TOP 10 Team executives

Achieving the highest level of success at every stop of his football lifetime, John Lynch climbed the ladder from collegiate star to nine-time NFL ProBowler to respected television analyst before he joined the 49ers as a first-time general manager in 2017. Since then, he’s become one of the men most responsible for building the franchise back into a champion with his shrewd moves and organizational acumen. Named the NFL’s 2019 Executive of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America, Lynch has quickly earned his place on this list of the greatest team executives in 49ers history.

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1 Bill Walsh: The innovative football genius is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for what he did as 49ers head coach, but he also was a Hall of Fame general manager for the 49ers while laying the groundwork for the San Francisco dynasty during the first four years of his initial tenure with the team, then returning at the turn of the century to transform the 49ers into winners again. Walsh’s keen eye for talent, instincts as an evaluator, roster-building techniques and hardline decision-making created the 49er Way of doing football business, a tried-and-true approach that still is being emulated throughout the league more than three decades after Walsh made it famous.

2 Eddie DeBartolo: It all starts at the top in the NFL, and that was never more true than during the 23 years DeBartolo was the team’s principal owner, when he set new standards for what it means to be a modern-day NFL owner before being named to the Hall of Fame in 2016. DeBartolo made the wise move a few years after buying the team to clean house and put Walsh in charge, then spared no expense in building a winner and keeping the 49ers there for more than two decades as one of the most beloved owners in league history,