But no one we have is that talented where we have much of a chance to becoming significantly better as an O-line.

How do we know this as fact?

I don't have a crystal ball, but let's look at them. From Jones to Colby to the new guys. Has anyone produced anything for us to say "there's a good/great guard?" I believe in Puni based on what he showed his rookie year. Trent is still top 5 but he isnt going to get better. McKivitz may have peaked ( he is in year 7 as a pro now). Brendel has been sliding for some time. It would totally buck trends for these guys to improve.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by FL9r:
I trust my eyes and they tell me his picks suck. Consistently suck. That's my process and I trust it. We need a real GM. He is not the guy shanny needs to put us over the hump.

Its the scouting approach as a whole. There's still a bunch of Baalke holdovers in the building.

I wasn't aware of that,but it explains alot.

The consensus was 'what the f**k are the Niners doing"

I'll tell you what they were doing. They're drafting athletes with the intent of coaching them up just as SEA has been doing for two decades now. We needed to get younger faster stronger meaner and more physical and in this draft we did. We drafted athlete finally so now let's coach them up

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
I'll tell you what they were doing. They're drafting athletes with the intent of coaching them up just as SEA has been doing for two decades now. We needed to get younger faster stronger meaner and more physical and in this draft we did. We drafted athlete finally so now let's coach them up

Agree 💯% Here are some numbers I discovered on Reddit.
First number is Trent Williams, second number is Enrique Cruz Jr. If these numbers are true, Enrique is pretty Athletic.

Height: 6'4"5/8 vs 6'5"1/2
Weight: 315 vs 313
Arms: 34 1/4" vs 33 3/4"
Hands: 9 3/4" vs 10 1/4"
40 yard: 4.88 vs 4.94
10 yard split: 1.72 vs 1.74
Vertical jump: 34.5 vs 35'
Broad jump: 9'5" vs 9'8"

It's hilarious how all so called experts say we reached and yet everyone praises the Rams and Seahawks but they are also near that reach list for this year yet everyone here acts like they're much better I mean look at the Seahawks before the last few yrs those drafts didn't work out but some picks did same with us and the draft is a huge crapshoot so acting like Lynch is a bottom GM is incorrect I'm not sure there's more than 5 other GMs I think are better than he is and at least they spend money unlike Baalke who refused to sign anyone and drafted worse than any other GM I've ever seen

Also we consistently find gems and are always in the playoffs with 10 plus wins

Originally posted by WildBill:

Originally posted by Cisco0623:
Damn, a day early on the posts telling posters they have no right to question the team because they aren't employed in football and know nothing.

I guess nobody should vote because they aren't politicians? We used to have a system like that btw. lol. By this logic the forums should be shut down and fans should just stfu?

I'll apply the same logic to you fearing the Baalke years. Maybe some of us want the Walsh and Seifert years back. See how that works?

You can have your opinion, just don't act like you know better and rant rave like how some people do. Bring the receipts, especially as they mention you cant assess until a couple years.

Also, your logic about Baalke and Walsh is not coherent. Why? Because Lynch did the same thing this year that Walsh did-or did you forget the year 1986.
Another thing I was also referencing about Baalke that you erred was that during those years, it was his way or the Highway- not a consensus of the scouts, coaches etc.

I feel like your original post acts like you know better by telling other members not to post their opinions because they don't know football like Lynch and Kyle. Maybe I read that wrong, my bad. It's a forum, and while stupid and ridiculous things are said all the time, that's the nature of a fan forum.

You are comparing this draft to one of the greatest drafts in NFL history? How is that coherent? Are you basing it on Lynch making a few trades? If Lynch pulls John Taylor, Tom Rathman, Steve Wallace, and Charles Haley out of this draft I will buy you a beer.

Barking at each other aside, I do agree the two-year window is proper to evaluate rookies. They have to stay healthy, and Kyle has to actually play them. I think in this moment most people here are complaining about reach vs consensus as Warren Sharp's post points out, especially because of their more recent drafts.

The more recent drafts:

2020 imo not bad, but BA crashing out kind of kills it. I won't hold that against them though. I don't think anyone has seen anything like that before.

21-23 are catastrophic aside Purdy being insane (That pick literally saved their jobs after the Lance miss). Lenoir is great, and Brown blows. 3 guys out of 22 picks making any contribution. Maybe 1 or 2 more are on the bench? That's insane and why I completely understand fans being very skeptical lately.

The other aspect to this is with Kyle and younger players/rookies. Here are a few examples.

Guerendo didn't play ONE snap last season. NOT ONE. Why?

Jordan James got like 5 snaps in the last playoff game after riding the bench all season?! lol When asked he said he simply wasn't ready until end of the season and by then he didn't want to rock the boat.

Now he drafts a 25-year-old RB in rd3. This basically means we can cross off Guerendo from the 24 draft as a bust and probably James as well? from 25? Will Black automatically be ready in comparison? It just doesn't make much sense given their own history. So, for me, it's perfectly reasonable to see fellow fans on here saying WTH?

He drafts Stribling at 33. What does this mean for Cowing and Watkins? Even Pearsall to a degree. The odds are this kid barely sees any action given Kyles history and the depth at WR. Yet we still need a LG. have a plumber at Center. and have you and me at Safety.

As for Baalke vs Lynch / king vs committee. I don't think anyone cares how as long as the results are there and I am only worried about the team as it is today. I think it's very fair to say Kyle the GM is ruining Kyle the great coach.

Originally posted by AB81Rules:
It's hilarious how all so called experts say we reached and yet everyone praises the Rams and Seahawks but they are also near that reach list for this year yet everyone here acts like they're much better I mean look at the Seahawks before the last few yrs those drafts didn't work out but some picks did same with us and the draft is a huge crapshoot so acting like Lynch is a bottom GM is incorrect I'm not sure there's more than 5 other GMs I think are better than he is and at least they spend money unlike Baalke who refused to sign anyone and drafted worse than any other GM I've ever seen

Also we consistently find gems and are always in the playoffs with 10 plus wins

Baalke had a few home-run draft picks during his tenure here too.

Originally posted by AB81Rules:
It's hilarious how all so called experts say we reached and yet everyone praises the Rams and Seahawks but they are also near that reach list for this year yet everyone here acts like they're much better I mean look at the Seahawks before the last few yrs those drafts didn't work out but some picks did same with us and the draft is a huge crapshoot so acting like Lynch is a bottom GM is incorrect I'm not sure there's more than 5 other GMs I think are better than he is and at least they spend money unlike Baalke who refused to sign anyone and drafted worse than any other GM I've ever seen

Also we consistently find gems and are always in the playoffs with 10 plus wins

The point is that we have wasted so many picks including the Lance trade.

If we drafted better we probably have at least one SB by now.

Originally posted by Giedi:
And your point is.....? My point simply is that this reach value draft stuff isn't very important. What is important is to get the player your coach wants - assuming, big assumption here - he's any good. Kyle is an elite coach in my opinion. He's gone to two super bowls, Bill Walsh is still an offensive coordinator at Kyle's current age. Bill Walsh never smelled a Superbowl the way Kyle did at 37. NO WAY am I saying Kyles better than Bill, No WAY! But what I am saying is that Kyle's earned my deference on his draft pics by his ability to coach 3rd and 4th stringers and beat the Eagles in last years Wild Card game (as an example of him regularly outcoaching other normal NFL coaches) day in and day out.

My opinion, but I think we lost the two Superbowl because of defense and bad drafting (3 first round picks for Trey Lance). But he's the main reason we got to two Superbowl's in the first place. Good news is that Kyle is still growing as a coach, and the ShanaLynch team is still improving their drafting year in and year out - in my opinion of course.

Yea, Shanahan is a good coach but he needs to stick to coaching. Let the personnel guys do the drafting.

The proof will be in the pudding with Kaelon Black. Shanahan said it was his pick and he was the one who fell in love with him. If Black flames out and can't see the field as yet another 3rd round wasted RB pick he can't be allowed to be involved in the draft.

As for losing the SB's. Let's say one of those wasted picks is a LB, corner or guard. Someone who offered better depth at LB when Greenlaw went down and who didn't get picked on (Oren Burks) and changed the whole game or a safety who doesn't allow the 3rd and 15 or a guard who doesn't let Chris Jones run unblocked like Burford we probably win at least one, probably 2 SB's.

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
The point is that we have wasted so many picks including the Lance trade.

If we drafted better we probably have at least one SB by now.

Yup, I think everybody including ShanaLynch regrets that trade. Mac Jones would have been the probable pick and those first rounders we gave up could have gone to the defensive line or defensive backs. Mac Jones was an all pro - I believe - in his rookie or 2nd year, I think. Point being he was a very good QB from the git go. He would have (and he has) done well under Kyle Shanahan. Maybe we'd have had a better shot at winning in the big one in 2023 with Mac and all those first round picks. Who knows.

But between Mac Jones and Brock Purdy - I'd rather have Brock Purdy. He's so much more mobile and accurate than Mac, and I think if ShanaLynch *consistently* drafts more like 2025 and less like 2021, Brock is going to win multiple Superbowl's.