Three weeks ago, the San Francisco 49ers honored former owner Eddie DeBartolo, holding the official Hall of Fame ring presentation at halftime of the team’s Week 11 loss to the New England Patriots. Prior to the game, DeBartolo spoke with media on hand for the game, discussing a whole host of topics. And apparently he left one Bay Area columnist with the impression that change could be afoot amidst the 49ers struggles.
The past few days, Jason La Canfora reported and reiterated that John and Denise York were looking to make significant changes, potentially bringing in a “football czar” to run the football side of the team. He said on Monday that this would result in Jed York’s removal from the football side of things. Monday evening, Pro Football Talk reported that was not going to happen, and that it was likely Mike Shanahan pushing this narrative.
Following the PFT report, Bay Area columnist Mark Purdy made an appearance on KNBR, and he offered up his own interpretation of events. He said, in speaking with Eddie DeBartolo three weeks ago, that the former owner left Purdy with “the distinct impression that there are going to be some bold changes.”
Purdy said Eddie would not specify the changes. Purdy recognized the issues that have existed between DeBartolo and Denise and John York, but he also thinks Denise listens to Eddie, and “I think Eddie might have convinced her, ‘yea, that’s the way to go.’”
This is based mostly on inferences as far as I can tell. Given DeBartolo's former role with the team, and how fans and media hold him in such high regard, it is possible he is just talking to talk. We will find out where things are going no later than January, but it's hard to figure out exactly where this things is going.
The PFT report did not refute the "Trent Baalke in jeopardy portion," so that could tell us something. It would seem to tell us Baalke was not that particular leak, since he would likely have gotten something in about his own job security. But even that we don't know. The 49ers leak like a sieve when things are going south so this is probably not the last we'll hear about all this before the season ends.
For the time being, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Given how badly Jed and company have sunk this franchise the last 2+ seasons, I'll just keep my expectations low, and wait and see if they can find a way to un-screw this situation.