New 49ers GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan have "separate contractual power when it comes" to team personnel, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBAYAREA.com. Lynch has "power over the 90-man offseason roster, free agency and the draft," while Shanahan has "control over which 53 players are selected at the opening of the regular season." Lynch said that he and Shanahan are "committed to making it a partnership." He said, "In all of those, it’s also written that it’s subject to approval of the other guy. And, so, that’s the way we wanted it. That’s the way we wanted it reflected, and that’s the reality of it. That’s the way when we started having these discussions, why it went so well" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 2/9). Lynch and Shanahan were each given six-year contracts, and 49ers CEO Jed York said that he expects the pair to "last not just six years, but a lot more than six years." York: "I believe they’re going to be here a lot longer than that" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 2/9). In S.F., Eric Branch notes Lynch has "no front-office experience." However, he said that it "mattered to him" that he had a former NFL GM "working alongside him." As a result, the 49ers named former Lions GM Martin Mayhew Senior Personnel Exec (S.F CHRONICLE, 2/10).
SOMETHING DIFFERENT: In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes Lynch and Shanahan "had to be wooed, they demanded parallel six-year contracts, they walked into this together (or perhaps not at all), and that made Thursday’s double-introductory news conference something very different for this muddled franchise." With each "self-deprecating laugh or casual shrug, Shanahan and Lynch gave off an incredible sense of combined security, self-confidence in the public spotlight, and clarity of thought." That "doesn’t mean that Shanahan and Lynch are guaranteed to succeed" where former 49ers GM Trent Baalke and former coaches Chip Kelly and Jim Tomsula "recently failed, but it’s definitely very, very new for this team." Kawakami: "If you’re relaxed and secure, you don’t have to fixate on protecting yourself at all times from the 49ers’ bloody internal politics, and you can actually look at the long view." Lynch "reports directly to York -- there are no intermediaries in between." The same goes for Shanahan -- he "reports directly to York, on a parallel track to Lynch and nobody else." Kawakami: "We shall see if York and [Chief Strategy Officer & Exec VP/Football Operations] Paraag Marathe keep to this, but after going through 5-11 in 2015 and then 2-14 last year, York had no reasonable alternative except to turn the franchise over to Lynch and Shanahan" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 2/10).
NEW VIBES: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote if Shanahan and Lynch "form a true partnership, with consensus building and compromise the norm, none of this will be an issue." Florio: "If they don’t, however, the arrangement has the potential to become a mess" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 2/9). In San Jose, Cam Inman writes under the header, "49ers Seize New Vibe By Uniting Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 2/10). In S.F., Ann Killion writes the 49ers "appear to have hired two sensible, competent -- though inexperienced -- football lifers to lead them out of their morass and into the future." Thursday's press conference had the "feeling of what York set out to accomplish: two confident men in a partnership who ... are not going to be in a panic to make splashy decisions and will try to rebuild the right way." Lynch had "command of the news conference," as he "exuded a calm, a confidence and a charisma that the 49ers haven't seen" in a GM in decades (S.F. CHRONICLE, 2/10). Meanwhile, Lynch said that "he posed a lot of 'direct questions'" to York during the interview process, including the notion that some 49ers alumni "felt less than embraced by the organization in recent years." Lynch: "I said I have to have that, where these guys are not only welcome, but encouraged. That’s what we’re aspiring to be. So the more we can have them around, the better to me. And I got that assurance" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 2/10).
