As we at Niners Nation reported to you earlier this week, the San Francisco 49ers have a third candidate for the open GM position. This report was just confirmed by CSN’s Matt Maiocco. The name of the candidate has still not been confirmed but all fingers point towards ESPN analyst Mark Dominik being the unknown contender. Maiocco reported the history of Dominik’s working relationship with presumptive head coach Kyle Shanahan:
Dominik and Shanahan overlapped for two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004 and ’05, when Shanahan was the team’s offensive quality control coach. Dominik worked as director of pro scouting for the Buccaneers from 1997 to 2008. From 2009 until he was fired at the conclusion of the 2013, Dominik served as Tampa Bay's general manager. The Buccaneers were 28-52 in Dominik’s five seasons as GM.
At this point there has been no formal interview with Dominik as there has been with the other two candidates, George Paton and Terry McDonough. Shanahan did spend a fair amount of time with CEO Jed York, executive Paraag Marathe and 49ers personnel this weekend in Atlanta which would have allowed them enough time to discuss all options.
Maiocco reported Paton seems to be the favorite, attending an informal dinner on Friday night with Shanahan and 49ers personnel before getting down to business on Saturday for a more formal interview. McDonough’s interview occurred after Paton’s concluded.
Official hiring of the GM position could take place early this week, but the formal announcement of Shanahan’s position must be delayed until after the Super Bowl on February 5th.