John Lynch will be the guest of honor at the upcoming KNBR and City National Bank “Dinner With A Legend” on August 2 at at Bourbon Steak and Pub inside Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Join us for some great food and a night of football talk surrounding the San Francisco 49ers. Tickets available here.
Just two hours before the San Francisco 49ers’ first official practice of the 2018 season, third-overall pick Solomon Thomas remains unsigned. With Thomas as only one of three first-round picks yet to sign, the situation has created a cause for concern, something 49ers general manager John Lynch alluded to during a press conference Thursday.
Lynch sounded far more optimistic when he joined KNBR on Friday morning, telling Murph & Mac that he believes the two sides are close to striking an agreement, but did not reveal what specific issue was holding things up.
“Both sides have been working incredibly hard to try to push this thing across the finish line. I feel like we’re extremely close,” Lynch said. “I was hoping to give you guys some good news, hoping to break it with y’all, but we’re not quite there yet. Hopeful that we can get there today.
“Both sides are working in earnest. He’s a top-three player and these things get a little complicated. And we’re trying to reach an agreement and just closing some things up.”
As the third-overall pick, Thomas is slated to receive a four-year, $28 million contract that is fully guaranteed. That is essentially non-negotiable, what is negotiable is what they call “offset language,” which allows the team to save money if they release a player. Whether or not that is what is being negotiated, Lynch wouldn’t say.
“There’s always something to negotiate,” Lynch said. “I’m not going to get into that out of respect for Solomon and his side as to what the issue is. But it always happens that there’s one or two right at the end and this happens to be that one right now and I think one more guy in the first round and we’re hopeful as I said that we can push this thing.”
Listen to the full interview below.
