Why 49ers GM can see Seattle Seahawks are coming for SF

The Seattle Seahawks faced off with their chief NFC West rival, the San Francisco 49ers, three times last season. And each time, the Hawks came up short.

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First was a 27-7 loss in the Bay Area in Week 2. Then came a much more competitive 21-13 defeat at Lumen Field in Seattle during a Week 15 matchup last December. And finally, they squared off once more in the playoffs, with the Niners pulling away for a convincing 41-23 victory despite Seattle taking a 17-16 lead into halftime of the Wild Card game.

And yet even with that dominance from last season, comments by San Francisco general manager John Lynch last week indicate that in 2023, the 49ers know that things could be very different.

“We feel the Seahawks coming,” Lynch said Thursday to KNBR, a sports radio station in San Francisco. “They’re really good. They had a really good draft last year. I think they’ve repeated it this year. But the most important thing is that we continue to focus upon ourselves, and I think we continue to make our roster better.”

That’s not all Lynch said.

“John Schneider is as good at this job as anybody in our league,” Lynch said of the Seahawks’ own general manager, “and so you always know you’re going to have competition with he and (Seahawks coach) Pete Carroll, the way they work together, and they do it really well. They’ve kind of reinvented themselves numerous times.”

Have Seattle Seahawks closed the gap with 49ers?

On Friday’s edition of Bump and Stacy on Seattle Sports, former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus shared his thoughts on Lynch’s comments about the Seahawks and just how concerned San Francisco should be about them.

“This is how you know it’s getting real – when the man in charge, Mr. Lynch, is talking about the Seahawks,” Bumpus said. “He goes, ‘Look, we feel the Seahawks are coming. … But, but, but we’re going to focus on ourselves.’ We hear you, John Lynch.

“Now, John Lynch has been one of the best executives in the NFL the past four to five seasons or something like that. Took some L’s, made some moves, but the defense and offense that he has helped put together has been awesome. (The 49ers) are the standard in the NFC West and probably the second-best team in the NFC (overall). When you start hearing John Lynch talk about you, you know you are close.”

If there’s one area that jumps out where the Seahawks may have closed the gap with San Francisco, it’s in the draft. Seattle added 10 players last weekend, including two picks each in the first and second rounds, while the 49ers didn’t make a single pick until after the Hawks had added their first four selections. Not only that, but the Niners’ second pick of the draft was a kicker – Jake Moody of Michigan, who was taken No. 99 overall in the third round.

“They didn’t have a selection until the third round this year. Why? Because you had the Trey Lance deal, gave away some first-round picks,” Bumpus pointed out. “I’m looking at the guys they picked up – alright, some of these guys are probably going to be good professionals. Got the safety Ji’Ayir Brown from Penn State. But when you go with a place kicker with your second pick in the third round, you’re a little suspect right there. Yeah, (tight end) Cameron Latu over there with Alabama – there are some guys who I feel like are going to contribute, but there are no names on their draft list that says they got that much better this year.”

Bumpus isn’t saying the Seahawks are ready to overtake San Francisco for the NFC West crown this year, but he sure isn’t ruling it out, either.

“They’re still a really good football team, let’s not get it twisted,” he said of the 49ers. “They got a lot of talent over there. But the moves they made in the draft don’t scare me, and you got John Lynch talking about the squad – you know it’s for real. So I think we’re getting close.”

Listen to Bumpus’ full thoughts in the Four-Down Territory segment from Friday’s Bump and Stacy in the podcast below. Catch Bump and Stacy live from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports, which includes Four-Down Territory at 11:15 a.m. daily where Bumpus answers four football questions from co-host Stacy Rost.

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