LAS VEGAS — Herman Edwards remembers that phone call like it was yesterday.
Hall of Fame safety John Lynch, who Edwards coached as an assistant with the Buccaneers, had been offered the 49ers’ general manager job.
“I said, ‘Hey, you can do it. You know how to build a team,'” Edwards recalled to the Post. “I said, ‘You were with us in Tampa when we built it from the ashes. We can get a smart, tough player.'”
Edwards was an assistant head coach with the Buccaneers and Lynch’s position coach in charge of Tampa Bay’s secondary under head coach Tony Dungy, and they built the team into a perennial championship contender, the year after Dungy and Edwards left. , ultimately winning Super Bowl XXXVII.
Edwards and Lynch have developed a strong bond that goes beyond that of a coach and player, with Lynch being a godfather to Edwards’ son Marcus. Edwards and his wife, Leah, are godparents to Lynch’s daughter, Leah.
Edwards was right. Lynch knows how to build a team.
The 49ers built by Lynch will face the Chiefs on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, looking to win San Francisco’s first Super Bowl in 30 years.
And they’re doing it with key players that carry Lynch’s imprint on their acquisitions: key roster additions made through the draft and free agency.
Steve Young remembers that call like it was yesterday.
Lynch had just accepted the 49ers GM job.
“He called me on my first day and said, ‘Steve, what you guys had was phenomenal. I took it and used it as a tool for our future. ‘I want to show everyone there’s a standard,”’ Young recalled to The Paper. Post of conversation with Lynch.
Young succeeded Joe Montana after Montana brought four Lombardi Trophies to San Francisco and helped lead the Niners to their fifth Super Bowl championship (their last) in 1994.
The 49ers made the playoffs in seven of eight seasons, and Young won one Super Bowl and lost the NFC Championship three times as a starter for the Red and Gold.
Back then, the 49ers were a consistent standard of excellence. Lynch is firmly committed to the process of replicating that excellence.
Along with head coach Kyle Shanahan, they came to San Francisco together in 2017 and endured two losing seasons in 2017 and 2018, with the arrow pointing upwards ever since.
They went 13-3 in 2019, but lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
The 2021 team, like last year’s team, lost in the NFC title game because quarterback Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury to his pitching arm.
And we are here now.
“He owned the Standard,” Young said. “Super Bowl. He owned it. What he did was create a free agency environment that everyone wanted to come to. Steve Kerr created it. [with the Golden State Warriors]. Trent Williams is here because Trent Williams chose this place. Christian McCaffrey was traded here, and he chose this spot. He made it happen.
“Then he drafted Devo.” [Samuel, receiver] and george [Kittle, tight end]. He’s done it both ways – he’s been great in the draft and he’s been great in free agency in building something that everyone wants to be. In the age of free agency, how else can you get this kind of collection of athletes and stars that are all built to be the same? It’s an art that not many people have. ”
But that art wasn’t always Picasso.
There were also mistakes. Big mistake. But Lynch and Shanahan successfully pivoted and didn’t let those mistakes sink the ship.
Lynch traded three first-round draft picks and moved up, selecting quarterback Trey Lance with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft.
Lance appeared in eight games with the 49ers, starting four in two seasons before being traded to Dallas, but did not appear in a game this season.
Lynch and the 49ers survived because they selected Brock Purdy with the 262nd and final pick in the 2022 draft. And Purdy became one of the most notable success stories of the modern era – considering he was a serious candidate for this year’s MVP, it goes without saying that he essentially saved the franchise. During the season, he makes less than $1 million a year.
There was a blatant theft in which Lynch traded third- and fifth-round picks for Williams, who was dissatisfied with Washington.
He remains one of the top tackles in the NFL.
And the trade for McCaffrey means he missed 23 of 33 games in 2020-21 with Carolina, but has been a big hit since arriving in the Bay Area in Week 7 of last year, leading the NFL rushing season. won the title.
They also drafted linebacker Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, who was criticized at the NFL combine for hitting a 4.73 in the 40s.
Samuel is a game-changing, two-way receiver and runner who was drafted by Lynch. The same goes for Kittle, who has developed into one of the few top players at his position.
And don’t forget to pay for valuable Kyle Juszczyk, who plays a position the NFL deemed obsolete (fullback). Juszczyk probably has his AOL account for email and wears a “members only” jacket.
Yes, Lynch knows how to build a team.
“The truth is, Jed York, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan have created something that really resonates with me,” Young said. “That great team, that great locker room, that great leadership, that spirit of unity and selflessness that drove us all these years, they definitely created that here… and maybe even better. There may be.”
“They’ve done a great job and I want them to be rewarded for it. … They’ve been to five out of six. [NFC] championship game and several Super Bowls. They’re the owner elite, the general manager elite, the coach elite, and the Super Bowl has a way of rewarding that.
“If they win, it will be a reminder to me that their excellence has been rewarded,” Young added. “That’s what they’ve done. I know the truth. They’re great and it feels right to be rewarded by winning the Super Bowl.”
