The 49ers have their next GM in John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan is expected to be the next head coach there. Next thing up? The quarterback.

There are a few different avenues the Niners could take to fill the role, and it's not hard to connect the dots to potential free agent quarterback Kirk Cousins.

For starters, Cousins once worked with Shanahan, who was his first offensive coordinator when Cousins was drafted by the Redskins back in 2012. Mike Shanahan was the head coach and Cousins was a backup to Robert Griffin III.

There is tangible evidence that Shanahan is a fan of Cousins, which brings him into play for the 49ers.

There's also tangible evidence that Lynch is a fan of Cousins. In his previous role as an NFL analyst for Fox, Lynch had the occasion to call Redskins games.

And, as helpfully pointed out by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, in one of those games, Lynch heaped praise on Cousins and talked about how people need to stop worrying about the exact number Cousins would be paid by a team, realize that $20 million is "the going rate for good quarterbacks" and pay the guy.

Will the 49ers make a run at Kirk Cousins if he hits the open market? USATSI

"You know, there's a lot of talk in Washington, should this be our guy moving forward, is he really [worth] a $20 million contract?" Lynch said. "You've got to take your head off the figure, off the number. I think that scares people. That's the going rate, folks. You may not like it, but it's the going rate for good quarterbacks. This guy is a really good quarterback. He's earned the right, in my mind, to be the Redskins' quarterback moving forward."

The exchange occurred during a Redskins win over the Eagles in December and as Lynch was talking, Cousins completed a pass to Pierre Garcon, which the new GM praised.

"I mean, look at this throw," Lynch continued. "I remember when they had Robert Griffin humming. [A team official] said, 'John, you ought to see this kid, Kirk Cousins, throw the football. He can throw it with anyone in this league.' I mean, that's a confident throw in a tight window. Big-time quarterbacking by Kirk Cousins."

Now, it's entirely possible that these comments were made as part of generally effusive praise from a broadcaster to a starting quarterback. Maybe Lynch isn't quite that enthusiastic about Cousins as a starting quarterback.

But if he were to be interested in actually signing Cousins, he would certainly have a hard time explaining to Cousins agent that he doesn't actually like the young quarterback or that he's not willing to pay Cousins more than $20 million a year.

All of this could be moot if the Redskins, as many expect, place the franchise tag on Cousins. But if that happens, perhaps we see just a single extra year of Cousins in Washington, which would then set him up to head elsewhere in free agency.

Assuming the 49ers don't draft a quarterback, San Francisco would have to be considered a prime potential landing spot for Cousins.