{"id":39801,"date":"2025-03-09T11:09:19","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T11:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=39801"},"modified":"2025-03-09T11:09:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T11:09:19","slug":"kurtenbach-jed-york-is-coming-out-of-the-shadows-thats-terrible-news-for-the-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=39801","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: Jed York is coming out of the shadows. That\u2019s terrible news for the 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Eight years ago, 49ers CEO Jed York stood at the lectern in Levi\u2019s Stadium and declared \u201cI own this football team. You don\u2019t dismiss owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a moment of defiance born of years of incompetence\u2014a stretch during which the 49ers had fired three head coaches in three seasons and had only 15 total wins.<\/p>\n

And it looks like York is pulling rank once again.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s terrible news for the 49ers.<\/p>\n

York, who was given the team president job by his parents at 28 and two years later became the team\u2019s top decision-maker, had been making his presence known in the years prior to that quote.<\/p>\n

After a down 2014 season, York fired Jim Harbaugh \u2014 you\u2019ll never get me to say they \u201cmutually agreed to part ways.\u201d He then hired the woefully overmatched Jim Tomsula to replace Harbaugh, comparing the defensive line coach to Steve Kerr in the process. He fired him a year later, only to bring in Chip Kelly, whose \u201cinnovations\u201d made a bad situation worse.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until the Niners were at rock bottom that York moved to the side. His hail mary heave to land Kyle Shanahan\u2014handing a first-time head coach not only a six-year contract (two years longer than the standard) but also full personnel control, a la Bill Belichick\u2014connected. Shanahan\u2019s hire relegated York to the periphery\u2014he spent his time dabbling in politics and buying soccer teams\u2014and the Niners were unquestionably better for it.<\/p>\n

Within three years, San Francisco was playing in the Super Bowl. Four years and three NFC Championship Games later, they were back.<\/p>\n

But after a six-win 2024, York is seemingly up to his old tricks and making his presence known again.<\/p>\n

And if that proves to be anything more than bluster, it\u2019s a harbinger of more losses to come.<\/p>\n

There really is a simple rubric: the more involved York is on the football side of the team\u2019s business, the worse the team becomes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Niners owner thought we would forget that fact over the last seven years. I imagine it won\u2019t take long for Niners fans to be reminded of why he needed to step into the shadows in the first place.<\/p>\n

We can all agree on this: The 49ers\u2019 roster needs a reset. The team tried to \u201crun it back\u201d after their Super Bowl loss and looked old, slow, and injured. The failure to see that so many players\u2019 window of excellence had closed is something everyone in the organization has to wear.<\/p>\n

There is also little dispute that the supposed checks-and-balances system between the three branches of the Niners\u2014personnel, ownership, and coaching\u2014has become out of whack in recent years.<\/p>\n

Shanahan had been stepping back from having complete control of the team\u2019s roster since the equally disastrous 2020 season, letting general manager John Lynch to actually be the team\u2019s GM and not just Shanahan\u2019s attache that handled the minor issues and political responsibilities of the top job. But when the contract negotiations got tough, with Deebo Samuel in 2022, Nick Bosa in 2023, and Brandon Aiyuk this past season, Shanahan pulled rank and pushed through deals. The head coach couldn\u2019t stand to lose one of his best players \u2014 dollars and cents, and his responsibility, be damned.<\/p>\n

But just because Shanahan and Lynch \u2014 the faces of the franchise since 2017 \u2014 ran into a bad year doesn\u2019t mean York should change what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

Alas, when you spend money like it isn\u2019t yours, eventually, someone sees the bill.<\/p>\n

And the purse strings sound like they\u2019re tightening. The trade of Samuel \u2014 despite the significant salary-cap hit that came with it \u2014 was the first sign that things have changed in Santa Clara. The lingering Aiyuk trade rumors and a reported low-ball opening offer to Purdy in contract negotiations provide further insight.<\/p>\n

Adam Schefter recently leaked that the Niners have a \u201ccash issue\u201d that could limit how much they can offer Brock Purdy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Kyle and I have been here, we\u2019ve been certainly a top-five \u2014 I believe No. 2 \u2013 cash-spending team,\u201d Lynch said at the NFL scouting combine. \u201c[A]t some point you have to reset a little bit or at least recalibrate. You can\u2019t just keep pressing the pedal and I think there\u2019s some good that could come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s plenty of validity to that latter statement.<\/p>\n

But it sure sounds like something a team owner would say, no?<\/p>\n

Ultimately, those constraints are entirely artificial.<\/p>\n

The 49ers don\u2019t need austerity measures. While I am not privy to the organization\u2019s books, if the Niners are even moderately competent in how the organization is run \u2014 and all indications point to that being more than true \u2014 they should be teetering between dirty rich and filthy rich. The team values itself at $9 billion.<\/p>\n

It also has a plum setup: laughably low rent at Levi\u2019s Stadium, and a brand is as valuable as any team\u2019s in professional sports.<\/p>\n

If every NFL team brings in more than $500 million in revenue, how much are the Niners raking in annually? I can say this with certainty: the league\u2019s television and league-marketing deals cover the full cost of even the most lavish cash-spending years, like last season when the Niners spent roughly $350 million on salary.<\/p>\n

Yes, the league\u2019s check should cover all football operations costs.<\/p>\n

So why is football operations feeling the pinch? Now\u2019s not the time to be stingy.<\/p>\n

Yes, going younger, faster, and cheaper can be a football decision, but it doesn\u2019t sound like it is.<\/p>\n

That severely limits the Niners\u2019 chances of doing enough this offseason to correct this team\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason the Bengals, Lions, and Chargers have never won a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

York hasn\u2019t won one, either.<\/p>\n

And if he ever wants to win a Lombardi Trophy, he\u2019d be well-served to remember that you get what you pay for in this league.<\/p>\n

York\u2019s job is to cut checks and sleep on a bed of money. The Niners can\u2019t win a title if he can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

It really is a simple rubric.<\/p>\n

Originally Published:

A new era of austerity undercuts the 49ers\u2019 offseason goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":39802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nKurtenbach: Jed York is coming out of the shadows. That\u2019s terrible news for the 49ers - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=39801\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kurtenbach: Jed York is coming out of the shadows. 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