One of the most infuriating and simultaneously interesting things to put up with as a sports fan is an overbearing owner.
San Francisco 49ers fans have seen it in almost cartoonish fashion with Eddie DeBartolo Jr., but thankfully, his nephew Jed York has been a bit less overbearing in his tenure as the team’s CEO.
York recently revealed the fact he has only ever strongly pushed for the Niners to draft one player, and that was wide receiver Arnaz Battle, whom the Niners selected in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of the University of Notre Dame.
"The only guy that I ever wanted us to draft was WR Arnaz Battle. I went to school with Arnaz at Notre Dame, knew him as a guy. Otherwise, I try to stay as far away from that as possible," York acknowledged.
If it's true that this was York’s only time inserting himself into the draft process, then that’s not a bad batting percentage because Battle ended up having a pretty good career with San Francisco, given the circumstances.
From 2003 to 2009, he had 178 receptions for 2,150 yards and 11 touchdowns. Those aren’t bad numbers at all from a sixth-round product, so York didn’t do too bad there.
But York simultaneously seems to realize it’s usually not a good thing when the ultimate boss gets involved in the nitty-gritty of whom to draft. That can end up having some bad results.
Just look at Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. He’s been running the show his own way for decades now, and the Cowboys have not reached an NFC Championship game since the 1990s.
The 49ers need not look any further than up north with the Golden State Warriors to see that owner Joe Lacob has had a negative impact on the team at times by insisting the Dubs draft certain players who ended up being busts, like James Wiseman, or simply weren’t a good fit, schematically, like Jonathan Kuminga.
York has made his fair share of mistakes over the years, but at least he lets general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan decide who plays for San Francisco since they actually know what they’re doing. Some fans may disagree whether they know what they’re doing, but they have made it to two Super Bowls and five NFC title games during this regime, so they’ve certainly done something right.
York can at least get his kicks by subtly tipping who the team will draft on social media, which is pretty harmless and definitely preferable to him sticking his fingers in the pudding.
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