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The San Francisco 49ers announced the hiring of former nine-time Pro Bowl safety John Lynch as the 11th general manager in franchise history on Monday. Lynch, 45, is a four-time Hall of Fame finalist, including for the Class of 2017. He played college football at Stanford before enjoying a 15-year NFL career with the Buccaneers and Denver Broncos, serving as a captain of Tampa Bay's Super Bowl XXXVII championship team.
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He spent the past eight years as a color analyst for Fox Sports' football coverage.
"I just can't tell you how humbled and excited I am for this unbelievable opportunity," Lynch said. "I can tell you that two weeks ago I never thought that I'd be doing this and you know things change sometimes and fortunately I have a wonderful family that have supported me incredibly in my pursuit of this situation that arose.
"I'm also very fortunate and thankful to (San Francisco CEO) Jed York and to everybody else with the 49ers that found it fit and had enough confidence in me to ask me to take on this role. So, I'm very humbled and as I said, excited, and I can't wait to get going."
San Francisco did not release the terms of Lynch's deal, but his contract will reportedly span six seasons.
"During his 15 seasons as an NFL player, John epitomized what is so special about the game of football," York said in a statement. "A world-class competitor, his love and respect for the sport are unmatched, and you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in league circles who does not have great respect for his work ethic and passion.
"Having already helped lead a team to a Super Bowl title as a player, John is equipped with tremendous insight into what it takes to create a culture that breeds sustained success."
Lynch replaces Trent Baalke, who was fired along with coach Chip Kelly on Jan. 1 after serving as the team's general manager since 2006. Kelly went 2-14 in his lone season with San Francisco.
The 49ers have not yet hired a replacement for Kelly, but will reportedly offer a six-year contract to Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan after Super Bowl LI.
Lynch remembered vividly how the wheels were put in motion toward Monday's move.
"It was a couple weeks ago. Our crew broadcasted the Seattle-Atlanta playoff game and somewhere in that week after, Kyle (Shanahan) and I caught up as we often do after a game that I broadcast of his and just told him how impressed I was and at that time I know that he was interviewing for a lot of jobs," Lynch said. "We just started a conversation and at some point I indicated to him that, 'Hey, you know Kyle three or four years ago I had conversations with the Denver Broncos about getting into management. In the recent months I've had a couple situations that arose with perspective owners and I've sat down with them and kind of shared my philosophies.'
"... Like I said, Kyle and I were in a conversation, he seemed to get excited, at that point he turned it over to Jed and (49ers chief strategy offices and executive vice president of football operations) Paraag (Marathe) and the rest moved fairly quickly."
