New San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch spoke to media on a conference call and discussed many things: why his name was kept a secret, who he reports to, why he admires Kyle Shanahan and how he plans on doing a job he has no experience in. In his answers, he really said all of the right things. We will post a transcript of the full conference call when the 49ers send it out to us, but until then here are some highlights.
Lynch wanted to keep his name a complete secret to respect his current employer and the job that he already has with FOX broadcasting. He wanted to be able to make a decision without the whole world “breathing down his neck” as well as respecting his family and his kids and what they might go through if his interest in the job was known publicly.
When asked if Paraag Marathe was his boss, he replied “I report to Jed York.”
“Are we behind? Sure we are, because I just got here. Can we overcome that? Absolutely.” — Lynch knows that he has a huge task in front of him. He will start by evaluating the talent that’s on the roster and go from there. He also said he can’t get film in front of him fast enough.
Who will be in charge of the 90? The 53? The game day 46? Lynch replied that he and Shanahan “want this to be a true partnership.” Hopefully this keeps a power struggle out of the building. We’ve already seen enough of that.
“We’re going to have to earn respect. The only way we can do that is through our actions.” — This is important. He knows he is walking into a front office where he has no experience and will have people under him who have a significantly more. He will use all of the resources he has available to him including Tom Gamble who has remained on staff thus far.
“We have a big task in front of us, but I can’t tell you how excited I am to attack it.” — Again he gets an A for enthusiasm. His personality is a start contrast fro Trent Baalke’s who only seemed to get emotional when watching games in the pressbox, occasionally pounding on desktops.
“I think it’s really important that I articulate my vision of this team to everyone in the building, the most important thing...The one promise I can make is that we're going to find players who live and breath football and want to compete." — He even mentioned he was getting a little fired up after he made this statement. Lynch is a grinder and a worker, and he will expect that from his players and his staff. It was one one those moments where you almost felt like you should drop and give him 20.
“I’m smart enough to know what I don’t know.” — This is one of the most important comments. With Lynch in his first front office job, it will be important for him to be open to opinions and advice of others. I also believe he has a strong enough personality to not be manipulated.
“I know football. I’ll put my football acumen up against anyone in the league. I know people and I know how to lead.” — Lynch knows what his strengths are and if he can use then to his advantage, I think there is potential that this is a good hire. We all know that really only time will tell.