John Lynch picked an interesting time to retweet ESPN’s bombshell story about a power struggle within the Patriots organization, but the 49ers general manager insists he was not taking a shot at anyone in New England.
As the Patriots were asserting their dominance over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night, someone noticed that Lynch retweeted the story that Seth Wickersham of ESPN the Magazine wrote and shared earlier this month.
Look who just RTed the big Pats story pic.twitter.com/G1BS6IIvjf
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) January 14, 2018
The retweet was unintentional, according to Lynch. However, he did admit that he was reading through Wickersham’s story and found himself “cracking up” over some of the claims of dysfunction within the Patriots organization.
Didn’t mean to RT. Came across the article and was cracking up at the “supposed dysfunction” and the doom that was coming w it. That looked like a pretty “functional” and harmonious team to me. 7 straight Conference Championship games is simply unbelievable. #respect https://t.co/TAN9u1bIww
— John Lynch (@JohnLynch49ers) January 14, 2018
Lynch, of course, may have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the alleged rift between Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and Robert Kraft. Wickersham reported that Belichick only offered Jimmy Garoppolo to the Niners and no one else because of his relationship with the Shanahan family. The ESPN story also claimed Belichick was forced by Patriots owner Robert Kraft to trade Garoppolo, though several reports have refuted that.
What Lynch and others seem to be overlooking is that the Patriots winning and having disagreements behind closed doors are not mutually exclusive. That is, both can be true. Winning has always been the No. 1 priority for Belichick, Brady and Kraft, which is why they have been at the top of the NFL world for so long. It appears they are planning to work through their differences when their season comes to an end.
