San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch was never one to back down during his days on the football field, and apparently that was also the case while he was on the team plane.
Lynch won the Super Bowl as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which featured a supremely dominant defense. Lynch was a major part of that, playing safety at an NFL Hall of Fame level. Another major aspect of that dynamic defense was lightning-quick defensive tackle Warren Sapp, himself a Hall of Famer.
But it took a bit for the two to see eye to eye. Listen to this story from Lynch about the time he threw down an ultimatum to a rowdy Sapp and followed through with near violence at 30,000 feet.
Tension was building between Lynch and Sapp for a year and a half? Man, that’s incredible. The dirty art of bullying knows no bounds.
Lynch showed his mettle and Sapp, predictably for a bully, backed down. It’s fitting that former linebacker Derrick Brooks stopped Lynch and Sapp’s near fight from happening — he’s another Hall of Fame member of that elite Bucs defense.
Lynch has had success as 49ers GM, but he’s yet to win a Super Bowl from the front office as he did on the field. All eyes are on the 49ers’ new quarterback of the future, Trey Lance, this season to see if he can lift Lynch’s roster to new heights sooner than expected. But it’s clear that the team has a GM that will fight for what he considers important, on the field and off.
(Photo courtesy Wikipedia commons/Anthony Quintano)
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