There’s a fine line between thinking outside the box and losing your damn mind. 49ers CEO Jed York thinks he’s fallen on the right side of it.
“may already be contacting Shanahan and/or the 49ers to express interest,” we wrote -- and that’s exactly how it went down, based on the ESPN report that Lynch reached out to Shanahan.
So while it was a bold move, it also was a move born in large part of necessity. When candidates for the coaching job began to systematically bow out and Shanahan was able to squeeze favorable terms from the team (including what is expected to be a six-year, $30 million deal and control over the roster), the 49ers had no choice but to go outside the box -- the circumstances had yanked them there.
Whether it works remains to be seen. Talk of Lynch’s preparation sounds a lot like the Matt Millen dynamic, who as legend has it had a habit of telling teams during production meetings what they needed to do to improve. The Lions thought it sounded good enough to give him the keys to the franchise.
Lynch doesn’t have the keys to the franchise, but he’s in position to affect it significantly, for better or worse, for the next several years. Whether he goes the way of Elway or Millen remains to be seen.
