The San Francisco 49ers have extended the contracts of coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch with multiyear deals, the team announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:
- Shanahan has been with San Francisco since 2017, compiling a record of 55-46 and leading the 49ers to a 3-0 record to open 2023.
- He led the team to a Super Bowl appearance for the 2019 season and has won six playoff games since he inherited a Niners team that finished 2-14 the year before he arrived.
- Lynch also arrived in San Francisco in 2017 as general manager. He was named the 2019 NFL Executive of the Year.
- Lynch had previously been signed with the 49ers through the 2024 season and Shanahan had been signed through the 2025 season. Both signed those extensions in 2020.
The 49ers today announced that the team has signed general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan to multi-year contract extensions.
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 22, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Why the 49ers made this move
It’s very hard to argue with what the 49ers have accomplished on the field under Shanahan and Lynch. The duo inherited what might’ve been the NFL’s worst roster in 2017. By 2019, they had the 49ers on the cusp of winning the Super Bowl. The team has now been to three of the past four NFC Championship Games and is off to a 3-0 start this year. The 49ers might have the strongest roster in the NFL, and they’re well-positioned to sustain within the bounds of the salary cap. The team has over $40 million of cap space this season, and it’s re-signed a homegrown player to big money (George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa) in each of the past four seasons. — Lombardi
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‘A very nice fit’ between Shanahan, Lynch
After watching the dysfunctional dynamic between Jim Harbaugh and Trent Baalke for four seasons, CEO Jed York’s top priority in 2017 was finding a coach and general manager who would work together. Whereas Harbaugh and Baalke rarely were seen in the same room together after their inaugural season, Shanahan and Lynch have remained tight and are often seen chatting on the practice field and even tossing passes back and forth during the special teams portion of practice.
Lynch once noted that York and his right-hand man, Paraag Marathe, might have assumed he and Shanahan had a long-standing relationship when they were paired together six and a half years ago. They didn’t. Though Lynch, then a FOX broadcaster, admired Shanahan’s approach to offense, they’d only talked during the usual media sessions before Lynch called Falcons games in 2016. But they saw eye-to-eye when York and Marathe put them in a room together to test how they’d gel. One of the first things they discussed was their respective philosophies on building a team. Both agreed that the two priorities should be quarterback and the defensive line.
“Everything just had a very nice fit,” Lynch recalled about the initial discussion. “It felt right.” — Barrows
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
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