GM Who “Fleeced” Ryan Pace Two Years Ago May Be Jobless Soon
It was easily the biggest moment in the career of GM Ryan Pace. The football world was watching. The Chicago Bears held their highest draft choice in 35 years at #3 overall. Lights were bright. Could this be the moment they finally went after their quarterback of the future? While the answer was yes, it didn’t come as any had expected.
The Bears traded up from #3 to #2 in a deal with the San Francisco 49ers. One that saw them give up two 3rd round picks and a 4th round pick to make happen. Then they pulled the double surprise by selected North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky. A player who was by far the least experienced and proven of the three big names of that 2017 class.
Backlash against the pick was immediate. Not only was Pace lambasted for taking such an obvious project player, but trading away three additional picks to get him? Everyone was convinced that move signaled the end of his reign as GM. Meanwhile, the man who worked the deal with him, 49ers GM John Lynch, earned universal praised.
He’d fleeced the more experienced Pace in a highway robbery. This was the emergence of the NFL’s next great executive.
John Lynch on the hot seat in San Francisco as Ryan Pace ascends
It seems time has not been good to Lynch since that apparent high point of his young GM career. His team has endured two losing seasons and several of his draft picks to this point have disappointed. None more so than Solomon Thomas, the Stanford defensive end whom he took with the Bears’ #3 pick back in 2017.
Now it seems, according to Matt Miller of Bleacher Report, that his credibility is fading with a possible power struggle developing with head coach Kyle Shanahan. One he’s unlikely to win if true.
“According to sources in the team’s scouting and coaching staff, the two aren’t in lockstep as far as the vision of the offseason and the future of the franchise. The coach, Shanahan, wants to scheme and develop players while not being bothered with the player evaluation process, but more and more he finds himself involved while not trusting the decision-making of Lynch—a former media analyst after his Hall of Fame playing days but not someone with a scouting background.
The 49ers signed both Lynch and Shanahan to six-year contracts when they were hired before the 2017 season. With four years left and a team that’s been stuck in neutral ever since, a power struggle could be coming with Lynch and chief deputy Adam Peters on the outs, and Shanahan looking for his own personnel man to run the draft and free agency.”
Shanahan has since come out and flatly denied anything like this is true. Of course even if it were, there’s no way he’d admit to it. So speculation is running rampant at this point. One this that is inescapable is Lynch’s seat isn’t nice and cool anymore.
The NFC West isn’t getting any easier. Los Angeles went to the Super Bowl. Seattle returned to the playoffs. Arizona just had themselves a strong draft spearheaded by a young, flashy new quarterback in Kyle Murray. Even with the return of Jimmy Garoppolo, there is no guarantee the 49ers can battle their way to the playoffs.
If they fail, there is zero guarantee Lynch would survive into a fourth year. While that’s tough for him, it’s a bit of poetic justice for Pace.