For the second time this offseason, the San Francisco 49ers are the lone team without a general manager. They were in this position a little over a week ago, but then the Indianapolis Colts fired GM Ryan Grigson. On Sunday, the Colts announced they have hired Kansas City Chiefs executive Chris Ballard as their general manager.
The 49ers had wanted to interview Ballard, but the Chiefs declined the interview. They were still in the playoffs, so they had that option, whether or not Ballard asked them to do that. Once their season ended, they could not decline interviews, and so Ballard interviewed with the Colts.
Indianapolis interviewed six candidates, including current 49ers finalist George Paton. The Colts interviewed Paton earlier this week, and then the 49ers interviewed him a second time on Friday night, with Kyle Shanahan. The 49ers interviewed Terry McDonough on Saturday, and there is some thought that Mark Dominik is on the 49ers radar as well.
The 49ers can’t announce Kyle Shanahan’s hiring until after the Super Bowl, but they can announce a GM hire any time before then. My guess is a formal announcement would be combined with the Shanahan announcement, but there are no limitations on speaking with GM candidates this week.