After 10 years with the organization, assistant general manager Tom Gamble is leaving the San Francisco 49ers.
“The 49ers organization has tremendous respect and appreciation for Tom Gamble and his many years of service,” said General Manager John Lynch in a press release. “He is a class act who has helped a great deal in this transition, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him. After working together over the last month, Tom and I agreed that it would be in both of our best interests for him to pursue other opportunities. Tom is a true professional and we wish him and his family great success in the future.”
Gamble thanked both John Lynch and the 49ers organization.
“I must thank Jed, the York family and the entire 49ers organization for the wonderful memories they provided me and my family, but it is time I move on,” said Gamble. “This past month, I have had the pleasure of working alongside John Lynch and the talented staff he has assembled. The team is in capable hands and I wish them nothing but the best.”
Gamble recently completed his 29th season in the NFL and was hired by the 49ers in 2005. He was the director of pro personnel from 2005-10 and the director of player personnel in 2011-2012. He spent the 2013-14 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as vice president of player personnel.
As part of a front office war in Philadelphia started by Chip Kelly, Gamble was relieved of his duties with the Eagles. He and Kelly forged a strong bond and it was reported Gamble was instrumental in bringing Kelly to San Francisco in 2016. Strangely, Gamble and former GM Trent Baalke did little to upgrade the 49ers roster last offseason and the team finished 2-14.
When Matt Maiocco broke the news that Lynch wanted to keep Gamble on staff for next season, our columnist Kevin Jones had this to say on Jan 31.
There’s no doubting Gamble is a longtime professional in the scouting industry, and he did spend some time away from Santa Clara, turning in two seasons in Philadelphia. He’s respected and liked. Many of us thought Jed York was going to replace Baalke with Gamble and keep Chip Kelly for 2017.
Which begs the question: How much is York pulling the strings on this decision-making? I wrote one of the negatives about hiring Lynch is that he has such little experience, he almost has no choice but to listen to York, who has now been involved in an NFL front office for 15 seasons.
Here’s what York said about Gamble during his Jan. 2 news conference.
“Tom is a very loyal employee,” York said. “I think he’s one of the unsung heroes in sort of the scouting world and the professional world in the NFL. I have a ton of respect for Tom Gamble. But again, I think it’s time that we have two new people at the helm from the general manager and the head coach perspective.”
In reality, the 49ers need to uproot their current scouting department. Obviously, the team has already been putting together a draft board. And most of the scouts are still in tact, still filing reports on all of the prospects. Lynch needs his hands on the information. He also wants someone around who knows these scouts. The rationale to keep Gamble is understood.
But the way San Francisco has been picking players the last four seasons has not panned out. At all. Whether Gamble is completely different than Baalke doesn’t matter. If the 49ers are truly committed to rebuilding the entire franchise, the person who is leading the scouting department needs to set an entirely different tone upstairs in the building. Will that be possible hanging onto Gamble? It’ll be much harder, that’s for sure.
When Lynch hired both Adam Peters and Martin Mayhew, this move became inevitable.
