'Feels just as good' to go to Super Bowl as GM, Lynch says

Helluva weekend could be on tap for former star safety

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — “I never thought you could equal the feeling of a player going to the big one,” John Lynch told reporters last Sunday.

“But this feels just as good.”

The big one? Why the Super Bowl, of course.

Lynch is the San Francisco 49ers GM. Last Sunday the robust roster that he and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan quickly overhauled, with lightning speed, throttled the Green Bay Packers 37-20 in the NFC championship game.

About half an hour afterwards, Lynch took some questions in a corner of the Niners’ ecstatic locker room. He reminisced a bit about his own Hall of Fame-worthy playing career, but mostly the 48-year-old explained how he and Shanahan turned the 49ers from a talent-deprived doormat into a Super Bowl participant in less than three years.

Only seven players remain on the roster Lynch and Shanahan inherited at about this time in 2017 (the former was hired Jan. 29, the latter Feb. 6).

Next Sunday, the Niners face the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens (6:30 p.m. EST, CTV/TSN via FOX). San Fran is a 1.5-point underdog.

“Look, we built it the right way,” Lynch said. “And the coolest thing is, this is sustainable. We’ve got a lot of the guys on the roster signed. We’ve still got business to do against Kansas City, an unbelievable opponent. It’s a huge challenge but we’re fired up for it.”

Let’s back up a bit first.

A native of Hinsdale, Ill., Lynch — now 48 — grew up in the San Diego area. He played college ball at Stanford University, just up the west side of San Francisco Bay from the 49ers’ home in the San Jose suburb of Santa Clara. At Stanford, Lynch first was a backup quarterback, then a safety on defence. His new head coach in his last year with the Cardinal, 1992, was none other than Bill Walsh, the legendary architect of the Niners’ dynasty in the 1980s and early ’90s.

Walsh reinvigorated Lynch’s interest in football, even though just months earlier Lynch had been a second-round draft pick of Major League Baseball’s Florida Marlins. Lynch chose football as a career. Specifically, as a strong safety.

Good choice. It’s likely he’ll soon become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame — perhaps as soon as this coming Saturday afternoon a he’s one of 15 finalists for the 2020 class. The hall’s selection committee will vote in up to five new inductees and Lynch is a finalist for the seventh straight year.

His credentials as a pro player are impressive. His nine Pro Bowl selections are tied with Hall of Famer Ed Reed for most in NFL history for a safety, after Hall of Famer Ken Houston’s 10.

Lynch played from 1993-2007 — spending his first 11 seasons in Tampa Bay, the last four in Denver under head coach Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s dad. Lynch intercepted 26 passes and was an impact performer practically from start to finish, rare for so long a career.

Lynch always says his career highlight came with the Buccaneers following the 2002 season. The Bucs won it all, crushing the Oakland Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego.

Just six days after announcing his retirement as a player in November 2008, Lynch signed on to become a game analyst on Fox telecasts of NFL games. He was excellent at it, through the 2016 season.

One thing was missing, however: The zest, the rush and the extreme highs and lows of pure competition.

“I had a pretty good gig at Fox and I wasn’t leaving it for anyone,” Lynch said.

Then 49ers CEO Jed York reached out to him following the 2016 NFL season, shortly after he fired long-time GM Trent Baalke and his second straight one-and-done head coach, Chip Kelly, following a 2-14 season.

Lynch gave the offer a lot of thought. Then, said yes.

“I remember my wife not being too happy when I decided to do this, because I really did have a nice job, and at some point Troy Aikman was going to leave and I was going to be the lead (Fox analyst),” Lynch said. “And Kyle thought I was crazy: ‘Why would you do this? You have a great job!’

“But something was pulling at me to compete and be a part of a team. Just as much as the wins? The adversity, the losses. You can’t replicate it. It’s awesome and it’s really fun.”

Lynch said another big factor was the 49ers franchise itself, which he termed special.

“I played for Bill Walsh in college. I played for Denny Green, Mike Shanahan, Sam Wyche — all these guys had connections to here, and you just knew this was something special. But they had fallen on hard times.”

The Niners gave both Lynch and Shanahan — an offensive co-ordinator with four NFL teams from 2008-16 — six-year contracts.

First priority? A joint plan for turning the team around.

“We did a lot of work early on,” Lynch said. “What exactly are we looking for? Really challenging (ourselves). Kyle and I hadn’t worked together, so we sat down exhaustively in 10-hour sessions — what are we looking for? And then sticking to those (principles) when you’re 0-8 and not changing.

“A lot of people will change and throw that out … But we knew what we believed in. We were going to stick to it. And I give our ownership a lot of credit. We had six-year contracts. And that gave us a little leeway to do what we thought was right, as opposed to maybe a quick fix.”

Next, the duo turned the page at quarterback. Colin Kaepernick later said the club informed him in early 2017 that if he didn’t exercise his own opt-out of his contract, after six years rife with extreme highs and frustrating lows with the club, it would have cut him. Kap opted out and infamously hasn’t latched on with a team since.

What kind of players did Lynch and Shanahan want? Well, really, what every team says it wants. The difference with Lynch and Shanahan, it seems, is they didn’t compromise on those attributes. Namely, a burning desire to compete, speed, physicality and dependability.

“I think one of my greatest skills (as a player) was I competed every day,” Lynch said. “And that’s something Kyle and I talked about from the beginning. We want guys that compete every day. I wanted guys that were a little faster than I was.

“Look at guys like (running back) Raheem Mostert. We’ve got guys that are 4.3 (seconds in the 40-yard dash) all over this roster. And that’s something we talked about, in terms of the talent.

“We kept chipping away at it, and now it’s a real fast and physical team. We talked about all those things. We want dependable guys.”

Fifteen players they acquired in 2017 — either via the draft, free agency, the waiver wire or trade — enter this Super Bowl week on the Niners’ 53-man roster. That includes all three current quarterbacks: starter Jimmy Garoppolo (trade), backup Nick Mullens (free agency) and C.J. Beathard (draft).

Obtaining their franchise quarterback in Garoppolo, after just nine months on the job, was a major coup for Lynch and Shanahan. It sparked an on-field revival. Indeed, after their regime began 0-9 on the field in 2017, San Fran won all five games at season’s end that Garoppolo started, to finish 6-10.

A further 12 players acquired in 2018 remain on the 53-man roster, including Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman (free agency) and starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey (draft).

But, as already has been discussed a bunch this playoff season, what topped up to overflowing the Niners’ talent tank in 2019 was the ironic loss for the season of Garoppolo in Week 3 of 2018. That was too much for the young team to handle and the 49ers went 4-12 — tied for the fewest wins in the league.

But that enabled San Francisco to pick No. 2 overall last April.

Of the whopping 19 players added before or during this past season who are projected to suit up against the Chiefs, the standout is elite pass rusher Nick Bosa, on whom Lynch used that No. 2 pick.

Bosa’s presence plus that of veteran pass rusher Dee Ford — acquired last March in a trade with (yup) Kansas City — turned an already talent defensive front into an asphalt chewer.

See the accompanying chart for how everyone on the current 49ers roster was acquired.

Lynch is self-deprecating and honest enough to admit he and Shanny were far from perfect with their player assessments over the past 35 3/4 months.

“We missed on some along the way, missed on plenty. But we also kept on finding guys — in the fifth round, sixth round. And easy-to-find guys — the Nick Bosas. You’ve got to be 4-12 to do it.

“It’s been real fun putting the pieces together but all the credit goes to these (players). Just the work ethic and the way they believe, the way they’ve got each other’s back.”

Last week, the Pro Football Writers of America named Lynch the NFL’s executive of the year. Next Saturday, he might enter the Hall of Fame. Next Sunday, he might be Super Bowl champion.

Not the same as winning as a player. But probably close enough.

“It’s much tougher during the game,” Lynch said of being GM as opposed to a player, “because you can’t do anything about it.”

How Lynch and Shanahan quickly rebuilt the 49ers

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — How the 49ers’ 53-man roster was acquired (starters in boldface; special-teamers in boldface italics). Only seven players (and four starters) remain from when GM John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan arrived by February 2017:

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