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John Lynch admits he was testing the 49ers during interview process

When it was announced Sunday evening that the San Francisco 49ers had hired former NFL player John Lynch to be their new general manager, it caught the entire NFL world by surprise.

Lynch wasn’t among the names mentioned for the gig. He has no front office experience. And the usually leak-filled 49ers organization didn’t make it known through the media that Lynch was interviewing for the position.

There’s some method to this madness.

According to Lynch, he asked the 49ers to keep his candidacy a secret as a way to test the organization.

“One of the great and liberating things for me, and I think why this thing came to fruition, I made a big deal that this stay quiet,” Lynch told Bay-Area based KNBR on Wednesday. “First of all, what I was doing, you know part of the rumors are things fly out of that building. And I wanted to see if I could trust this person. And so that was part of my thinking.”

Smart move by Lynch here. While he didn’t go as far to say he was testing 49ers CEO Jed York, that’s the conclusion most will draw.

One of the biggest issues for the 49ers over the past few seasons has been the organization’s willingness to leak information to the press. It started during the whole Jim Harbaugh controversy back in 2014 and continued with Colin Kaepernick over the past couple seasons.

Ultimately, San Francisco kept the candidacy of Lynch about as quiet as possible. Even ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was thrown for a loop when he reported the hiring Sunday night.

This could potentially speak to a change of culture within the 49ers organization.

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