After the firing of Jim Harbaugh in 2014, 49ers CEO Jed York’s approval rating has experienced a consistent downturn, and hit rock bottom following the conclusion of the 2016 season, after the team finished with a 2-14 record. York again fired the head coach (Chip Kelly), for the third time in as many seasons, and general manager Trent Baalke, replacing the two with the inexperienced Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch respectively.
Those two seemed to pass their first test during the NFL Draft last weekend, making a number of impressive trades, and ending up with two of the top three players on their draft board in DL Solomon Thomas and LB Reuben Foster. Optimists may look at this as a sign that York has finally figured things out when it comes to hiring the right people, but for most fans, it’s going to take a long time before he gets the benefit of the doubt, and before his every move isn’t met with skepticism.
York joined NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Wednesday, and said that he deserves the blame.
“That’s who you should question,” York said regarding himself. “This isn’t where we want to be. We don’t want to be a 2-14 team. And you don’t want to be a team that has its fourth head coach in four years. But you also have to be willing to change path if you’ve made a mistake and know that we’re not going to settle for being a 9-7 team.
“That’s not where we want to be. If you want to make your team great, you have to do everything that you can to get back up to that level. And that’s where we are. And we will get there. We had three NFC Championship games in a row sandwiched between a Super Bowl loss. It’s close, but that’s not where we want to be. We want to be a team that consistently competes for it. And when it’s all said and done, and John (Lynch), Kyle (Shanahan) and I look backward, we want to know that we won more together than anybody else.”
York admitted that it’s far to early to judge the success of Lynch and Shanahan’s first draft, despite the fact that most experts have called it a resounding success. Regardless, York said the process exemplified the two newcomers’ ability to work together
“I don’t know that there’s enough data to assess where are they and where do they stack against everybody else,” York said. “What I’ll say is, I think the draft was a perfect example of how they work together. And watching John and Kyle work together, and watching how the scouts and the coaches work together. I have no idea whether it was a good draft or not, we’ll find out three years from now, but it certainly worked out the way we wanted it to because we planned for it. We were ready. And we executed because we were all on the same page.”
York also touched on the quarterback position, and his trust in Shanahan, who has established himself as a top evaluator and developer at the game’s most important position. Based on Shanahan’s evaluation, the 49ers drafted Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard in the third round of the draft.
“When you look at Kyle Shanahan, an offensive-minded guy who has history with the 49ers, directly and indirectly, I think he’s going to do a great job. He’s done a great job with Brian Hoyer in the past,” York said. “And I think he’s going to continue to do a great job with Brian. Brian has grown in his career, and I think he’s ready to be a good quarterback for us.
“So that’s a position, until you get your guy, you have to keep taking shots. As much as we compete with the guys up north (Seattle), they did that very well. They signed (Matt) Flynn to a big contract but they still drafted one they like, who happens to be Russell Wilson. And until you’re set, you can never stop taking shots to get your guy at quarterback because that’s what ultimately drives this league.”