Now that the dust is beginning to settle after Jed York’s disturbing Monday press conference, it’s time to extend the 49ers’ President of Football Operations a helping hand.
We did this before in November, offering GM candidates Nick Caserio, Eliot Wolf, Trent Kirchner, Chris Ballard and Scott Pioli.
We’ll do it again today. Aside from the obvious football philosophy and general background questions, this is what York should be asking to GM and head coaching candidates.
What do you think of me, Jed York?
It would be a jarring first question to ask candidates, putting them in scramble mode to start the interview. But that’s exactly what you want to see, right? People thinking quickly on their feet. If York starts hearing a candidate kiss his ass, he can make a note that this person will say or do anything to get the job. But if the candidate starts to spill real concerns — about all the firings, the empty stadium, the blind loyalty to Trent Baalke — York will know he has a candidate with a strong personality willing to confront the reality of this rebuild.
Opening up the interview like this will also give York the chance to clear up that he doesn’t meddle in any day-to-day operations with the football team.
If York is scared off by strong personalities, aka what Jim Harbaugh was, we’ll know he hasn’t changed one bit.
How will you court free agents, because we’ve had a tough time getting any to sign here
This is why you cast a wide net during interviews. A GM candidate you don’t end up selecting could still have a fabulous idea on what message to send to impending free agents. This is where the interviewee can tout his relationships with certain players around the league — a critical nature of this hiring. A 49ers source was adamant the team tried to spend money last offseason. But Chip Kelly’s reputation from Philadelphia could’ve held back some free agents as did Baalke’s horrendous communication skills.
The 49ers are going to have no other choice but to make a couple of splashes in free agency. They will reportedly have close to $100 million in cap room. Tight end Garrett Celek said in the locker room Monday that this team needs more veteran leaders.
What is the right system to settle disagreements between the head coach and GM?
This was one of the smartest things York said on Monday:
“We need to be open to the right structure with the right people. We need to get the right people. And, it can’t be, you know, ‘I have the 53-man roster and you need to go back to your office.’ We can’t have that. It’s got to be these two guys on the same page and when we disagree on a player we need to know what to do when we disagree on a player and know how to move forward and move beyond it. That’s very important to me. So, whether the head coach is in control or the general manager is in control, they need to be accountable to each other. That’s the most important relationship in the building.”
This is a tremendously hard question to answer for any GM or head coach who doesn’t know the person they will be working alongside with. But this has clearly been a problem in the 49ers’ building the last several years, so much so that after Harbaugh, York and Baalke were willing to hire a puppet in Jim Tomsula so that there were not any arguments.
Brent Jones echoed something important on KNBR, and it’s true: GM’s and head coaches are supposed to have disagreements. Critical thinking makes an organization better. Singing in harmony is not how you become a winning NFL franchise. Settling disagreements during hard times is.
Is your draft strategy based on positional needs or the best player available?
Baalke burnt himself to a crisp using the latter. Quarterbacks and wide receivers were constantly skipped over because they weren’t high enough on the draft board at the time. The right answer to this question would be situational based. Somebody shouldn’t be locking themselves into just one strategy.
But this draft conundrum will stare the 49ers right in face come April. With the No. 2 overall pick and no quarterback in sight, there will be pressure to take Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson, especially if he plays well against Alabama in the national championship game. Or there will be pressure to trade that pick for Jimmy Garoppolo. Or trade down to get more picks and ensure you get a chance at Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer or North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky.
Isn’t the smartest idea for a new regime to also start with a new quarterback? Colin Kaepernick’s days as a starter appear to be over. Maybe not, but York should be asking this question.
Are you okay with Paarag Marathe and I leaking certain information to the national media?
This is a question that won’t come up, but inevitably will become one of the first problems the new regime has to deal with. The GM and head coach should be in control of all information. It should be their prerogative if certain information becomes public, not the owner and the salary cap guru. Kansas City’s Chris Ballard turned down a job interview with York earlier this week. How much of that had to do with him embarrassing Baalke and Kelly because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut?
God speed, Jed. A lot of people are counting on you right now.