by
Dan Wetzel
Scouts. Assistant coaches. Even team owner Jed York was left in the dark (well, until the very end for York). The concept was simple: If no one knew what they were thinking, no one would fear speaking out and offering a contrarian opinion about a prospect. This would guard against groupthink and confirmation bias.
“You don’t want to sway people,” Shanahan said. “You want people to work their butts off and give you their honest opinion.”
Once the Niners traded up to the third spot in the draft on March 26, their selection became an item of intense interest, including news reports citing “sources” that the team was going to draft Alabama quarterback Mac Jones.
It was all wrong.
Niner fans voiced anger at the "pick." Experts stated Jones was going to be a Niner as if it was fact. Some wondered if racism was at play in favoring a white quarterback such as Jones over African Americans such as Lance or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
Fields wound up going 11th overall to Chicago, Jones 15th to New England.
The Niners executed their plan to perfection. Give them credit for one of the all-time great draft bluffs, an impressive month of secrets and misdirection.
None of that is going to matter if Trey Lance wasn’t worth all the effort.
And Shanahan and Lynch admitted Thursday that they don’t know, for sure, that Lance will pan out either.
Dan Wetzel
Scouts. Assistant coaches. Even team owner Jed York was left in the dark (well, until the very end for York). The concept was simple: If no one knew what they were thinking, no one would fear speaking out and offering a contrarian opinion about a prospect. This would guard against groupthink and confirmation bias.
“You don’t want to sway people,” Shanahan said. “You want people to work their butts off and give you their honest opinion.”
Once the Niners traded up to the third spot in the draft on March 26, their selection became an item of intense interest, including news reports citing “sources” that the team was going to draft Alabama quarterback Mac Jones.
It was all wrong.
Niner fans voiced anger at the "pick." Experts stated Jones was going to be a Niner as if it was fact. Some wondered if racism was at play in favoring a white quarterback such as Jones over African Americans such as Lance or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
Fields wound up going 11th overall to Chicago, Jones 15th to New England.
The Niners executed their plan to perfection. Give them credit for one of the all-time great draft bluffs, an impressive month of secrets and misdirection.
None of that is going to matter if Trey Lance wasn’t worth all the effort.
And Shanahan and Lynch admitted Thursday that they don’t know, for sure, that Lance will pan out either.
