In case you wanted one more sign that John Lynch is a “players’ GM,” here you have it. San Francisco 49ers running back Carlos Hyde was ejected from the Week 9 loss to Arizona for throwing a punch at Frostee Rucker, but Lynch showed some love to Hyde.
As Matt Maiocco mentioned in the tweet above, Lynch gave Hyde a low five as the running back left the field following his ejection. After the game, head coach Kyle Shanahan said there is a fine line between protecting the quarterback and not doing something stupid. However, Shanahan said he saw punches thrown at Hyde and him getting pushed down a couple times. Shanahan clearly support Hyde, saying, “I really loved how he went and got our quarterback’s back.”
The ejection came after a late hit on quarterback C.J. Beathard. The 49ers QB slide after a scramble, and as he went down, Antoine Bethea went in shoulder-first and drilled Beathard in the helmet. Beathard’s slide was a little late, so I am not surprised Bethea hit him the way he did. That being said, it was a brutal hit, and the 49ers quickly ran over to defend their quarterback.
There was a lot of pushing and shoving, and at one point, Rucker shoved Hyde to the ground. Hyde got up and pushed back before throwing a punch at Rucker. You can watch it below: