Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla
I almost hate how good Lynch has been as a GM. He's completely botched the most important position, but has killed just about everything else.
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Lynch took a lot of heat for some of his early moves but damn if he did not hit on almost every single one. He had the luxury of having high picks, so he (similar to Ballard) will still have to prove they can be consistently good with later picks in the draft. With that said, he has made some forward thinking decisions that really set-up the Niners well to compete for a long time. I also loved how they handled their salary crunch and trading away Buckner for a mid-level #1 pick.
Honestly, the only moves that I'd criticize are Jimmy G's and Dee Ford's contracts. Jimmy G feels like a Kyle Shanahan move, a guy who understands the offense and operates out of the play-action. Honestly, if Jimmy G. had mobility he would remind me a lot of late-career Elway and Plummer. Watching their mis-direction and play action in the SB was like watching Plummer run over Eric Hicks and our mid-2000's defense. Shanny had a way of taking these unheralded running backs and making them thrive in his offenses, and Kyle has seemed to take the model and expand on it in SF with how he uses Deebo. Unfortunately for the 49ers, you're almost always going to need your QB to make tough throws in crunch time to win the Super Bowl. Elway could do this, Plummer could not - and I think the jury's still out about whether Jimmy G. can.
While I do admire the work Lynch has done, it was still slightly poetic to see him come down on the field too early in the 4th and watch him have a front row seat to Mahomes' excellence in the 4th quarter. His expression after Mahomes escaped Bosa's sack to sling it to Kelce for a first down felt like he knew exactly what was about to happen.