Listening to Irsay-Gordon’s press conference, it seems to me that Ballard doesn’t have a long leash. She’ll spend money giving Ballard the freedom to add talent in free agency, but the money had better bring results.

Personally, I agree with her. I’ve spent the past half decade defending Ballard on the grounds that he didn’t have a Quarterback. I excuse that because finding a Quarterback is the second hardest task facing a GM…behind Edge defender.

He now has his Quarterback, and I expect him to fill the hole at DE in free agency. If he loses Buckner and Ward to free agency, he might get some slack. But everyone in the organization would have to be convinced that MAJOR progress has been made and that we are on the cusp.

He' just not a genius at drafting with an 8 win team.
Also the scouting isn't helping.

Most guys wouldn’t survive drafting a massive bust 4th overall.

On the bright side, at least we’re not Cleveland, who fired their two time coach of the year and kept their GM, who was responsible for the Deshaun Watson trade, the worst trade in NFL history.

So we got that going for us, I guess.

Imagine if you traded 3 first round picks to draft a bust 3rd overall. You'd surely be fired, right? And yet, John Lynch is still the GM of the 49ers.

If Ballard had hit on a 7th round draft pick like Purdy we wouldn't be having this conversation (and I know it was lucky but you have to draft the guy to get lucky). Apparently Lynch knew QB was essential and moved heaven and earth to try to find one. He missed on the first rounder but kept looking and found one.

Quarterbacks in San Francisco succeed because of Shanahan, not Lynch.

I think Shanahan is the best coach in the league.

Somebody has to get the guy on the roster for Shanahan to work his magic.

That was dumb luck, and you can't say Ballard hasn't continued to look for an answer at the QB position, because the 2 QBs on the roster not named Anthony Richardson were brought in in the 2025 offseason.

And I guarantee you Shanahan has more input on quarterbacks taken than Lynch does.

Why wouldn’t he?

o


Ballard also brought in Philip Rivers in 2020, who led the Colts to their one bona-fide season as a contender for an AFC championship in Ballard's 9-year tenure as the team's GM in 2020 ...... unfortunately, Rivers decided to retire immediately following that season.

He brought in Carson Wentz in 2021. Wentz had 27 TD's, 7 INT's, and a passer rating of 94.6 ...... Wentz led the team to a 9-6 record in their first 15 games before he shit the bed in the final 2 games of the season.


So yes, Ballard has been looking for a QB in his 9-year tenure as the team's GM ...... he has failed more than he has succeeded in that specific area, but he has been looking.

o