It was probably less than an hour before John Lynch was asked the question at 49ers headquarters. Maybe less than 10 minutes. It was revealed that assistant general manager Adam Peters turned down interview requests for two open general manager positions, opting to remain with the 49ers.
And then …
“I just had someone come in and say, ‘Hey man, is there anything I should know?'” John Lynch said, laughing, during a phone interview Wednesday. “I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’ He said, “I get all these calls that people think you’re leaving.” I said, ‘No, I’m fine.’”
No, Lynch isn’t ready to go anywhere, just like Peters isn’t ready to go anywhere. First, the 49ers’ two top football managers are both focused on that playoff run, which begins Saturday against the Seahawks. And secondly, while Peters is the best bet to eventually move into the 49ers’ GM spot, should Lynch decide to go to TV or elsewhere, it is currently, or likely not, happening this offseason.
Lynch said that Peters’ decision to decline interviews with the Titans and Cardinals — originally reported by NFL Network — was his personal decision, which Lynch both appreciates and understands.
“I think Adam just walked in and said, ‘Look, I respect both of these places, but I’m very happy here,'” Lynch said. “I think that’s a great thing. You know, Adam is from here (Cupertino) and is a big part of what we’ve done. He was big to me. At the same time I am a friend. I said, ‘Pete, maybe you should at least talk to these people.’ But he was convinced that he was good here. And his family is happy. So I like that and I think yeah we have a place that people want to be.
“We’re focused on this week but I think there’s a good feeling that we’re going to be a good team and organization for a long time to come and people want to be a part of that.”
Lynch was of course heavily followed by Amazon Prime in the past offseason and will probably always get mega-money feelers from the networks. He admitted in November he was close to taking the Amazon job, which is reportedly worth $15 million a year, but decided he couldn’t leave the 49ers with “unfinished business.” So if the 49ers win the Super Bowl this February, Lynch might be more serious about listening to a great offer. But even then, he sounds more than ready to stay.
A lot of stability permeates this franchise, even after a pretty turbulent season that saw the 49ers go up against three quarterbacks and end up going into the playoffs and beyond with probably the best of them all – rookie Brock Purdy. Lynch and Kyle Shanahan also made the big mid-season trade for Christian McCaffrey, who from the moment he showed up it looked like he’d basically been here forever. They have the #1 defense in the league, filled with stars.
The 49ers could win the Super Bowl this season. Maybe not. But six seasons into the Shanahan/Lynch era, they’ve never seemed more perfectly positioned to take this further and higher. And together. Why wouldn’t Peters want to hang around in this potential ’49s boom time?
That set a good starting point for my planned check-in with Lynch on Wednesday, just after the 49ers practiced in wind, rain and whatever else swept outside Levi’s Stadium – just as predicted for Saturday afternoon.
Here are some of the other highlights from our conversation…
How did training go in all the rain?
It was good because it looks like we’re going to play in it on Saturday.
Do you think your team is well suited to this weather in a game of everything?
I think we’re set to be (a good rain team). We’re pretty much complete. We do many different things well. We stop the run, we run the ball well. Those are typically the things (that matter in weather). Brock obviously grew up in Arizona (didn’t play in extreme weather), but he weathered a lot of bad weather at Iowa State. So I think he’s ready for that.
You’ve been through three QBs and all that this season, but it feels like you and Kyle followed pretty much the same roster-building principles. What do you think this season is telling us about your process?
I think what I’m probably most proud of is that we’ve spent some money since we’ve been here – part of the reason it was a good job, (was) because they hadn’t (had spent a lot of money) before we came here (February 2017) so you want to hear these things that they’ve committed to. We were pretty aggressive. But at some point you have to find a balance. And I think last (off-season) was one of those years for us.
Still, we went out anyway, we probably knew we had a significant move and for us it was a couple of things: the signing of Deebo (Samuel) and then Charvarius Ward in terms of the free hand. Very happy. We were all geared towards finding a prime corner. And then this Charvarius was exactly the right one. He was incredible for us. Just love everything from his mentality to his skills.
But after that we had some things we wanted to do, but we had to be creative and find players at a good value. Some of these guys, Ray-Ray (McCloud), Oren Burks, George Odum, these guys were really important.
We’ve emphasized special teams, but Kyle and I always agreed we don’t want just one guy (who only plays special teams). (Bill) Belichick will do that and it has served him well, but we just don’t want guys who are just special teams players. We want guys who can contribute offensively and defensively. And I think we certainly saw that from Ray-Ray; Oren has filled in at the linebacker at limited intervals, but he’s played really well when he has. Ray-Ray’s return ability… I have a feeling he’s just getting started. He’s about to bang one. And George Odum, I think, was dominant. I think he should be an All-Pro Special Teams player the way he’s playing, especially lately. I’m really proud of our staff for these movements.
Of course, so much focus is on Purdy, a rookie QB playing at this level. But he was a seventh-round pick, the last pick of the entire draft. How close were you to not taking him?
We came in with the stated goal that, hey, somewhere late in the draft, let’s pick a quarterback that we really believe in. As we do with the later parts of the draft, the month before I told the story, Steve Slowik, who is now a pro scout and brother to Bobby Slowik, our passing coordinator, was the area scout. So his reports consistently referred more to the person than to the player. He’s talking to (Iowa State Coach) Matt Campbell. And Matt Campbell said, “This guy changed the program. Just listen to me, you’re going to get a special player.”
We had some good grades for him. Probably higher in his junior year than in his senior. But the process that we normally do, for the later half of the draft, we’re going to hand over a bunch of people (to position coaches). (QB coach Brian) Griese and (assistant QB coach) Klay Kubiak, we had a bucket of probably about eight people, and they became fans of Brock really early in the process. … And they really went into depth, zoom meetings and all that, Brock got more and more convicted. After we sort of ticked off our checklist of everything we felt we needed, “Okay, we need a few more corners…” When we got that done and Brock was still there, we wanted him as a free agent. We didn’t know if he would hold out. When we got to the last pick and ticked all the other boxes, it was like, “Let’s just go ahead and take our quarterback. We like this kid. We are convicted, let’s not leave it to chance.”
And I’ve never asked Brock, I’ve always told myself I’ll do it, but I don’t want to rack his brains, “Would you have come as a free agent?” I hope he would have. (Laughs.)
I think what probably surprised us all is that he is a better athlete than any of us expected. You’ve seen him roam around Iowa State for a bit, but you never know how that’ll translate. But there’s something sporty about him. Last week he escaped early in the game and gained an advantage over a defender who ended up rushing for 12-13 yards. I mean, that’s big business if you move the chains. He has done it repeatedly.
Things can always change this season and often have at this position, but Purdy’s performance right now looks like Jimmy Garoppolo’s first big hit of 2017, and Garoppolo was your starting QB straight away in 2018. Is Purdy your starter in the next season?
I know it’s my job but I was really focused on it, let’s not even go there. Let’s ride this thing out. I’ll need Kyle’s participation. i have my own thoughts But I was really trying to focus on that, let’s just keep going as it comes. We’ll think of something.
We have a really good situation with a guy that we moved a lot for to get into (2021 first round) Trey (Lance). We still love his skills. And Brock was more than we could ever have asked for. We really liked him, but I said to people, “Yeah, we waited until the last draft selection.” (Laughs.)
Only thing I want to say, the athleticism of bringing him into a game surprised us. But he performed at a high level out here from day one. OTAs, all that. Everyone looks at each other: “Wow, this guy has guts.” He threw into small windows, he was efficient. He’s performed from the start, but you never know until you throw him in there. The same can be said now, we’re going to the playoffs. How will he react? But he’s ticked every box so far, so I wouldn’t expect to see anything else.
Also, you have a seventh-round contract and Lance’s rookie contract as your two QBs are sure to help your salary cap next season.
And the way we’re set up, we have a lot of highly paid people (in other positions). How you do that? You don’t pay your quarterback what some people pay their quarterback. There was certainly a strategy when we were thinking about going into Trey and all of that. That’s how we were able to keep this team together. This is one possible way. Who knows where we’re going? But I think we have a good situation.
GO DEEPER
That’s why the 49ers have a championship profile
(Photo: Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)