Long before John Lynch became the 49ers’ General Manager, he was a Hall of Fame safety for the Buccaneers and Broncos.
That gives him a different perspective than most in his position across the league when it comes to the current state of the market for running backs.
“First of all, I’d tell you I have empathy and I think I can relate to those guys,” Lynch said in his Monday press conference. “I played a position that I felt like was undervalued for a long, long time. And I had to battle through that myself. I remember the people closest to me [saying], ‘You make yourself invaluable and as much versatility, as much game-changing, can this team play without you?’ You have to try to make that such.”
As it stands, San Francisco currently employs one of the highest-paid running back in the league, Christian McCaffrey.
“I think we’re fortunate,” Lynch said. “Could we play without our guy? I think we could. Do we want to? No. that’s why we paid so much to go get him. And I credit Christian. He’s not just a running back. He’s a lot of things for us and we talk about him unlocking our offense. So, I’m just fortunate that we have a guy that can do that. And I think when we have a guy that can do that, it inspires the other backs to not just become running backs, to work on all facets of their game. And when you do that, you become more than just that.
“So, like I said, I have empathy for those guys. Having said that, I was always tied to the market at safety. I’m proud that I’m part of the guys who started to knock it down. So, I think those things happen incrementally and hopefully, there’s some wins for those guys coming up because I do feel for them.”
