Report: The 49ers are interested in Washington exec Kyle Smith

There was a link in Saturday’s Golden Nuggets about the San Francisco 49ers being interested in Washington’s current Vice President of Player Personnel Kyle Smith.

106.7 The Fan out of DC reported that Smith is expected to depart from Washington ‘sooner than later’ and the teams interested in Smith’s services are the Rams, 49ers, Packers, and Raiders. They added, “I’ve heard Washington would not stand in their way” when specifically naming San Francisco as a potential destination for Smith.

Hogs Haven confirmed that Washington is expected to part ways from another source on Friday, too:

Sources tell us that Smith, the sharp 36-year old rising personnel executive, will leave the WFT organization at a time still to be determined ... but at the same time multiple sources believe Smith will land elsewhere sooner than later.

The news of a Smith departure was described as ‘inevitable’ by one source on Thursday night.

Smith’s expected exit will likely be labeled a ‘mutual parting of the ways’ between the only NFL organization he’s ever worked for.

There are 649 comments in that article from Friday. They don’t seem too happy about losing Smith.

Washington didn’t have a GM last year, and after Smith was promoted once Ron Rivera was hired, Smith oversaw player personnel in Washington. As stated above, the additions of Martin Mayhew and Marty Hurney make Smith’s position redundant.

Before the 49ers played Washington late in the season, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about the job that Rivera has done, and Kyle went out of his way to name drop Smith:

“I respect the hell out of Ron Rivera. I love Kyle Smith and the guys that I know there. Those guys are doing a great job. I can tell they’re being led very well. So there are people there I do care about.”

For some background on Smith, he was a scout for Washington from 2011-2016, then promoted to Director of college personnel in 2017 and served in that role until being promoted this past season.

It could be a lateral move in San Francisco. Still, if John Lynch is going to eventually serve as the team president, with Adam Peters being promoted to general manager, Smith’s scouting and player personnel experience make him a perfect fit for the VP of Player personnel job, a role in which Peters has served four seasons in San Francisco.