NFC Notes: 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

49ers GM John Lynch confirmed that Jimmy Garoppolo still has “good trust” in HC Kyle Shanahan and himself after they drafted first-round QB Trey Lance. 

“I think Jimmy’s got a really good trust in myself and Kyle,” Lynch said, via David Bonilla of 49ersWebzone.com. “I think you earn that, and I think from day one, we’ve been very upfront with Jimmy. When I went to Jimmy, I told him the truth. Like, ‘Look, we have made a decision that we’re going to pursue a quarterback this offseason. You know, Jimmy, when you’ve played, you’ve been tremendous, and the record speaks to that. We feel like there’s room for growth. The biggest thing has been it’s hard to keep you on the field.”

Lynch said he explained to Garoppolo that they are still committed to him and believes San Francisco is still a “good situation” for the veteran quarterback. 

“That’s not an easy thing to tell a player but Jimmy took it tremendously. And my other commitment was, ‘But here’s the good news, Jimmy. We don’t want you to go anywhere. We want you to be here, and our ownership has made the commitment that we can do that. We can fit it in our cap, and we think it’s a good situation for you; probably not the one you ultimately want to hear. I’m sure you want to be the long-term guy. There’s a flip side to that. You still could be.’ Because he’s going to have a chance to compete and earn that job, and we’re just going to let that play out. But Jimmy’s a really good football player.”

Lynch added that their front office was “aligned pretty quick” on drafting Lance at No. 3 overall. 

“We were aligned pretty quick on this one,” Lynch said. “I think, for a general manager, you obviously have an entry point that’s a lot earlier than a head coach because the head coach is coaching his team. Like, I first started watching Trey Lance two years ago, when he was having that great year in [2019]. Then, I think last year in Arizona, we really start focusing in on people.”

• NFL Media’s Mike Silver reports the 49ers were set to acquire Broncos WR DaeSean Hamilton in a trade prior to him sustaining a torn ACL and subsequently landing on Denver’s Non-Football Injury list. 
• According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the 49ers would like to re-sign LB Fred Warner but the two sides have not begun contract negotiations. 
• Rapoport notes Warner will likely eclipse Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner‘s $18 million annual salary to become the league’s highest-paid linebacker. 

Rams

New Rams QB Matthew Stafford is looking forward to turning the page to the next step of his career. It doesn’t hurt that with him on board, the Rams are viewed as potential Super Bowl contenders. 

“We had some good teams in Detroit, and I’m excited every single year because I love playing this game,” Stafford said via the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer. “But those years we made the playoffs, I thought we had good teams. But I’m very excited about playing for this team, the Rams organization. I’m excited about trying to get to know these guys. To win as consistently as the Rams have won in the last four or five years, you’ve got to have good people. You can’t just have good players and good coaches. It’s a really fun thing for me to be a part of, just trying to immerse myself in the team.”

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll called new OC Shane Waldron‘s system “very intricate and very precise” and feels it has a “complementary makeup” for their players. 

“It’s very intricate and very precise,” Carroll said, via ProFootballTalk. “It’s beautifully thought out. It’s got such a complementary makeup to it, that’s why I fell in love with what he was bringing. It really makes sense. It’s really smart. Our guys have to work really hard at the discipline to execute it in the right manner. There’s a lot of terminology. It won’t look as much different as it sounds to us because the system that we’re putting in to make sure that we can utilize all of the variations and the complements that are packed in here. It’s not a simple offense at all.”