NFC Notes: Sam Darnold, Matthew Stafford, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

The 49ers parted ways with QBs coach Brian Griese this offseason after he requested to end his time at the team. 49ers GM John Lynch said Griese gave his decision a lot of thought and “other things were pulling at him.” 

“I think Griese was in a different world and he had given it some thought on the front end, and at the time he gave us a three-year commitment,” Lynch said, via Matt Barrows of The Athletic. “He’s a very principled guy. … I don’t want to speak for Brian, but other things were pulling at him. We respect that he made a tough decision, but one he thought was best for him and his family.”

San Francisco is promoting offensive assistant Mick Lombardi to quarterbacks coach for 2025. Lynch is glad to have Lombardi available to make an in-house promotion. 

“To have a guy like Mick Lombardi in house — I mean that gives you a really good feeling,” Lynch said. “He’s done it before, he’s been in quarterback rooms, he’s coached really good ones. He’s been around football a lot.”

Brandon Aiyuk is also on the mend after finishing the year on injured reserve with a torn ACL. Lynch said the receiver is doing well and is working with their training staff. 

“I know that anecdotally he’s doing really well,” Lynch said. “And our trainers who have been with him say he’s doing very well. He’s putting in the work. That’s what you have to do. And like I’ve always said, the real top-end athletes tend to heal at a little faster rate, and I think that’s going on with Brandon as well.”

Rams

Rams GM Les Snead said the team would ideally like to find a quarterback to groom under Matthew Stafford, but finding the right fit would be the tricky part for the team.

“I do think part of the equation that’s the hardest part of that equation is — it’s one thing to identify [the] QB, it’s another to actually be able to acquire him,” Snead said, via PFT. “Let’s say we did and that person could learn under Matthew, that’s probably only beneficial.”

Snead added that the balance of finding a succession plan to Stafford and finding a player that could help them contend now would be something to consider moving forward as well.

“Even if we identified someone, sometimes it’s hard to acquire them and then you get into, OK, wait a minute, we do have Matthew and we want to chase ‘special,’ whatever special may be,” Snead said. “So maybe it’s best at that moment to draft another position player and keep going that way. You’re always balancing those two things but finding the next QB, that one is easier said than done. I think we’ve seen that over the course of history, the Green Bay Packers have done a nice job.”

• Rams WR Cooper Kupp on his likely departure from the team: “As time has gone on I’ve had to deal with all the frustration, anger, sadness, all these things that as a human you process. Having to say goodbye to people and know that that door is closed.” (Sam Farmer)

Seahawks

• According to Spotrac, the Seahawks reportedly offered QB Geno Smith a contract extension that averaged between $35 million and $40 million per season and will likely offer the same deal to QB Sam Darnold.
• Per Eric Williams, the Seahawks also like backup QB Sam Howell and could retain him on a cheap contract and build the team around him via free agency and the draft.