49ers sign John Lynch as GM, 6-year deal

[True Dough]

The San Francisco 49ers have hired Hall of Fame candidate and FOX analyst John Lynch to be their new general manager, the team announced Sunday night.

Sources tell ESPN the deal is for an almost unprecedented six years.

Less than a week before he is eligible to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the former Stanford standout is returning to the Bay Area.

As the 49ers are signing Lynch to a six-year contract, the plan is to offer Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan a six-year contract, according to league sources. The 49ers' idea always was to have the head coach and general manager jobs tied together in terms of length of contract.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/18581720/san-francisco-49ers-name-john-lynch-general-manager

[trotsky]

1. Well hopefully this goes better for them than the Lions' experiment...

hiring a former player to be the GM.

[True Dough]

2. They signed for 6 years

but we'll see how many years ownership gives Lynch to turn the team around. If there's gradual improvement over the next couple of seasons, he'll probably be all right. But if they're stuck in the mud after a couple of years, he'll probably never see the remainder of that contract.

[Auggie]

3. It takes three to five years, and that's providing not only that you draft well ...

but that you get lucky.

[fishwax]

4. seems like an odd choice, but at least it's interesting

I mean, Lynch hasn't done much, that I know of, to suggest he's prepared for a job like this. Hasn't he been working in broadcasting since retirement?

Elway has been great as a GM, but he had a pretty fair amount of business experience outside of football as well as hands-on training helping to run an Arena League team before coming back to the Broncos as an executive. Ozzie Newsome has been successful as both a player and GM, but he worked his way up to GM after several years with the Browns and Ravens.

[JonLP24]

5. Kyle Shannahan (I probably spelled it wrong) said that Lynch was the most prepared

In the preproduction meetings out of any broadcasters. Lynch did a lot of Cardinals games over the years so I do agree he is a helluva broadcaster.

Jed York indicated a desire for a GM/Coach that's on the same page so they likely are going to hire Kyle Shannahan so they got Lynch because Shannahan has a lot of respect for him. Plus some of the more qualified candidates pulled their names out of the running.

[Brother Buzz]

6. Do you think will they announce the new 49er coach during the closing minutes of the Superbowl?