© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
John Lynch relates to Richard Sherman.
More than halfway through Lynch’s playing career, he left Tampa Bay after 11 seasons and five Pro Bowl appearances to join the Denver Broncos. The star safety would earn four more Pro Bowl nominations in as many years to close his career. But he equated his first year in Denver to being an “independent contractor.”
Lynch compares his former situation to Sherman’s current one. As a three-time first-team All-Pro, Sherman does not need an introduction for his new teammates to know his laundry list of accolades. But Lynch, on KNBR’s Tolbert & Lund Thursday afternoon, said it’s normal for Sherman to feel a little isolated as the new face.
In the past two games, however, Lynch has seen how Sherman has fully embraced being a 49er.
The first example: the 49ers locker room erupting after Sherman knocked off his former team in Week 15. The second example: Sherman fighting several Bears players after they swarmed Marcell Harris last Sunday. Harris was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for hitting Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky high as he slid to the ground. The Bears sideline swarmed Harris, and Sherman ran in to back him up. He and two Bears players were ejected.
“I think when we beat the Seahawks,” Lynch told KNBR, “Sherm coming back to that locker room, and seeing how his teammates responded to him, to me, a light went off for me, saying, ‘He just became a 49er.’ I think it was another example of that, what a great teammate he is, and how he feels he is a part of this organization. I was proud of him. That’s the kind of mentality we want. We are always going to have our teammate’s back around here.”
Lynch said he doesn’t condone getting ejected, but in that situation, he backed Sherman for standing up for his teammate.
“It was like a hockey melee,” Lynch said. “I was ready to go in there. He was in there alone. I think Sherm going in there, he went in with the intention of grabbing his teammate. I think Sherm said it best: ‘I am a grown man.’ We can all learn from (the ejection), but I do like the idea of having each other’s back.”
Listen to Tolbert & Lund below. To hear Lynch talk Sherman, skip to the 9:05 mark.