San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch Opens on ‘Haunting’ Decision to Pass on Patrick Mahomes

Since joining the NFL in 2017, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has established himself as the ‘golden boy’ of the league. The former Texas A&M man has lost just 8 times in regular season and just once in the NFL Playoffs.

Still just 25, Mahomes already has more than 16,000 passing yards and 130+ touchdowns (including post-season stats). He was drafted by Andy Reid and the Chiefs as the 10th overall pick in 2017.

The Chiefs traded up in order to draft the youngster in exchange for a first-round pick, third-round pick, and the Chiefs’ first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He was the second quarterback to be selected at the draft after Chicago Bears picked Mitchell Trubisky as the 2nd overall pick.

But things could have turned out quite differently for Mahomes has San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch gone on to pick him instead of Stanford DE Solomon Thomas as the 3rd overall pick. As it turns out, that decision is something that still haunts John Lynch.

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Would Patrick Mahomes look good in the Red and Gold of the 49ers?

After getting inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame earlier this month, John Lynch was asked to comment on the decision to overlook Mahomes back in 2017. He replied, “That’ll probably haunt me for a while.”

Lynch further recalled how he went to watch Patrick Mahomes during the latter’s Texas A&M Pro Day four years ago.

“I remember going to his pro day and, you know, we were in a different place as an organization and we had a different plan at quarterback. I remember going to his pro day, doing my job, but really it’s kind of a smokescreen because we were going elsewhere.”

“And then calling our head coach, Kyle, and saying, ‘We might want to rethink this,’ because he put on a show,” Lynch said earlier this week.

Unlike Mahomes, Solomon Thomas’ NFL career is not going as expected. The former Stanford defensive star could only serve as a rotational player on the 49ers’ defensive line.

He has six sacks in 48 games over four seasons with the Niners. He is scheduled to hit free agency in March after he sustained a torn ACL in Week 2 of the 2020 NFL season. Talk about tough luck, eh?

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