Latest On 49ers’ GM Search

Led by CEO Jed York and executive vice president of football operations Paraag Marathe, the 49ers have reached out to 11 candidates this offseason in their quest to find a general manager. While the Niners are seemingly down to two finalists for the position – Cardinals vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough and Vikings assistant GM George Paton – the saga isn’t necessarily nearing a conclusion. On the contrary, it’s “by no means” certain the 49ers will hire McDonough or Paton, and passing on each would cause them to reopen their search, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports (Twitter).

Kyle Shanahan

La Canfora’s report jibes with what a source told Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com earlier this week – that “it’s not a lock” either McDonough or Paton will land the GM role in San Francisco. If the 49ers don’t tab one of those two, it’ll likely be the result of neither being able to sync with soon-to-be head coach Kyle Shanahan. The current Falcons offensive coordinator will take a break from Super Bowl LI preparation this weekend to meet with McDonough and Paton, who’s reportedly willing to take the Colts’ GM job.

Should one of McDonough or Paton hit it off with Shanahan in the coming days, the 49ers could have their next GM in place as early as Saturday, writes Cam Inman of the Mercury News. Otherwise, they’ll be back at square one and set to drag their GM search into a second month.

Both longtime head coach Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father, and ex-Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik have come up as possibilities to take front office jobs with the 49ers. They might be worth keeping an eye on, then, and the same goes for Falcons director of football operations Nick Polk, Jaguars director of player personnel Chris Polian, former Browns executive Morocco Brown and Redskins exec Alex Santos.

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