As league insiders continue to try to figure out exactly what prompted the 49ers to part ways with G.M. Scot McCloughan only five weeks before the draft, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports take a thorough look at the situation.
And Silver reports that McCloughan was “blindsided” by the news that he received on Wednesday regarding his future, or lack of one, with the franchise.
Silver also takes aim at the 49ers for failing to provide their paying customers with a clear explanation for the unusual news. Or, for that matter, any explanation. We’d agree with Silver, if McCloughan had been fired for cause -- like the Browns did with former G.M. George Kokinis. “Cause” implies that something serious happened, and if the team thinks that then the team needs to let the world know what it was.
When it comes to terminating a guy without cause (or, at a minimum, placing him on some type of paid leave of absence), the team can do whatever it wants and the team owes no one any explanation.
Especially if the team is concerned that sharing personnel information could expose the team to liability under the fairly (to say the least) progressive laws of the state of California.