© Michael Chow | 2020 Dec 7
There wasn’t much buzz around the 49ers selecting Josh Allen in 2017, but after Monday night’s performance, there are probably a lot of Niners fans who wish the team drafted him instead of Solomon Thomas in the first round.
That actually would’ve happened had the 49ers elected not to hire John Lynch as their general manager that offseason. Adam Schefter recounted a story with “Murph & Mac” on Thursday saying that had the 49ers hired Terry McDonough (Senior Personnel Executive with the Cardinals) instead, he would’ve drafted Allen with the second overall pick.
“They had the opportunity to actually take Josh Allen,” Schefter said on KNBR (h/t 49ers Web Zone). “They’re interviewing the great Terry McDonough, with Arizona’s front office, for general manager, a job that went to John Lynch. And let me say, John Lynch, great choice, great man, great everything. Can’t go wrong there.
“Terry also is excellent, and Terry would make a great GM somewhere. But Terry was being interviewed for that job, and Terry was with the Niners brass in 2017. It was the year that the Niners were scheduled to have the second overall pick. This actually would have changed a lot of different things.
“And they asked him his plan, and he went on. And Terry was very close with the agent who was going to represent Josh Allen, Todd France. He told the Niners, ‘If you hire me as the GM … that will enable Josh Allen to come out because he will know I will take him at No. 2 because I’m close with his agent.’
“So, the Niners could have hired Terry McDonough and gotten Josh Allen as their quarterback at No. 2, which would have changed, really, the way football unfolded because as it was, they traded the pick to the Bears for Mitchell Trubisky, and the Niners would have had Josh Allen with Terry McDonough as their GM, but they went with John Lynch.”
Allen looked like an absolute star against the 49ers in the Bills’ 34-24 win on Monday, going 32-40 for 375 yards and four touchdowns. The 49ers quarterback situation, meanwhile, is up in the air, with a looming decision on whether to pay Jimmy Garoppolo $24 million or cut bait this offseason.
Listen to the full interview below.