49ers Officially Hire John Lynch As GM, Give Him A Six-Year Deal

Update:

49ers CEO Jed York explained the team’s rationale for hiring John Lynch as their new GM to The MMQB’s Peter King.

“Nothing is guaranteed,” York said. “But so many opportunities are missed in the NFL because people don’t want to do something different. We’re okay with that, because I am confident in Kyle and John. John has watched John Elway, and how he’s built a team in Denver. As easy as it is to say he hasn’t built a team yet — I get that — I talk to Kyle, and he says John is the most prepared of all the TV [people] he meets in the production meetings before games. We understand we’ll have to live with growing pains, but I’m willing to do that because I believe the upside with both of them is so great.”

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The San Francisco 49ers announced Sunday evening that they’ve hired John Lynch as their next general manager.

John Lynch has been named General Manager of the San Francisco #49ers.

More details to come on https://t.co/vpdsX5qsi5. pic.twitter.com/F6vlJHfUgd

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 30, 2017

Jay Glazer first reported that the 49ers were shockingly hiring Lynch to fill the role.

According to Adam Schefter, Lynch receives an almost unprecedented six-year contract from the team and plan to sign Kyle Shanahan a six-year deal as well once the Falcons’ season is over.

Schefter adds that  Lynch came up with the idea to market himself as a GM candidate and personally called Shanahan to “volunteer for the job.” about a week ago.

Lynch actually met with 49ers’ officials on Thursday and Friday and spent a night at 49ers owner Jed York’s house before the team flew him back to San Diego on Friday.

Recent reports mentioned that the 49ers were likely choosing from three candidates including Cardinals executive Terry McDonough, Vikings assistant GM George Paton and former Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik.

However, some had said that the 49ers were willing to think outside of the box with this hire and it appears as though they felt it was best to go with a better working relationship, as opposed to someone with a background in personnel.

The move has already sent waves throughout the personnel community around the league and a number of NFL insiders have said that Lynch will need to be surrounded with quality help to be successful in the role.

Schefter does say that Lynch had been contacted by teams in the past about front office jobs, but nothing ever came of the interest until now.

The obvious takeaway from this move is that Kyle Shanahan will have a large say in personnel decisions moving forward, which shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering that a number of GM candidates had dropped out over a week ago.

We’ll have more regarding Lynch and the 49ers as the news is available.