John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan take over a 2-14 roster that has arguably the worst assembled talent in the NFL. The first-time GM isn't fretting.
On Friday, Lynch told NFL Network's Good Morning Football that his staff doesn't have the stench of that poor season, but gets the rewards of a top selection.
"A lot of people have said almost that they almost feel sorry for me with the No. 2 pick," Lynch said. "I think the great thing -- Kyle and I weren't part of the 2-14 season but the benefit we have now is the No. 2 pick, and that's a great asset. There are so many directions we can go. We can stay pat and find an excellent player, a game-changing player who could help to change the fortunes of our franchise ... there's so many things we can do."
For the next 55 days, the question will be whether that "game-changing player" will be a quarterback. With Colin Kaepernick set to opt out of his contract the, as of now, the 49ers won't have a QB when the new league year opens next week.
Lynch doubled down on his Thursday comments that not having a quarterback on the roster was "somewhat liberating."
"So much of life is perspective and the good part of that is we get to form it the way we want to do that," he said Friday. "There's a number of different routes we can go to find that and we're looking at every single one, including the draft, including free agency, and we're excited about that.
Whether Mitch Trubisky, DeShone Kizer, Deshaun Watson or another rookie becomes the apple of Shanahan and Lynch's eye will be fettered out over the next seven-plus weeks. Regardless of whether they decide to take a QB high in the draft, the Niners are still likely to add a short-term, lower-cost veteran QB to the mix. Given how bad the roster is, it wouldn't be a shock to see San Francisco kick the quarterback can down the road another year if the team isn't convinced it can find a franchise signal-caller in this draft.
