Former San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Vinny Cerrato joined KNBR 1050’s The Audible Monday morning to discuss last night’s Super Bowl, and the 49ers’ current front office situation.
Cerrato began by discussing Kyle Shanahan’s questionable play-calling late in the fourth quarter when the Falcons still had the lead. With just under five minutes left in the game, Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones for a 27-yard completion to put Atlanta on the Patriots’ 22-yard line, well within Atlanta kicker Matt Bryant’s range. However, after losing a yard running with Devonta Freeman on first down, the Falcons ran two consecutive deep pass plays resulting in a 12-yard sack and a holding penalty on tackle Jake Matthews. This pushed the offense back to their own 45-yard line and well out of field goal range.
Cerrato called the late-game play calling the “stupidest thing in the world.”
“All you gotta do is run the ball three times, eat up their time outs, their defense is exhausted. (The Falcons) kick a field goal you’re up 11 with like three minutes to go and the game is basically over,” Cerrato said. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
When asked about whether the devastating loss in Super Bowl LI would impact Shanahan going forward, Cerrato said, “I don’t think it will really impact that much at all.”
Cerrato also commented on 49ers new GM John Lynch.
“I like John Lynch, I recruited John Lynch when he was in high school and I was at Notre Dame. I think John is an extremely smart guy,” Cerrato said when talking about the 49ers new GM. “He hired good people, and he’s smart enough to realize that what he doesn’t know.”
“Probably cap, (salary) cap is gonna be the biggest thing. And then, having a plan for now, having a three-year plan, having a five-year plan,” Cerrato said about what the most difficult thing for Lynch starting out will be.
The 49ers have the number two overall pick in this year’s draft, but according to Cerrato, the team will need to exhaust every option in their search for their next franchise quarterback.
“I’m gonna look into (Jimmy) Garoppolo and what that is gonna cost me, because he would fit what Kyle wants to do, with the west-coast offense and getting the ball out quickly. (Mitch) Trubisky, how much do they like him, I mean he’s athletic, has a good arm, is he ready to play this year, probably not.”
Cerrato said the toughest obstacle for Kyle Shanahan going forward is: “The biggest thing is evaluating his team. What do I have, who do I like, who fits, who doesn’t fit? Well, the number one thing is putting a staff together. He’s got a couple guys in Atlanta that are his guys, but it doesn’t look like he will be able to bring them this year.”
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Listen to the full interview below