MOBILE, Ala., — The Senior Bowl is about more than just the NFL draft for 49ers general manager John Lynch. His staff is not only evaluating players for three days in April, but for the future as well.
Lynch and the entire personnel staff are taking a deep dive into all of the draft prospects in attendance in Mobile, Ala., but they aren’t only thinking about the edge rush help they will need in 2019. They are always looking ahead.
They are evaluating players that could end up on their free agency wish list four to five years down the road.
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SIGN UP HERE “You have to scout everything,” Lynch said. “We’re spending a lot of time getting to know these quarterbacks and I think we feel pretty comfortable where we’re at at the quarterback position. I think you do that for a multitude of reasons.
“Number one, you never know what can transpire. Number two, you want to get to know these guys for maybe four or five years down the road.”
One player who landed on the 49ers radar, and subsequently the roster, because of his performance at the Senior Bowl, is linebacker Fred Warner.
“Never forget Fred Warner was here last year,” Lynch said. “The big thing for us is that he played kind of a hybrid role. So now we got our first opportunity to see him as a true stack linebacker and it looked very natural to him. Those things stick with you.”
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On the other side of evaluations, Lynch said he hopes they are able to get a deal done to keep Robbie Gould in Santa Clara, but they are still evaluating the kickers while at the Senior Bowl.
“I think you do that just doing your due diligence,” Lynch said. “We’re hopeful to work things out with Robbie. He’s kicked unbelievably for us. He’s been incredibly clutch for us. Like to reward him for that.”
When asked about LSU kicker Cole Tracy, Lynch said he relies on coach Richard Hightower and his scouts for kicker evaluations.
“My idea of scouting kickers is ‘Hightower, what do you think?’” Lynch joked. “I really don’t know about that. You can look at numbers and things of that nature but the kid’s done a nice job this week.”
What Lynch and his team are getting out of the Senior Bowl is more than what you see on the field. He divulged that the scouts are in the meeting rooms with the position coaches and there’s a symbiotic relationship between the two groups.
“This week is a great example,” Lynch said. “It’s just a beautiful thing to watch. I’ll be in those meeting rooms and DeMeco Ryans will be teaching linebackers and Steve Rubio will be in the back of the room.
“I think the exchanging of ideas, coaches talking to scouts, scouts talking to coaches. These scouts do have the advantage. They’ve been around these guys sometimes three years, four years.
“They have a lot of relationships where they’ve been able to find out a lot of information. This is a great example of how we came in thinking we could separate ourselves by the way we collaborate as a coaching staff and personnel staff. Those guys are an awesome team.”