NFL Notes: 49ers, Bears, Cardinals & Patriots

49ers

• Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee wonders if the 49ers will target a GM candidate to replace Trent Baalke from the Ron Wolf tree, considering that a number of his former disciples have been successful with other teams.
• Barrows lists Chris Ballard (Chiefs), Trey Brown (Eagles), Nick Caserio (Patriots), Trent Kirchner (Seahawks), George Paton (Vikings) and Eliot Wolf (Packers) as some names to watch for the 49ers’ job.
• Jason La Canfora has heard Louis Riddick, Scott Pioli and George Paton linked to the 49ers’ GM position.
• As for head-coaching candidates, La Canfora says that San Francisco is high on Patriots OC Josh McDaniels and Dolphins DC Vance Joseph.

Bears

• Th Bears announced Saturday that OLB Pernell McPhee did not travel with the team and will not play in Sunday’s season finale against the Vikings.

Cardinals

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, citing a league source with knowledge of the situation, reports that Cardinals HC Bruce Arians is already making plans for offseason activities such as OTAs, free agency meetings, draft meetings, and Scouting Combine preparation and is not expected to a retire next year
• Florio’s source mentioned that what Arians is saying publicly and privately contradicts the rumors he could be weighing retirement.
• Instead, Florio believes the retirement rumors regarding Arians stem from media members taking “educated guesses” and trying to be first on a story.

Patriots

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if the Patriots could be an option for HC Chip Kelly, assuming that he’s fired by the 49ers as expected, in the event OC Josh McDaniels takes an offensive coordinator job in the coming weeks.
• Florio points out that Kelly is close friends with Patriots HC Bill Belichick.