49ers hire John Lynch as general manager

The San Francisco 49ers are a weird team. Evidence: they hired John Lynch as their general manager.

Yes, that John Lynch. The one who’s spent the past nine years providing color commentary on TV. The John Lynch who was an outstanding football player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers, and has exactly no experience being a part of an NFL front office, let alone managing one.

The last time an NFL team hired a general manager straight out of the broadcasting booth, that guy’s name was Matt Millen. He became a laughing stock around the league, and was finally fired when his Detroit Lions went 0-16 in 2008.

Presumably, the 49ers think this time will be different. I don’t know, maybe Lynch will be a better general manager than Millen was. But then I assume the Lions didn’t think Millen would be a disaster when they first hired him, either. And how can you tell what kind of job Lynch will do, given that he’s not done anything remotely similar over the past....ever?

So many questions. So few answers.