Grant Cohn accuses 49ers reporter David Lombardi of 'hugging' players in locker room

Screenshot of Grant Cohn during his postgame livestream on YouTube, Oct. 12, 2026. (Screenshot via YouTube) Nearly an hour into 49ers beat writer Grant Cohn's postgame YouTube livestream at Seattle's Lumen Field following San Francisco's 32-29 win over the Seahawks on Sunday, Cohn unloaded a two-minute rant about fellow 49ers beat reporter David Lombardi, saying he "can't stand" Lombardi, while accusing the San Francisco Standard reporter of crossing a journalism ethics line: going from reporter to fan."It's bad enough that he's a fan of the team that he covers, but he thinks he's on the team," Cohn said. "So, for example, after a game, you might hear some of us interviewing players and the coach at the postgame press conference. You know who never asks a question? David Lombardi."You know why? Because he's not in there. You know why? Because he's in the locker room. You know what he's doing? Hugging the players and congratulating them as if they won together. ‘Hey man, great going. How does it feel?' He thinks he's on the team, and it ... does bother me."Cohn has covered the 49ers since 2011 and currently leads Sports Illustrated's 49ers blog. In his bio, Cohn celebrates the "old-school mentality" that his father, longtime Bay Area sports columnist Lowell Cohn, instilled in him and proudly claims to provide the "most honest and interactive coverage in the country."But like his dad, Grant Cohn is not afraid to be a provocateur and wade into controversy in the process. He's gotten called out by several 49ers players over the years and most famously had a wild feud with former first-round pick Javon Kinlaw in 2022. Those controversies, though, have all helped build Cohn's profile, and he has happily played into them in coverage on his eponymous YouTube channel. It's been a successful formula, too, as he now has around 225,000 subscribers. Cohn's coverage, though, is regularly pitted against Lombardi, who has covered the Niners since 2017, first for the Athletic before leaving to join the San Francisco Standard in 2024, where he remains today. Lombardi has also built up a following with a YouTube channel, with 110,000 subscribers.Lombardi's bio says his coverage is "offering in-depth analysis of players and examinations of team strategy, as well as features on prominent figures within the 49ers' sphere." But many people view his work as being tilted favorably toward the team, particularly in how he has posted and written about quarterback Brock Purdy over the years.Lombardi certainly isn't afraid to get into social media back-and-forths - and he just had one after the 49ers' Week 4 win with ESPN analyst Mina Kimes. But Lombardi has rarely, if ever, engaged with Cohn online. Cohn, on the other hand, repeatedly engages with Lombardi directly, hopping into his replies on X regularly and referencing their "feud" often in media interviews. (When Kimes got into it with Lombardi, Cohn quipped, "Mina Kimes is my favorite sports journalist. She does a great job," in an X post and had several comments on that spat.) Screenshot of David Lombardi in one of his videos from YouTube, Oct. 14, 2026. (Screenshot via YouTube) But there's a rather large difference, journalistically, between not liking someone's coverage and accusing them of crossing ethical lines. In his two-minute rant, Cohn makes it clear he believes Lombardi is doing the latter, saying that there should be a "professional distance" between the players and reporters. "This f-king guy pretends to be a journalist and takes shilling to the next level. ... It bothers me, man," Cohn said. "Where is David? Ask a question. Oh, he's not here because he's hugging the players. Man, that would bug me if I was a player. ‘Man, don't touch me. Don't congratulate me.'"SFGATE reached out to the San Francisco Standard, seeking a response to the accusations against their journalist, but editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney declined comment. Lombardi did not respond to SFGATE's request for comment on Cohn's accusations, and Cohn also did not answer SFGATE's request for an interview to further discuss his accusations.Cohn's specific "hugging" accusation isn't easily provable, as NFL rules require reporters to film postgame interviews and nothing else in the locker room, though it is worth noting that the 49ers could pull Lombardi's credentials if they felt he was in the locker room for any purpose other than conducting player interviews.What Cohn isn't wrong about is that Lombardi rarely asks questions in postgame press conferences that happen at the podium, which the 49ers themselves broadcast live, though that decision may also be due to NFL media policies. Teams open the locker room for interviews after a game at the same time as the postgame press conference. Lombardi posts videos of those postgame interviews in the locker room after pretty much every game, branding the clips as "49ers Locker Room Intel" - and did so on Sunday from Seattle, too. Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers and Drew Lock of the Seattle Seahawks talk after the game at Lumen Field on Oct. 11, 2026, in Seattle. (Olivia Vanni/Getty Images) In effect, a reporter has a choice after the game: go to the press conference, which is broadcast to the world and reporters can go back to get what was said later on, or go to the locker room, where they can talk with players in a less crowded setting and do interviews they wouldn't be able to get otherwise.At least from the outside, Lombardi clearly seems to choose going to the locker room over the press conference almost every week. He then uses those interviews in his stories for the Standard as part of his written work, which appears to be his primary job.Cohn, meanwhile, appears to treat his YouTube videos as his primary work obligation. He only writes a postgame "grades" story for the SI site on game days and is rarely using direct interviews in the stories he writes. Instead, Cohn is regularly posting videos, hosting livestreams and engaging with followers on social media. He understands what his audience wants, like when he became an Australian microcelebrity last month, and serves his followers that exact content - which includes playing into the ongoing "beef" with Lombardi.It's probably safe to assume these two will not be "hugging" it out anytime soon.More 49ers- NFL hands 49ers owner Jed York $500K fine, 6-game suspension- Injured 49ers WR Mike Evans has a big financial incentive to play- 49ers' stunning trick play helps Deebo Samuel set a bizarre NFL record- How a Bay Area high school landed 2 ex-49ers stars as coachesFull 49ers coverageFor all of our Bay Area sports coverage, sign up for The Catch newsletter here.This article originally published at Grant Cohn accuses 49ers reporter David Lombardi of 'hugging' players in locker room.