When he left a broadcasting career three years ago for his first job in an N.F.L. front office, with the San Francisco 49ers, John Lynch sought to model his partnership with Coach Kyle Shanahan on what he considered the paragon of general manager-coach alliances: Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh’s Super Bowl-winning work in Baltimore.
And in his first two months with Shanahan, Lynch thought he had done well. That was until he found himself discussing management styles with Harbaugh at the league’s annual meetings in March 2017. Lynch mentioned on the rare occasions when he and Shanahan had disagreed, they sidestepped arguments by just moving on to the next topic.