John Lynch turned down Amazon and a massive payday to stay with the San Francisco 49ers. The reason he gave did not shock A.J. Hawk of The Pat McAfee Show.
Hawk and McAfee brought up the reporting from from David Lombardi of The Athletic. Lynch was offered around $15 million annually to do the games. It’s not a bad deal. The San Francisco 49ers General Manager couldn’t do it.
Lynch, “But I looked at myself and I said, ‘How do I sit up here and address these guys and talk about having the fortitude to fight through the pain of losing a game like this and then turn around and bolt on them?’ “I couldn’t do it.”
That reasoning was one Hawk understood, from a mentality standpoint.
“If there’s ever a room that would understand John Lynch leaving and taking $15 million a year, guaranteed, it’s an NFL locker room,” Hawk said but added, “I think it is pretty awesome that he’s doing it. He’s a Hall of Fame player. An unbelievable stud player and he probably still thinks a lot like a player. He wants to see it thru (San Francisco). He’s done the TV thing. He was doing games with FOX before. He would be unsatisfied if he didn’t get at least one ring as a GM.”
Pat McAfee also applauded the uniqueness of Lynch staying. “This is because he’s a former player. This is because of how great he was in the locker room. How well liked he is and how well respected he is amongst his peers. I like that. I respected that. That is a fascinating story about John Lynch being a human.”
Amazon would move on and did hire Kirk Herbstreit to partner with Al Michaels for their Thursday Night Football package.
