While Kyle Shanahan always held a high opinion of Jimmy Garoppolo, he preferred the 49ers' plan of pursuing Kirk Cousins.

Shanahan worked with Cousins when he was an assistant coach with Washington.

"For Kyle, I think the thing I would tell people," Lynch shared, "is we made the trade and then there were some days that Kyle Shanahan was like in mourning, because I think everybody knows his master plan was to have Kirk Cousins come in eventually.

"I was proud of Kyle. Because I think he knew that this was the right thing for our franchise, and he didn't hesitate. But even then Jimmy had to really prove himself. I think it was really smart. [Kyle] didn't play him right away. He waited until he had some semblance of an understanding of our scheme when he did put him in. And he put him in in a position to succeed. And then I would tell you that Jimmy really impressed Kyle, to the point that he said, This is our guy."

Shanahan acknowledged to The MMQB's Albert Breer that the specter of Cousins hung over Garoppolo's early days in San Francisco.

"Yeah, of course, it was there," Shanahan said. "Everyone knows how I feel about Kirk. And for anybody who knows how I feel about Kirk, I think this shows how I feel about Jimmy, the fact that we ended up doing this. I'm not a guy who's going to get excited and just go with the momentum, at all. I usually do the opposite, question it to make sure I'm absolutely confident, and not go with the momentum or the excitement.

"Talking about Kirk, understanding where he could be in the next year, for me to feel this way about Jimmy? It says a lot about Jimmy."

Cousins signed with the Vikings this offseason after Washington traded for Alex Smith.