San Francisco 49ers: Reading between the lines of Peter King’s MMQB report on 49ers draft room
By Chris Wilson
Three Men, One Plan
"“Three men, one plan.” – Peter King"
The 49ers actual CEO, Jed York, appears to have played a minor role in last week’s draft, which is a welcome strategical shift from recent years. However, there is confusion as to who is de facto decision-maker for personnel decisions.
During this honeymoon phase, the chain-of-command is less important, but there will come a time where distinct roles will need to be set. If both Lynch and Shanahan think they’re “in charge,” there will be repercussions when one learns the hard way that he is not.
But in the meantime, with Lynch acting as Draft-CEO, Shanahan as COO, and Marathe as CFO, the three had a plan to Make the 49ers Great Again” — minus the border wall around Levi’s Stadium.
That “M4GA” reference came directly from King during a recent interview on Matt Maiocco’s 49ers Insider Podcast. On the podcast, King stated Lynch sounded “Trumpian” in his praise of 49ers history, and his passion to return the team to their years of glory.
There was another “Trumpian” tendency that stood out in King’s article: the large role emotion played in the 49ers leadership’s decisions.
Lynch allowed King inside the 49ers draft room because King’s story about the similarities between the Lynch and Bill Walsh regimes, “Gave [Lynch] goosebumps.”
When Lynch recommended the team watch additional film on prospect T.J. Watt, he didn’t intend to perform additional analysis of Watt’s technique, his purpose was to “see how passionate we get” about him.
Was Lynch being flexible or were his values proven malleable when Shanahan’s endorsement, and a call to prospect running back Joe Williams, caused Lynch to not only add Williams to the draft board, but also deem him a must-draft player?
"“Screw it,” [Lynch] said to himself Saturday morning. “I’m going to try to jump up and get this guy.” – Peter King"
The emotion in the 49ers front office wasn’t limited to Lynch. Shanahan told King, “I’m telling you right now: If we don’t get [Williams], I’ll be sick.” York justified a surprising trade-up for quarterback C.J. Beathard because, “We’d all sleep a little better if we got him instead of waiting ’til tomorrow.”