Is John Lynch next in line for an extension? Promotion?

On Monday afternoon, the San Francisco 49ers announced they extended head coach Kyle Shanahan by giving him a six-year contract that replaced his current three-year deal. The 49ers went from 2-14 to the Super Bowl. Rewarding Shanahan was a no-brainer. Instantly, the conversation shifted to, “what about John Lynch’s extension?” Matt Barrows of The Athletic tweeted that there has been speculation that Lynch could receive a different title, Team President. So who would be the 49ers general manager? Adam Peters.

Peters has been a candidate to be an NFL general manager for over a year now. Peters was named the vice president of player personnel for the 49ers a few years ago. He spent eight seasons with the Broncos before that. Peters was Denver’s director of college scouting after spending two seasons as the team’s assistant director of college scouting. His scouting background dates back to 2009, so a promotion to general manager should be a seamless transition. The 49ers are playing with fire if the longer Peters isn’t a general manager—especially if this draft class has success. Peters does a ton of legwork when it comes to scouting and is at several pro days, sometimes side by side with Lynch. Teams will come calling for Peters and Mike McDaniel next offseason.

To retain both Peters and Lynch, a promotion makes sense. Lynch’s title would likely read “president of football operations” or something along those lines as Al Guido would be the team president for the business side while Lynch runs the football operations. If not, expect Lynch to receive a similar deal as Shanahan received.