Washington Football Team requests GM interview with 49ers’ Martin Mayhew

The Washington Football Team has requested to interview Martin Mayhew for their general manager opening.

The Washington Football Team is kickstarting their efforts to bring in a new general manager to fortify their front office. It had long been expected that Ron Rivera and Co. would bring in another high-ranking executive to help run the team and now, it appears that their search is getting underway.

On Tuesday, the team reportedly requested to interview Titans VP of Player Personnel Ryan Cowden for the role. Now, another candidate has reportedly emerged.

According to Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, Washington has requested to interview 49ers VP of Player Personnel Martin Mayhew for their general manager job.

Mayhew is a former NFL cornerback that played with Washington from 1989-1992 and was a part of the Washington team that won Super Bowl 26 under Joe Gibbs. He has been involved as a football executive since 2000 and has held several notable posts including a GM spot.

From 2008-2015, Mayhew was the General Manager of the Detroit Lions. His results in that role were, at best, mixed and at worst, poor. During his tenure, the Lions posted a 41-63 record and made the playoffs twice, losing in the Wild Card Round both times.

In the draft, Mayhew hit on some solid early-round talents like Matthew Stafford, Ndamukong Suh, Darius Slay, and Cliff Avril, but he whiffed on many early-round selections as well. That included Titus Young, Ryan Broyles, Eric Ebron, and Brandon Pettigrew, among others. He also didn’t have many notable mid-round picks.

However, Mayhew has improved during his time with the 49ers. He helped shape the team into a Super Bowl contender by putting together great draft classes headlined by the likes of Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, Mike McGlinchey, Deebo Samuel, Fred Warner, Javon Kinlaw, and Brandon Aiyuk. The team’s success finding receivers should particularly appeal to Washington.

The 49ers have also taken calculated risks in free agency like signing injured cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Jason Verrett while being active on the trade market and making a move for Jimmy Garoppolo. This work hasn’t all been Mayhew, but he has clearly done well as a key cog in the 49ers’ front office under John Lynch.

Mayhew does have some blemishes on his resume from his time with the Lions, but he’s still a decent-enough interview for Washington. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to find success as a GM again after a strong stint in San Francisco, but checking in with him to see what his vision might be is fine.

There are some other executives that are probably more appealing to fans than Mayhew, including Cowden. But for now, it appears that he will draw consideration for this role. It just remains to be seen where he may end up in the pecking order.