John Lynch - 49ers GM

I am sick of Lynch and Shanahan's approach to the draft and the conceit that they can ignore major needs at certain positions because they can get by with lesser players at a cheaper price. They're drafting for need at the same spots every year and not addressing obvious holes that they can fix. It's maddening. I would love to see them draft the best player available JUST ONCE if that's possible. I will apologize if this draft class brings us a couple of superstars, but I just don't see it.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
I am sick of Lynch and Shanahan's approach to the draft and the conceit that they can ignore major needs at certain positions because they can get by with lesser players at a cheaper price. They're drafting for need at the same spots every year and not addressing obvious holes that they can fix. It's maddening. I would love to see them draft the best player available JUST ONCE if that's possible. I will apologize if this draft class brings us a couple of superstars, but I just don't see it.

This isn't a draft that was loaded with potential superstars. The one consensus was it wasn't a great draft. There was a good player here and there but it will never be ranked as one of the great drafts ever.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
I am sick of Lynch and Shanahan's approach to the draft and the conceit that they can ignore major needs at certain positions because they can get by with lesser players at a cheaper price. They're drafting for need at the same spots every year and not addressing obvious holes that they can fix. It's maddening. I would love to see them draft the best player available JUST ONCE if that's possible. I will apologize if this draft class brings us a couple of superstars, but I just don't see it.

This isn't a draft that was loaded with potential superstars. The one consensus was it wasn't a great draft. There was a good player here and there but it will never be ranked as one of the great drafts ever.

Sounds like an excuse, why do you feel the need to say this??

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
This isn't a draft that was loaded with potential superstars. The one consensus was it wasn't a great draft. There was a good player here and there but it will never be ranked as one of the great drafts ever.

Yeah...it was not just some of the talking heads.....NFL teams were trading all over the place.

People want to act like there was a ton of can't miss dudes, and yet so many NFL teams wanted nothing to do with drafting them early.

It truly does give the impression that at least some teams saw very little difference between players picked dozens of picks apart.

This will be an interesting draft to watch develop over the next 3-4 years. The talking heads tend to hype hype hype, they have a vested interest in people paying attention to them, but this is one of the more polarizing drafts when you compare outsiders to insiders.

I wonder how easy it would be quantify that "weak draft" stigma now, before we even see these dudes take the field with NFL players. For example can we see lower physical scores, or college production...or is there a size to athleticism relationship this class just lacks...or is this all coming back to age? Or could this "weak draft class" just be a product of a larger percentage of NFL size athletes not having 2-3 years in the same program to show out?

Originally posted by 49ers81:

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:
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.

Ah, yes. The mythical "other" choice. Who is to say picks at any of those other positions would have resulted in players who were capable of making an impact. There have been plenty of third round selections at every position on the field, all across the league, who never turned out to be anything other than rotational players or out and out busts. You spend all of your time it here lambasting the team for the way it drafts and yet your argument here is that if they hadn't taken those RBs in round three they would have been able to get better players at other positions but, according to you, they're incapable of selecting good players so why is there any expectation that the LB, corner or guard you mentioned would have been a better choice.

You have a point but until we develope better o line play we will not beat Seattle. We have waisted many picks on RB's and WR's who never even play.

The first coach i would fire is someone who says we don't need to draft oline players early we can coach 2nd tier players instead. That's not working. So if we would have drafted o line help we would be much better going forward.

It was an uninspiring draft, but at least we made some good moves in free agency.

Originally posted by Sickaa:
It was an uninspiring draft, but at least we made some good moves in free agency.

It was an uninspiring draft across the board, not just for us.

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by Sickaa:
It was an uninspiring draft, but at least we made some good moves in free agency.

It was an uninspiring draft across the board, not just for us.

That makes me feel a little better

Originally posted by Sickaa:

Originally posted by English:

Originally posted by Sickaa:
It was an uninspiring draft, but at least we made some good moves in free agency.

It was an uninspiring draft across the board, not just for us.

That makes me feel a little better

At least we didn't take a dubious prospect at qb with a high first round pick, that even his new Head Coach doesn't want!

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
We won't know how good or bad this draft was until we see them play for at least one season. Some draft picks take 2 years or more before they develop. Yes Lynch may get fired eventually but hiring an established GM isn't necessarily going to yield good players. All GMs have wins and whiffs. When a team wins the SB or has a great year their GM may win executive of the year. Trent Balke won it once. All it takes is one good (lucky) draft and the GM looks like a genius.

I know it looks like the 49ers always seem to reach for players instead of going with the popular choices. The GM and coach have to rely a lot on their scouts. If they don't then just get rid of them and listen to Mel Kiper or some other supposed draft guru. We don't know who they were targeting of how they had players rated. They have to view potential picks on how they fit with the scheme of their team and not how someone else ranks them. They may have wanted some other players that were taken before their pick. That would force them to go in another direction.

Most of us fans felt they needed to upgrade the interior of the O line. Well there weren't many good interiot O line players. Two went in the first round ahead of thr 49ers pick. They could have taken Bisontis in the 2nd but I guess they felt Sribling was someone they wanted more. I was hoping for Pregnon in the 3rd round but they passed on him for some reason. Maybe they felt he wasn't a good fit for them. He's a little like Aaron Banks.

Overall you can tell if a guy is gonna be something or not after a season of football (minus injuries) especially if you're an older prospect.

if none of these guys are getting starting reps that's not gonna be a good look. If the DL they took last yr aren't showing real growth, that's a problem.

I agree one really good draft can change everything for a FO.

I think a team should be able to understand how to still get their guys and navigate the board to make is such that they're not reaching rds for players.

If their draft board is so vastly different than everyone else's and those reach players keep turning into bad players…then you're just really bad at your job and need to go

I keep seeing people say "oh but we keep winning" as a rationale for the awful drafts over the last few years. So I checked and looked and here are the dudes since the Bosa draft that were actually impactful meaning they were a positive for the team and played well. Bold are guys not even on the team anymore. 2022 and 23 were incredibly awful.

2020
Yuk
JJ
Colton

2021
Dmo
Banks
Huff

2022
Purdy

2023
Literally nobody

2024
Ricky
Green ( this is a stretch)
Puni

2025
Mykel was okay
Stout
Collins and West were okay but nothing impressive. I guess they could be a positive.

This team wins because Kyle is a goated coach and they are relying HEAVILY on Kittle, CMC, Purdy, TW, Warner and Bosa. Dudes that we traded for or were drafted pre 2020 with the only exception being Purdy. I don't see how anyone can look at Lynchs draft since 19 with a straight face and be like yeah he's a solid GM.

Originally posted by tankle104:
Ah! Finally got the safety we all hoped and wanted.

I like the 49ers Punter pick - because it was an UDFA.

Originally posted by ninersrule4:
I keep seeing people say "oh but we keep winning" as a rationale for the awful drafts over the last few years. So I checked and looked and here are the dudes since the Bosa draft that were actually impactful meaning they were a positive for the team and played well. Bold are guys not even on the team anymore. 2022 and 23 were incredibly awful.

2020
Yuk
JJ
Colton

2021
Dmo
Banks
Huff

2022
Purdy

2023
Literally nobody

2024
Ricky
Green ( this is a stretch)
Puni

2025
Mykel was okay
Stout
Collins and West were okay but nothing impressive. I guess they could be a positive.

This team wins because Kyle is a goated coach and they are relying HEAVILY on Kittle, CMC, Purdy, TW, Warner and Bosa. Dudes that we traded for or were drafted pre 2020 with the only exception being Purdy. I don't see how anyone can look at Lynchs draft since 19 with a straight face and be like yeah he's a solid GM.

We're relying heavily on those guys, but we went 12-5 last year with most of those guys missing significant time?

Originally posted by ninersrule4:
I keep seeing people say "oh but we keep winning" as a rationale for the awful drafts over the last few years. So I checked and looked and here are the dudes since the Bosa draft that were actually impactful meaning they were a positive for the team and played well. Bold are guys not even on the team anymore. 2022 and 23 were incredibly awful.

2020
Yuk
JJ
Colton

2021
Dmo
Banks
Huff

2022
Purdy

2023
Literally nobody

2024
Ricky
Green ( this is a stretch)
Puni

2025
Mykel was okay
Stout
Collins and West were okay but nothing impressive. I guess they could be a positive.

This team wins because Kyle is a goated coach and they are relying HEAVILY on Kittle, CMC, Purdy, TW, Warner and Bosa. Dudes that we traded for or were drafted pre 2020 with the only exception being Purdy. I don't see how anyone can look at Lynchs draft since 19 with a straight face and be like yeah he's a solid GM.

At end of day Kyle is making the calls so its hard to know how much sway John really has. This next extension needs to involve the personnel group being given the say to make personnel decisions.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
We won't know how good or bad this draft was until we see them play for at least one season. Some draft picks take 2 years or more before they develop. Yes Lynch may get fired eventually but hiring an established GM isn't necessarily going to yield good players. All GMs have wins and whiffs. When a team wins the SB or has a great year their GM may win executive of the year. Trent Balke won it once. All it takes is one good (lucky) draft and the GM looks like a genius.

I know it looks like the 49ers always seem to reach for players instead of going with the popular choices. The GM and coach have to rely a lot on their scouts. If they don't then just get rid of them and listen to Mel Kiper or some other supposed draft guru. We don't know who they were targeting of how they had players rated. They have to view potential picks on how they fit with the scheme of their team and not how someone else ranks them. They may have wanted some other players that were taken before their pick. That would force them to go in another direction.

Most of us fans felt they needed to upgrade the interior of the O line. Well there weren't many good interiot O line players. Two went in the first round ahead of thr 49ers pick. They could have taken Bisontis in the 2nd but I guess they felt Sribling was someone they wanted more. I was hoping for Pregnon in the 3rd round but they passed on him for some reason. Maybe they felt he wasn't a good fit for them. He's a little like Aaron Banks.

On your OLine point. Two players the 49ers possibly wanted at the 27 pick were Dillon Thieneman (safety) and Keylan Rutledge (guard) but both were poached right before the 49ers could pick. I think its entirely possible 49ers picked Trey Down at the 27th spot was because these two (or one of them) got poached that they really liked. Same thing kinda happened at the 30th pick, Patriots picked Caleb Lomu (tackle) right before the 49ers could pick him.

The head coach of the Texans that picked Keylan Rutledge is Demeco Ryans. The Patriots that poached Caleb is Josh McDaniels (Patriots OC) who's coached with Dante Scarenecchia, another Bob McKittrick kind of coach that likes athleticism more than power.

On your player development point. I think this year they really focused on the player intangibles because they got burned a bit by the Aiyuk situation. I think the 49ers really wanted to avoid players with his kind of attitude, motivation, or work ethic. Kyle really had difficulties in coaching Aiyuk at the beginning of his career here and I think the front office and John, made a decision to really avoid those kinds of players. The guys they picked in the 2026 draft all seem to have that pit bull mentality and tremendous work ethic.