John Lynch on 2024 NFL Draft: ‘I believe in pedigree’
The 49ers have a chance to sign several former NFL players and sons of former 49ers this year.
With the 2024 NFL Draft just days away, the San Francisco 49ers are looking to strengthen their current roster with the goal of competing for a championship this season, while also acquiring quality players for next season.
I will do it. This gave San Francisco a number of franchise players, including Jerry Rice’s son (USC wideout Brenden Rice), Ed McCaffrey (Rice wideout Luke McCaffrey), and Frank Gore (Southern Miss running back).
Frank Gore Jr. will have the opportunity to target specific players in the draft with strong ties to those three, plus nearly a dozen others whose fathers played in the NFL.
would like to hear the names of players with NFL pedigree, especially those with blood ties, who could be included as 2024 NFL Draft targets. To the organization? “I believe in pedigree, I really do,” GM John Lynch admitted in Monday’s pre-draft press conference.
“I think there’s evidence that they should.” But pedigree doesn’t define a player himself, so the 49ers still go through the entire process of evaluating potential players to give these players a fair evaluation.
“Right now I have to step away from (the pedigree) and appreciate it,” Lynch admitted. “And that’s difficult sometimes. And that’s why a lot of different eyes, a lot of different perspectives [go into the process].
And that’s what we try to do when we have our R and D look at it, we have our coaches look at it, we have our scouting look at it.”
“You know, we try to hit it from a variety of measuring points and inflection points as to how you grade these guys because you don’t want to do it just off that.
That wouldn’t be smart.”
Still, the gene pool when it comes to some of those elite former NFL players stands out, which Lynch can see when watching those specific players.
“There’s some inherent pressure on who their dad is, but there’s also some good genes and, you know, and I think that matters.” And so it’s exciting that you have all these great, I mean, we’re talking Hall of Fame players and great players and, you know, brothers of players and it’s really fun.”
One extra example of that was seen at San Francisco’s recent local Pro Day, where the son of Terrell Owens, Tariq Owens, was able to compete, with many in attendance reporting him as a standout during the day.
“TO [Terrell Owens] was out here at the local pro day and his son Tariq, you know, performed really well and that was pretty cool,” Lynch said. “I saw him running towards me, and I played against him a lot, and there was something very familiar about that step.
“You know, it has something to do with the goal. But it’s crazy how these things translate. You know, is this just a gene pool or is it modeling that they’re watching their father run? You know, that’s interesting to me. But that’s a fun element of this year’s draft, and I think it’s going to be interesting to see how it develops.”
The 49ers have some ties to former NFL players in this year’s draft, many of whom are skill position players, so they may have a chance to expand their pedigree.