John Lynch - 49ers GM

Originally posted by NYniner85:

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

It often takes longer to evalute O linemen. College isn't preparing them for the NFL as much as they used to. QB and DB can also take longer. Edge, WRs and RBs are a little easier to evaluate.

Much of the bd draft talk is a direct result from the Lance deal. That screwed up 3 seasons. Yet somehow the Niners have managed to stay competitive even with a lot of injuries so they must be doin something right.

Originally posted by Giedi:

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.

Could have just taken Lomu at 27

Originally posted by 49ersRing:
We're relying heavily on those guys, but we went 12-5 last year with most of those guys missing significant time?

Good point, other than CMC, Kittle, Purdy, TW, Bosa and Warner all missed significant time. They did still make the playoffs and beat the previous Superbowl champions. So they are a long way through the rebuild/reload phase of this cycle. Tonges really did a great job in subbing in for Kittle, and the rookie LB's and 2nd year LB's did decently subbing in for Warner. Mykel Williams did decently as a DE and was just developing his pass rushing until his season was cut short by injuries. The 2025 class is developing nicely if you extrapolate the 2025 results out into 2026. If the 2026 draft is anything resembling the 2025 draft, the Superbowl window is wide open. We'll find that out starting in preseason.

Originally posted by mcwoot:
Could have just taken Lomu at 27

It could have been Peter Woods (Defensive Tackle) that they really wanted. Who knows? All we have as evidence of their mindset at Pick #30 is they picked Trey Down at that spot for whatever reason. Either it was Lomu or Woods? Your guess is as good as mine.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
It often takes longer to evalute O linemen. College isn't preparing them for the NFL as much as they used to. QB and DB can also take longer. Edge, WRs and RBs are a little easier to evaluate.

Much of the bd draft talk is a direct result from the Lance deal. That screwed up 3 seasons. Yet somehow the Niners have managed to stay competitive even with a lot of injuries so they must be doin something right.

Yeah, after the Trey Lance draft fiasco, the 49ers went 13-4, 12-5 (Superbowl), 6-11, and back to 12-5 (beat previous Superbowl winner in the payoffs). Tough to get rid of John Lynch the GM with those kinds of results.

For those of you who are intent to keep wringing your hands over the draft I strongly suggest watching jonnydel's latest video. It's a long one, but I promise you'll feel better about some of these picks by the end.

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.

Mykel was actually playing quite well before he got hurt. There was a huge drop-off in the run defense after he got hurt. He was making a big impact there even if it wasn't necessarily showing up in the stat line.

Originally posted by mcwoot:

Originally posted by Giedi:

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.

Could have just taken Lomu at 27

When they trade back to #30 they may have thought Lomu woud still be there. As soon as NE took him at 28 they traded back into the 2nd round and picked up an extra pick. None of us knows for sure but it seems like a likely scenario.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by 9moon:
Shanny
Martz
June Jones
Norm Chow
Air Coryell
Norv Turner

all are nothing more than a very good OC.. nothing is wrong with that, but some are just not made to be a HC...

Objectively you can't say that after what transpired this past season. We were tossing out UDFAs and backups to backups and beating the defending SB champs in the playoffs.

Kyle is a f**king good HC plain and simple. Anyone trying to argue that is not a serious person.

We can all prerend we know how our draft hierarchy goes…I'm guessing Kyle has more say in those skilled positions like WR. That's his position. Proclaiming he's overriding everyone for every pick and he's the only one watching film is being emotional and dumb. I do think we need to change up our scouting department and GM. Proof is in the pudding there.

We need to let the GM and scouts get the groceries and let the coaching cook. Better balance needs to be had.

GLAD you finally learned that he's a GOOD head coach not a GREAT head coach... the media made him better too soon than he was.. the fact that he made our team better than Tomsula and Chip never meant for him to be GREAT overnight.

... but if Shanny truly is better than a " good HC ", then he should get rid of the people who's been doing the groceries because he's cookin has yet to improve..

Originally posted by NYniner85:
End of the day fans are gonna get one of two outcomes. This draft actually turns into a good quality draft and shuts up all the media/fan noise OR they bomb and Lynch is gone.

Jed would then find a more established GM who brings in his own dudes and Kyle remains HC.

OR... he should advise Shanny to take the next HC out there while keeping the GM here and see who really is the problem. ..

I find it hard to believe they're content with running it back at S with a group of Brown, Mustapha, and Sigle as their main guys. McMorris, if they are signing him, will probably be just a camp body w/ hopes of making it via ST. The limitations with Brown & Mustapha are well known and both are more SS types. Maybe they like Sigle a lot and are counting on him more this year.

S is very concerning if this definitely will be the group.

What's even more unbelievable is outside of Jimmie Ward, who was picked before this regime, the guys at S have all been very average to subpar (Hufanga being somewhat of an exception) yet this team has a GM who played the position at a HOF level and knows it as well as anyone.

In having the privilege to watch guys like Lott, McDonald and Hanks at S on this team, am probably just spoiled. Just thought the position would always be a strong point with Lynch as GM.

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.

very very good posts aqui...

I have the same issue w/this draft alone, and what bugs me the most is we drafted another RB who I don't see as a bell cow... I'm not saying he sucks because the kid can play and I saw enough of him last year but the fact is, why do we need another RB when Jordan was also drafted last year? are already saying that Jordan ain't the one?

Also, the entire coaching staff forgot to put a RETURNER on the list of their draft needs, how is that possible?

I'm not surprised by how the draft went. Definitely wish we had been able to do more at OL and DB instead of WR and RB, but this seems to be our MO. I also accept the argument that anything outside the first couple dozen picks is going to be a gamble, so we had limited opportunity in this draft in the first place. I suspect we'll stay in that posture of hoping our vets get and stay healthy so we can make the playoffs, but I will be very impressed if we compete for the division title.

I've seen a lot of posts commenting on how evaluating draft quality and reaches is relative because consensus is just a bunch of opinions in the first place. If the facts were changed and we got a bunch of consensus top picks well after their projected draft spot, would we also be discounting the overall evaluation because it's based on consensus? Or would we be hyped because we got a bunch of steals?

I just heard another person talking about how bad Lynch is at drafting. He said it goes all the way back to Solomon Thomas. He obviously forgot that Thomas was widely viewed by the draft scouts around thre league as a top 10 and even a top 5 talent. Guess what? All the "experts" were wrong. This same guy said they need to hire a draft guru with a proven track record. Okay. Who would that be? If he's really great he's already working for another team. What person has an unblemished draft record. Even the great Bill Walsh had his share of misses.

Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
I just heard another person talking about how bad Lynch is at drafting. He said it goes all the way back to Solomon Thomas. He obviously forgot that Thomas was widely viewed by the draft scouts around thre league as a top 10 and even a top 5 talent. Guess what? All the "experts" were wrong. This same guy said they need to hire a draft guru with a proven track record. Okay. Who would that be? If he's really great he's already working for another team. What person has an unblemished draft record. Even the great Bill Walsh had his share of misses.

Are you looking at John Lynch's draft results and coming to the conclusion that he's good at drafting?