Scot McCloughan’s Departure doesn’t Scream Dysfunction.
[picappgallerysingle id="6558751"]
McCloughan is officially out as the 49ers General Manager. The 49ers brass and McCloughan’s people are still not really explaining why he’s out, only citing personal issues. What they did say is that the 49ers have been preparing for his departure for some time now. I expect Scot had something going on at home that was affecting his job and so the two parties cut ties. This isn’t anything new to the business world; people leave companies because of their personal life all the time. The thing that’s worrisome about the whole situation is that the draft is only a month away.
In a teleconference Jed York answered questions about Scot’s departure. Really the only things to take from the teleconference is that Trent Baalke will be the point person for the draft, the 49ers won’t hire a GM before the draft, and that the 49ers have confidence in Alex Smith. The problem is we already knew all of that.
Without Scot the 49ers may be apt to take harder looks at players with character issues. During the McCloughan era, players like Tank Johnson would be released, writers like myself would all say that the 49ers could use them and then a few hours later the 49ers would shoot down the rumors. I don’t want to connect dots but it seems like the 49ers decided to look at Adam Pacman Jones right around the time they started to prepare for McCoughans departure. I don’t think that the 49ers are going to become a pack of thugs and hooligans but won’t be surprised when they bring in players who are less than outstanding citizens.
Whoever takes over will have to do a better job getting players that fit Mike Singletary’s system and personality. Last year the 49ers had to change their system mid year because they didn’t have the players that fit what the coach wanted them to do. A lot of the switch happened to accommodate Alex Smith, but McCloughan has to take some of the blame.
McCloughan also never brought in winners. Look at our big time free agent acquisitions during the McCloughan era. We had Nate Clements, Takeo Spikes, Justin Smith, and remember Jonas Jennings. All of those guys are or were good for the team but none of them are winners. With McCullough out I expect the 49ers to siphon talent from teams like the Colts, Ravens, and Patriots, not the Bengals and Bills.
Buy San Francisco 49ers Tickets | Buy San Francisco 49ers Apparel
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
FEATURED PARTNERS
