NFL notebook: 49ers lose executive; QBs with San Francisco ties meet in NFC title game

The San Francisco 49ers will have to move forward into 2021 without a key member of their front office.

The team this week is reportedly on the verge of losing one of its two vice presidents of player personnel, Martin Mayhew, to a the general manager position with the Washington Football Team, according to an ESPN report. Mayhew had reportedly been in talks with Washington this week after interviewing but it wasn’t clear what his role would be until Thursday.

Mayhew, 55, joined San Francisco’s front office as a key hire by general manager John Lynch in 2017. The two were teammates in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ secondary from 1993 through 1996. Lynch, a first-time executive, tapped Mayhew to add much-needed experience to the front office with San Francisco. Mayhew worked previously as the general manager of the Detroit Lions for eight seasons and helped Lynch with the procedural aspects of his job as well as running the personnel department.

Mayhew first joined the 49ers under the title of senior personnel executive before getting promoted in 2019, when he shared the same title with Adam Peters, VP of personnel, who interviewed for general manager openings with the Broncos and Panthers this offseason but appears in line to return for another season in Santa Clara.

Because Mayhew, who is Black, landed a GM role, the 49ers will get compensatory draft picks under the NFL’s revised Rooney Rule, as they did when the New York Jets hired defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as their new head coach. San Francisco will receive compensatory third-round picks in the next two drafts after losing Saleh and will get an additional pick in 2023 for losing Mayhew.

How the 49ers fill Mayhew’s absence is yet to be determined. Many members of the team’s brain trust are on vacation, including head coach Kyle Shanahan.

Two QBs with 49ers ties meet in NFC title game

49ers fans might watch Sunday’s game NFC Championship Game in Green Bay and wonder what could have been.

Of course, the game is a match up of arguably the best quarterbacks of their generation with Tom Brady traveling with the Buccaneers to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Both future Hall-of-Famers could have ended up with the 49ers at different points in their careers.

San Francisco famously passed up on Rodgers with the first overall pick in 2005 when the 49ers took Alex Smith. Some fans wondered if Rodgers would end up finishing his career with the 49ers after the Packers used their first-round pick last spring on Utah State quarterback Jordan Love to be Rodgers’ heir apparent. But Rodgers quelled any talk of leaving Green Bay with a standout season.

Brady expressed interest in joining San Francisco last offseason when he was a free agent for the first time. But Shanahan and Lynch decided to stick with the younger Jimmy Garoppolo after taking the team to the Super Bowl in his first full campaign as the starter in 2019.

Was passing on Brady the right decision? Hindsight says, perhaps.

Garoppolo appeared in just six games this season because of two high ankle sprains to right leg in Week 2 and Week 8 while the 49ers finished a disappointing 6-10. Rodgers, meanwhile, is favored to win his third MVP award, making it highly unlikely he ends his career with any team other than Green Bay, regardless of the team drafting Love.

Rodgers led the NFL by completing 70.7 percent of his throws and throwing 48 touchdown passes to just five interceptions. His 121.5 passer rating was 9.1 points better Deshaun Watson, who finished second in the stat in 2020.

▪ The 49ers might be getting a new assistant defensive line coach, according to a report from Josina Anderson.

Darryl Tapp, 36, played defensive line for 12 seasons from 2006 to 2017 with the Seahawks, Eagles, Washington, Lions, Saints and Buccaneers. San Francisco’s interest would indicate the team might be expecting to be without Aaron Whitecotton, the team’s current assistant line coach, who would seemingly be a candidate to join Saleh’s staff with the New York Jets.

Tapp played under San Francisco’s current defensive line coach, Kris Kocurek, in 2014 and ‘15. The 49ers last offseason lost pass-rush specialist Chris Kiffin to the Cleveland Browns. He joined San Francisco’s former secondary coach, Joe Woods, who became the Browns’ defensive coordinator.

▪ The Jacksonville Jaguars, whom the 49ers are slated to play on the road in 2021, hired San Francisco’s former general manager Trent Baalke to be their permanent GM this week. Baalke had been working under the interim title last season when the team fired Dave Caldwell in November.

Oddly enough, Baalke will pair with former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. The two have something in common. Both were arch enemies of Jim Harbaugh.

Baalke, of course, presided over the 49ers from 2011 to 2016 when he began during Harbaugh’s first season after making the jump from Stanford. Baalke won executive of the year in 2011 when the team improved from 6-10 to 13-3 and made the first of three straight NFC title games.

But Baalke, who emphasized building his roster through the draft, struggled to replenish the roster when stars like Justin Smith and Patrick Willis retired. His clash with Harbaugh led to his hiring of Jim Tomsula in 2015 and Chip Kelly the following season, who went 5-11 and 2-14, respectively. It led to Baalke getting fired after the 2016 campaign. He was replaced by the new regime of Shanahan and Lynch.

Baalke famously took chances on draft prospects coming off ACL tears, hoping to maximize value as the injuries caused the players to slip to later rounds. The strategy didn’t work and became the favorite joke of fans and media members on social media.

But not all of Baalke’s draft picks were busts like his most famous pick, receiver A.J. Jenkins, in the first round of 2012. The 49ers relied heavily on players like Jimmie Ward, Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner, Jaquiski Tartt and Ronald Blair III under their new regime. All were picked by Baalke, but, with the exception of Buckner, none made a substantial impact until after Baalke was fired.