The Washington Football Team hired former 49ers players vice president Martin Mayhew to be the team’s general manager last week, and the 49ers front office may be returning the favor.
Washington’s vice president of personnel for players, Kyle Smith, has reached “the end of the line” with the organization and his departure is “inevitable”, Chris Russell of Sports Illustrated said on Friday, citing league sources.
Russell reported that the 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers are already interested in bringing Smith on board.
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Smith has an established relationship with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, while the two worked together in Washington from 2010-13. Obviously, the 49ers has a general manager in charge at John Lynch, who just received an extension after the 2019 season, but Russell reported that Washington would not block a “sideways move” for Smith to join the 49ers in the same role.
“Usually teams need to grant permission for a lateral move,” said Russell of a possible move for the 49ers (h / t 106.7 The Fan). “I was told last night that Washington was not going to get in the way.”
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Washington hired Mayhew as the team’s new GM and also brought in former Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney as executive vice president of football and player staff.
Smith would also be linked to Rams coach Sean McVay and Packers coach Matt LaFleur of his time working in Washington, so the 49ers would probably not be the only team to reach the 36-year-old.
The 49ers did not announce any changes to the front office structure after Mayhew left, and they can slip Smith into that role and reunite him with Shanahan if Washington closes.