Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch will return to the San Francisco 49ers next year after a disappointing 2024 season, according to team owner Jed York.
York told The San Francisco Standard that Shanahan and Lynch “aren’t going anywhere,” emphasizing that the successful coach and general manager duo will remain in their current roles.
“You can write that, sure,” York told the Standard before the Niners’ game Monday night against the Detroit Lions. “They’re not going anywhere.”
York was responding to the Standard’s question about recent speculation that other teams could target Shanahan via trade to fill their head coaching vacancy. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Monday that the 49ers are not interested in trading Shanahan and that the two-time NFC championship-winning coach is not interested in leaving San Francisco.
Shanahan said Tuesday that he has a good relationship with York and added that the owner’s comments to the Standard didn’t affect his outlook much.
“I feel confident that I have a good relationship with Jed and we talk almost every day, so hearing things in the media doesn’t change much for me,” he said. “It’s more what I have between him and me.”
Shanahan also ruled out trade talks earlier this month, saying, “I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world but here.”
Lynch echoed those sentiments in a separate interview before the 49ers’ Dec. 8 game against the Chicago Bears, who have been linked to Shanahan since firing coach Matt Eberflus last month.
“I found the whole discussion about Kyle and some things pretty funny,” Lynch told San Francisco radio station KNBR. “We’ve won four of the last five division championships. We’ve been to two Super Bowls.
“The standard here is to win championships, and we haven’t done that, but we have a great head coach. And the fact that people are talking about things like that, I find it comical.”
Shanahan and Lynch signed multi-year extensions with the Niners in September 2023.
San Francisco fell to 6-10 with Monday night’s home loss to Detroit and is nearing the end of its first losing season since 2020. The Niners have reached the NFC Championship Game four times and have two appearances in the Super Bowl in eight seasons since they hired Shanahan and Lynch as their coach and general manager, respectively.
“Jed is very easy to talk to,” Shanahan said Tuesday. “We’ve known each other here for eight years and we feel very lucky because of who he is through thick and thin, and the communication never really changes, regardless of what’s going on.”
