One of the many stories still incomplete is what happened during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2014. The 49ers went to three straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl, riding a ferocious defense and (for two of those championships, anyway) Colin Kaepernick under center.
Then it all just disappeared. Harbaugh mutually parted ways with the 49ers, followed by numerous retirements and releases. Kaepernick stayed with the team until he and the 49ers parted ways when Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch came in as head coach and general manager, respectively.
So what happened? As time went on and news bits came out, almost everything pointed to Trent Baalke, Lynch’s predecessor. Reports documented a power struggle between Baalke and Harbaugh. It didn’t help that Baalke had the ear of 49ers owner and CEO Jed York. Kaepernick has an autobiography, “The Perilous Fight,” coming out and has been doing some interviews to promote it. One with The San Francisco Standard’s Scott Ostler has a few nuggets about Kaepernick’s time with the 49ers, but this answer about his interactions with Baalke seems to be something that continues to add to the GM’s marred tenure with the team:
I don’t think Trent was a fan of mine before I walked in the door. In part because, from my understanding, Harbaugh stood on the table and was like, “We need to draft him.” I think there was a power struggle, or a sense of toes being stepped on. I know Trent didn’t agree with me playing over Alex. Also, coming off the 2013 season, I had talked to Harbaugh about ways that we could get better, talked about going to the combine with him to look at receivers together, trying to turn over every stone to get over this hump to win a championship. Harbaugh’s like, “I love it, let’s do it.” Then I get a call from Trent. He says, “Hey, you shouldn’t be going to the combine with Harbaugh. You need to call him and tell him you’re not going. Also, don’t tell him we had this conversation.” To me, that kind of encapsulates how he operated. Those kinds of things, I would say, are manipulative tactics. I don’t think they’re beneficial for anybody. I know other players had issues [with Baalke] as well. I don’t view him as a good person.
This is the first time, to my recollection, a 49ers player has gone on record about Baalke’s actual GM practices rather than how difficult he is to deal with. The closest we’ve gotten is reports and sources about what’s been going on in the front office. A good example is that during Chip Kelly’s single year as head coach, he wanted to draft now-Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Baalke said no—and provided zero reason why.
Given that Baalke was fired from the Jacksonville Jaguars during their head coaching search because no candidate wanted to work with him, it suggests this behavior was a pattern, not an isolated incident. Baalke’s draft picks were laughably bad, so his refusal to let anyone help him make decisions is clearly a flex of power, but it could also stem from insecurity, based on what Kaepernick has said.
This also checks out with Baalke’s refusal to want to draft a second quarterback after Harbaugh’s staff felt it was time to move on.
We’re still waiting for the documentary of just how the 49ers crumbled. It’s well documented that Harbaugh is difficult to deal with, but it’s been made clear that Baalke is just as—if not more—difficult. I’d love just to know how that relationship was managed for four years and what exactly led to all this.
Maybe Kaepernick’s biography will pull back the curtain just a bit more.
