The San Francisco 49ers introduced GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan, and Lynch already offered up a news scoop. Lynch said he has hired former Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew as a senior personnel executive. He joins Adam Peters, who is the team’s newly hired Vice President of Player Personnel.
Mayhew played for nine years in the NFL, with Washington and Tampa Bay. Mayhew attended law school after his playing career, graduating from Georgetown in 2000. He joined the Lions front office in 2001. He was appointed senior vice president and assistant general manager to Matt Millen in 2004. He was promoted to acting General Manager after Millen was fired in 2008. He became the official GM at the end of the season, and held the job until 2015. He spent the past year as New York Giants director of football operations.
Mayhew was on the Fritz Pollard Alliance short list of minority GM candidates. There has been talk of previous GMs potentially joining Lynch’s staff. Mayhew provides an experience factor Lynch lacks. He played with Lynch the first four years of the latter’s career, which likely explains how their professional relationship first started.