© Trevor Ruszkowski | 2018 Mar 1
49ers general manager John Lynch joined Tolbert & Lund on Tuesday evening, and spoke at length about the Reuben Foster situation, and the team’s decision to release the linebacker after he was accused of domestic violence for the third time in less than 12 months last Saturday.
Much of what Lynch said echoed the candid comments from Kyle Shanahan on Monday.
“Although the idea of domestic violence is terrible and won’t be tolerated, it was more we had had certain things that were expressed to him over and over again, crystal clear of what will be tolerated, what would absolutely be not,” Lynch said. “Those things were violated and it was a tough decision but in the same right it was an easy decision because those things had been so clearly communicated that Kyle and I looked at each other and we said, ‘ok we’re done, we move on.’ That’s not easy to do. That’s one heck of a player as well and has a chance to be that. We’ll see where this thing goes with him and move forward as an organization.”
Lynch also spoke about the decision to select Foster at No. 31 overall, who fell in the draft largely due to off-the-field concerns. Lynch said the issues with Foster weren’t actually as bad as a number of other players.
“I think you learn from every situation, you certainly try to,” Lynch said. “And we’ll continue to look into this in every possible way and see what we could have done better, and I think the answer — and this isn’t a cop out or excuse — right behind us there were other teams ready to take him. Believe me from evaluations and what not, this guy was certainly a top 10 player in that draft, most people thought a top five player in terms of just the player.
“You have to remember we sit in these draft meetings and you’d be shocked the things you hear about players and how many times a certain player has been in trouble. That wasn’t significant with Reuben. There was the one that was at the combine, that was very talked about, but there weren’t as many as most guys. We did a lot of work, probably more so on him than anyone else.
“I think where we took him we felt comfortable with it, knowing that it was a risk, knowing that we’d have to put structure around him. We tried our best to do it and it did not work out. I own that, I do personally. I put my belief in him and that hurts for me, because I believed in the kid. I wanted him to be successful, I really thought I could help him in that. I thought the resources we put into him could help him and hopefully we did in some form or fashion. Hopefully what was as alleged to have happened, never happened. I don’t know that. We’ll see. So he’s with someone else now, and we wish him well.”
Foster was acquired by the Washington Redskins on Tuesday, before being placed on the Commissioners Exempt List.
Listen to the full interview below.