ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported yesterday that a league source told him that 49ers President and CEO Jed York intends to contact Miami Dolphins consultant Bill Parcells to get his opinion on in-house GM candidate Trent Baalke. Consider this additional smoke in the theory of "where there's smoke there's fire." Yesterday reports began surfacing amongst national media that Trent Baalke had quickly emerged as the favorite in the 49ers GM search.
While I was initially hesitant to buy into this right away, the signals are certainly starting to increase. Trent Baalke may still end up not getting the job, but doing some reference checks on the guy is a step that goes beyond the basic interview. Baalke worked for Parcells for a couple years as a scout with the Jets so Parcells would have at least something to talk about. Of course, given the work Baalke would have performed in the role of a scout, I can't imagine there's as much of the management issues that come with the GM position. That's not to say that Parcells opinion isn't valuable. Parcells is respected around the league and maybe his gut instinct could carry the day.
If Parcells were to endorse Baalke and Baalke ended up getting the job, would a Parcells endorsement change your mind any about the decision? Or is it just a basic PR move that only serves to improve the 49ers image above anything else? Personally I'd put a check in the positive column, but it would be too early to tell. So for the purposes of the attached poll, I'd vote yes, but it'd be a sort of hesitant yes. I suppose that puts it somewhere between yes and maybe, but given my positive nature I'll round up.