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The 49ers Sign Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch to Multi-Year Extensions

The only question about this news is the timing.
Grant Cohn|
The 49ers Sign Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch to Multi-Year Extensions
The 49ers Sign Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch to Multi-Year Extensions

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San Francisco 49ers

Congratulations to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.

The 49ers just announced that they've given both of them multi-year contract extensions -- the exact length of which hasn't yet been announced. But these extensions are well earned.

When Shanahan and Lynch took over the 49ers, they inhereted scorched earth -- a roster that had just gone 2-14. Since then, they've built a juggernaut that has won 13 of its past 14 games, the only loss coming when their starting quarterback, Brock Purdy, injured his throwing elbow in the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Lynch has made a reputation for himself as a premier general manager, particularly with his Day 3 draft picks such as George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, and Brock Purdy, to name a few. 

Shanahan has made a reputation for himself as a premier offensive play designer and play caller. And he's becoming an elite head coach as well. He just needs a Super Bowl ring to validate his work.

The only question about this news is the timing. The 49ers just wrapped up Week 3. Why extend Lynch and Shanahan now? What's the rush?

Sure, the 49ers are 3-0 and the vibes right now are great in Santa Clara. But ownership could have given out these extensions after the season ends. Or after Week 5 when the 49ers face their first good opponent of the season, the Dallas Cowboys.

I'm guessing the owners expect the team to win the Super Bowl this season, and so they wanted to finalize the extensions before the price tag goes up.

Still, the timing seems hasty.

Regardless, congratulations to Shanahan and Lynch.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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