San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Thursday morning. As you’d expect, Jauan Jennings was the primary topic after the Niners sweetened his deal late Wednesday night. Lynch commended Jennings for getting healthy and handling any potential distractions the right way.
Lynch wondered whether Jennings would have any rust in Week 1. This is his first week of practice in about a month. When the 49ers gave Jauan an extra $3 million, the prevailing thought was that this would be his last season in the Bay Area, as both sides could not agree to a long-term deal. However, Lynch said, “We’re going to continue to work on a long-term deal. But why now, we have a solution that works for everybody for the short-term. That’s a good thing for the Niners.”
Lynch confirmed that there were long-term discussions for both sides, but they couldn’t come to an agreement for now. He added, “Some teams do have the policy that once you hit the season, they put all contracts away. That’s not something we’ve done. We are going to focus on going to beat Seattle right now. We’ll continue to try and work toward that. We’ve said it many times. We love JJ. We love his presence on this team, and we want to keep him around for a while.”
Jennings is a locker room favorite. Kyle Shanahan said it’s been awesome having Jennings on the field. Dominick Puni said Jennings is his favorite player. Lynch noted that Jennings’ energy is palpable, which is something you can’t measure, but can see how it rubs off on the rest of his teammates:
There’s no bad blood there at all. There’s plenty of bro hugs with JJ. He’s one of the guys that brings this energy each and every day. There’s bro hugs on a daily basis with Jauan. He’s just a happy guy.
Ignoring the outside noise
Lynch and the 49ers are ignoring all outside noise. For example, writers rank Brock Purdy as a below-average quarterback. The Athletic ranked every NFC team, and San Francisco came in at No. 7. Lynch does not care:
It’s just kind of elevator music. It’s just kinda there. Last year, everyone said we were the No. 1 team in the NFC. That didn’t work out so well. I think, either way, might some people in our locker room use it as motivation? Sure. You kind of make everything personal. It’s not something we’re worried about.
We understand after a 6-win season, we have to go prove it. That’s the cool thing about this league, as long as I’ve been around it. You have to go prove it each and every single day, and we have to do that. We got punched in the mouth last year, and we have to respond.
There’s a whole lot of new faces that weren’t even a part of that. But there are plenty that were. And that’s what we take personal. We didn’t play up to our standard last year. And that’s not acceptable. What we’re doing is focusing on the work that changes that. Not the articles as to where people have us rated. The results will speak for themselves when it’s all said and done.
About the Author: Insidethe49
