The San Francisco 49ers interviewed Indianapolis Colts personnel executive Jimmy Raye III on Sunday, marking the team’s fourth interview for the GM position. The team opened the GM process on Thursday interviewing Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers, and then interviewed Vikings assistant GM George Paton on Friday. They will continue on with an interview of Louis Riddick on Tuesday, and then two Seahawks executives the following week.
Mike Silver has our first piece of information from any of the interviews. He tweeted Sunday morning that the 49ers came away “very impressed” with both Packers interviews.
The 49ers were very impressed with Packers execs Brian Kutekunst & Eliot Wolf after their respective GM interviews...
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 8, 2017
Hearing the team is impressed does not exactly spell out where things stand with them, but we can infer one thing. If the team was planning on not hiring one, or if they thought either was going to potentially turn them down, we might hear rumblings that the interview did not go so well. Another possibility is one or both of the Packers executives wanted it out there to convince Green Bay to give them a raise and/or position change. I think that one is a little less likely at this point.
This does not mean the 49ers are going to hire either executive. But it is what’s out there for now, and we will now wait for further word to leak out about a potential second interview for one or both. I highly doubt anybody is hired with just one interview.