In February, at the Scouting Combine, John Lynch explained why he turned down the chance to return to the broadcast booth. He explained when he came to that decision at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series over the weekend.
“After we lost the NFC Championship Game, Kyle asked me to address the team and that’s when the clarity really came to me. I wasn’t gonna address it until after the season. But I looked myself and I said, ‘How do I sit up here and address these guys and talk about having the fortitude to fight through the pain of losing a game like this and then turn around and bolt on them?’ I couldn’t do it. I knew right then what I was gonna do. And I’m happy to be a part of the Niners.”
That’s a pretty stand-up move by John Lynch right there. I have been very open about how little I think Lynch actually does as a traditional general manager, but he deserves credit for handling things this way. No one would have blamed him if he had given that speech and then taken Amazon’s offer. How many of us would turn down roughly three times our current yearly salary for half the work and stress? Lynch also could have easily told Kyle Shanahan that he didn’t want to address the team after the game while Amazon’s offer was on the table. Instead, he didn’t run from a tough moment. That’s not something everyone would have done, and it was a classy decision.
A few other nuggets that have come out from the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event:
- T.O. said he never had any desire to take handoffs like Deebo Samuel. “I’ll take my chance catching the ball over the middle; I’m not going to run into guys into guys like Bryant Young.”
- Matt Maiocco began the event by saying, “Wow, I haven’t seen this many 49ers fans in such a concentrated space since the two games in LA last year.”
- Steve Young said the two biggest mistakes the 49ers of his era made were trading Charles Haley to the Dallas Cowboys and letting Ricky Watters leave in free agency. “Honestly. I wanted to take a fork and stick it in my eye.”
- Speaking of Young, he has also been talking with Trey Lance this offseason. “They don’t want (to put) that out there on social media,” John Lynch said, “It’s just Steve wanting to share with a guy who he thinks he can help. We know he can help, and Trey welcomes that with open arms.”
Yes, please.
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