Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Press Conference – November 15, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for the game: [P] Mitch Wishnowsky will be out, [DL] Kevin Givens, out, [CB] Charvarius Ward, out, [CB Darrell] Luter [Jr.] is doubtful, [TE] George Kittle, questionable, [DL Nick] Bosa, questionable, [T] Trent Williams, questionable, [DL] Yetur [Gross-Matos], questionable, [OL] Jon Feliciano, questionable, [OL] Aaron Banks, questionable. Go ahead.”

What’s Banks?

“Thigh. Him and Luter, last night, reported some stuff just from practice on Thursday. Luter was pelvis.”

Can you shed a little bit more light on where Trent is? We saw him walking off the field before practice yesterday.

“Yeah, just has been hurting all week and thought he’d be able to go today, couldn’t. Hopefully, he’ll be better tomorrow and good to go, but we’ll have all the way up to kickoff for him.”

Is it the right ankle for him?

“I’m not sure which ankle it is.”

How’s it look for Yetur?

“Good. He’ll be fine. That’s just the semantics of taking him off IR and he’ll be back on our deal tomorrow by one and he’ll be up Sunday.”

Just the fact that you’re going to get an extra body to play defensive end, how much is that going to help?

“Oh, it helps a ton. We’ve had big expectations for Yetur. Had a hell of a camp and had that bad injury at the end of preseason, wasn’t able to heal the right way and we feel this time off has healed it and excited for him to get back with us.”

I have a scheme question for you. Does QB Brock Purdy have the license to hand-signal route changes to receivers pre-snap? Like if he were to see man-coverage, with a single high safety, could he like hand signal to a receiver to change the route to a stutter-go or something like that?

“When there are those things, we put it in the play call. But yeah, we have hand signals for everything.”

You’ll have to make a roster spot for Gross-Matos?

“Yes.”

Are any of these injured players potentially IR?

“Mitch. Well, not 100-percent, we’ve still got to discuss that. But most likely.”

Is his back, can you offer any more specifics as far as what exactly was going on with his back?

“No.”

Just a gradual thing that just kept getting worse or did he really have a traumatic thing?

“Bothered him a ton in training camp. And then we rested him a ton, got better. But it’s been acting back up again and now we’re back to where we were in training camp.”

When you have a cerebral quarterback like Brock who’s been in your system for a few years, do you put more and more in his plate pre-snap or do you adjust your philosophy?

“Have I not answered the questions that are already written for your, that your article is already written on? Am I not giving you right quotes?”

No, I was just wondering. It seems like he’s unique. He’s quite smart and been here for a while and I was wondering does he earn more freedom?

“I don’t think you understand. It’s not about earning more. We put as much on Brock with double play calls, triple play calls, as anyone. But just because you don’t see someone do a hand signal or something, not as many teams do that. They used to do it a long time ago, but that’s not really what it’s like. But it’s just semantics of how you get to it. But there are not many offenses in this league that don’t give a quarterback a few options.”

I don’t know if you’ve had time to think about this much at all, but with WR Ricky Pearsall, just how far he’s come from what happened to already being a pretty heavy contributor and playing a lot of snaps. Just what has it been like to observe that? I’m sure you probably haven’t seen anything like that in your career. What has that been like?

“It’s just been impressive. He’s been impressive since he’s gotten here. He had such a setback with injuries he had from OTAs to training camp and then right when he was good and really got his first week of practice, which was only three days, then he got shot which is as crazy as anything. And then he got back, we needed him pretty fast, especially losing [WR Brandon Aiyuk] B.A. at that same time. And now being three weeks into it, I feel like he’s finally where he would’ve been if he would’ve been ready for Week One if he had practiced all training camp. So he is in a real good spot. But I think he’ll continue to get better and he’s just, he’s been a stud. He is always the same guy. He’s been through as much as anyone in the time we’ve known him and he’s been the same guy every day. So just a really impressive person and I think we’re all seeing the impressive football player also.”

During that time when he was working his way back, what was he like? What of that day-to-day has changed? What was kind of his daily approach?

“Just always positive. He never seemed down about it. Never seemed depressed about it and had every right to. That was a pretty traumatic experience, which I’m sure he had to work through in a lot of ways on his own. But just his, he is a very likable guy. Every part of our team, the wideouts to the defense, to every type of person. He’s just, he’s a very positive, upbeat guy and the stuff he went through didn’t change him at all, which is as impressive as anything.”

You talked the other day about Bosa and the way he closed that game. And then he told us this week that was one of the hardest games he’d ever had to get through in terms of injury. Did he have a real light week this week because of that?

“Yeah, a real light week. I think it acted up on him more through the game than he thought it would and I think it was really bothering him as the game went for all four quarters. For him to tough it out and finish it, he almost made that unbelievable play on fourth down. Then [Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB] Baker [Mayfield] made an even more unbelievable play. But then later in that drive, he had some big ones. Had a huge stop, I believe it was second-and-goal on a run play where he came back under and just battled through. Hopefully with the rest he’ll feel a little better this week.”

You have somewhat jokingly noted George Kittle’s transformation from his rookie year as far as more Hollywood. But in terms of his drive and work ethic, has anything changed?

“No, not at all. I used to joke because his first year you just didn’t hear him talk much and his socks were as boring as could be. He had no wristbands, less tattoos, shorter hair, just seemed like a normal guy who was a hell of a football player. And then I think his personality came out a lot more, which I’m sure anybody who knows him would say that personality has always been there. But sometimes, I think he’s a typical football player who comes in and is quiet and just does his job. And if I ever asked George like, I used to call George all the time in his rookie year and ask him how his ankle is feeling or something like that. And I couldn’t even have a conversation with him, he’d be like, ‘Yes sir, it’s perfect. I’m fine. No, I don’t feel anything.’ And then I would watch him limp out of my office. So, he was just very how people say you’re supposed to be to a coach, and I think as he got a little more comfortable you saw his personality. But that’s why I don’t mean any negative by Hollywood. I don’t think I say the word Hollywood, that’s you guys throwing stuff in there and tricking me. But no, he just, I think he’s just more social and outgoing. But George is, he’s been raised that way. He’s all about work ethic. He’s a psycho in terms of his preparation and how consistent he is and that hasn’t changed a bit and that’s why he’s had an unbelievable career and still has a lot more in front of him.”

Nick Bosa and LB Fred Warner mentioned recently that he kind of sets the standard as far as playing hurt, which it says a lot would come from those guys. Just his ability to gut through that, is it very unique?

“Yes, it’s hard to be a great football player if you’re not like that. You never want someone to gut through something that’s going to jeopardize him for the rest of the year. But there’s a lot of pain that people got to deal with, and George is unbelievable with it. You just watch some of the pain he can be in during the week and the way he can get to by Sunday where you don’t think he’ll be able to get there and he does. He can handle a lot in that aspect. It’s been extremely impressive when you have your better players act that way. It’s one of the best ways of leadership you can show.”

After the Buccaneers game, Brock acknowledged that he was out of rhythm early on and that he had to remind himself to rip it and just let go of the ball. He said similar things at various points this season. Are you seeing that it’s not coming out as automatically as it did in years past and that he’s had to sort of remind himself just to play instinctively?

“I don’t think so. I think it’s tough when a guy gets up there, you miss a couple throws and then everyone asks why and you’ve got to give some answer. ‘I had a few bad play calls. Why? Have to get in a better rhythm, do better.’ I think you just say some stuff like that. What else are you going to say? We’re not always on it and you miss a couple and he missed a couple early. When you miss a couple, sometimes you maybe start, you don’t want to miss again. So you start thinking about it more, aiming a little bit more, instead of just let letting a rip. So I think that’s a common thing that guys say because that usually is the right answer. But I don’t think it’s anything. It’s definitely nothing that I look into more than that.”

Brock’s had a lot of success against Seattle. Is there anything when you look back on those games that kind of stands out as why he’s had that kind of success?

“I mean, we play them twice a year and Brock’s had a lot of success versus a lot of teams in two years. I don’t think he lost to anyone in our division until this year, which this year he’s lost two of them. But we beat Seattle earlier, so he is undefeated versus them. Brock’s had in his seven games, his rookie year I think, he didn’t lose a game and his numbers were unbelievable. Last year playing the whole year, he lost four games and none in the division and had some real impressive stats. He’s been doing a good job this year. So I don’t think it’s any coincidence of Seattle. I just think Brock’s been playing at a pretty high level.”

The Seahawks announced that their center C Connor Williams retired. Can you speak on the importance of consistency and having somebody reliable there week after week like you have with C Jake Brendel?

“It’s huge at center. It’s huge at every position. The O-Line it’s so big because him and the quarterback are the only two guys who touch the ball every play. O-Line out of anything, it’s five guys moving together which I always compare a little bit, more to those guys moving together to a D-Line, which they do move together but it’s just slightly different. But all positions are like that. But when you miss a center, it’s always hard for the quarterback and then it’s hard for the rest of the O-Line because they make so many calls. They’re the second quarterback out there. So it all depends on your backup though and how comfortable you are with them.”

With Mitch, does he need any kind of procedure on his back?

“I don’t think so.”

Has Brandon Aiyuk had his surgery?

“He did. He had it, it was Monday or Tuesday.”

It seems like you guys have discovered a pretty significant player in DL Evan Anderson. Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek was saying it was a pretty intense negotiation as an undrafted to get him over Seattle and some other teams. How fortunate do you feel that you landed this player and what has he shown you so far?

“I think I said earlier in the week, but you hope you don’t need those guys right away because you know they’re going to be players, but you just want to be able to develop them and make sure that you could take the time to get them ready. It was tough putting him on practice squad because we knew he had a chance to be a player, but then you’ve got to cut a guy who’s ready to go. So those are like the risk-reward, the gambles you’ve got to take. And fortunately no one stole him from us. So we kept him there, had a couple injuries, got him up. And then he played so well we knew if we didn’t bring him up, people were going to notice. So we signed him to our roster and he’s proven us right in that way. He has only gotten better since that, which means whatever you flash, people can always flash stuff and not end up being that. But he flashed enough to get noticed, which got him on the roster and he’s only gotten better since then. So that stuff’s huge for us. That’s how you overcome injuries. You can get lucky. I think we have been pretty lucky the last couple years, haven’t been as lucky this year. It’s a little bit more of a normal year. And when that’s the case, you better have a very good plan at the end of the Draft, you better sign good free agents and give him every chance to make your team and hopefully have a good practice squad.”