It’s been nearly seven months since the 49ers trudged off the field in Las Vegas, licking their latest fresh wound as the Chiefs danced with their third Lombardi. On Monday night, San Francisco’s season opener will end an off-season that was objectively the shortest of any team besides KC, but one that in many ways felt like the longest.
A bitter and lengthy cold war between the 49ers front office and Brandon Aiyuk and company was the daily headline generator for much of the spring and summer. The exhausting nature of that saga was that very rarely was the latest development anything other than regurgitated agent jargon. San Francisco also endured a too close for comfort standoff with superstar left tackle Trent Williams. His negotiations began later and ended shortly after Aiyuk’s, but his necessity to the 49ers success made the drama all that much more.
Despite the often awkward at best relations between the three camps, all is now well, according to general manager John Lynch. It’s time to “forgive and forget” on both sides. Now that the ink has dried, all parties resume the pursuit of the common goal. Lynch joined Murph and Markus on Friday morning, and detailed how he balances the business side of his job and making sure his best players are handsomely taken care of.
“Forgive and forget. I think that goes both ways. These things get intense, people are passionate about their positions and we gotta run a team,” Lynch told the KNBR morning hosts. “You go from being in intense negotiations to hugging them. A big part of their life’s dream just came true, and that’s a great thing.”
The far more serious event in the Niners’ off-season is still less than a week old. Rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot as he was victimized in an armed robbery in San Francisco last Saturday. Miraculously, Pearsall came out in remarkably good shape despite taking a bullet through the chest. He was out of the hospital the following day, and has been seen at the 49ers’ facility in the days since.
Lynch detailed the frantic sequence of events following when he was first notified, and reiterated the positive outlook he announced at the podium earlier this week.
“About 10 minutes before we got there we heard he’s stable and was doing well. It was a whirlwind of emotions,” Lynch recalled. “Quickly the only thing he said to me was ‘Mr. Lynch I was ready to go to that party.’ The SFPD was just trememdous the way they took care of Ricky. The people at San Francisco general, doctors, nurses, just phenomenal.”
Football is obviously secondary at a time like this, but Pearsall wanted everyone to quickly know it isn’t for him. Not only is he lucky to be alive, he’s healthy enough to be able to get back on the field in relatively short order.
“You asked the question can he play this year? Absolutely he’s going to play this year. We’re going to give him the time to do it when it’s right for him. I can tell you he’s doing really well.”
Pearsall even indicated to Kyle Shanahan that he could play in week one. Cooler heads prevailed, and Pearsall was placed on the Non-football injury list, which requires a mandatory four games.
Hear the full John Lynch interview here, and listen for the 49ers GM every week on The Sports Leader.
