Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – August 8, 2021

San Francisco 49ers

How was last night?

“It was a fun time last night, but it went very fast. So it was crazy that it was just a day.”

Did you hop on a plane last night or this morning?

“We went yesterday after practice at about 1:30 and then we came back this morning. We landed at about 8:30. So we got on, I think it was like 6:30 out there, East Coast.”

What impressed you at practice today? They didn’t have pads.

“Yeah, actually you know, coming out there and our first day of taking the pads off and the day before a day off, especially after being in the stadium yesterday, I was kind of worried they were going to take it down a little bit. And I was worried we were going to have a bad practice, just watching people being a little tired and stuff, but I was pleasantly surprised. Those guys didn’t take a practice off. They didn’t change stuff with the pads off. They went hard, did everything right. I was disappointed at the end during the four minute and stuff. You can have penalties in that. And had a couple of penalties. We had a chance to move the chains where we could have just clocked it. I mean, down, we could’ve ran the clock out. But we missed it with false starts and stuff. So that was frustrating.”

What’d you see from DT Javon Kinlaw? Looked like he was a menace out there. And the defensive line is kind of letting you guys hear it?

“Yeah. He was having fun out there today. He showed up a lot. There’s a couple of competitive periods and backed up in four minute. And he was an issue today.

How did you think yesterday went?

“I thought it was good. I mean, making it through that, it was one of our harder practices. Just from all the stuff we did before the move the ball with the special teams, the one-on-ones, the scripted periods. And I was just happy with how hard everyone worked. I thought, a couple of guys went down, but no serious things. Just some more camp injuries like that, that you’re used to. But it was also cool to be out there with the fans. Our players definitely felt it. It was different coming out of the tunnel and you could tell they were amped up. It had been awhile since they’ve probably been able to cheer. So it was cool.”

T Trent Williams said, the fans almost scared the shit out of him. He seems to be out of these little benchmarks almost like he’s new to football all over again. Do you see that in him, like him kind of finding these things to enjoy that he maybe took for granted?

“Yeah, I think when you do something your whole life and then it seems like it could be taken away from you. Him missing those two years. I know how eager he was to get back last year and to show that he could still be how he’s always been. And I think going through the whole year, it kind of takes off that anxiety of, you know, I haven’t been out there for a while. And now he’s got his contract He’s done that. And he played a good year and now he’s just trying to be his best self. And if Trent is, you’ve got as good of a tackle as there is.”

With a year under his belt, is FB Josh Hokit at a place where if you don’t have FB Kyle Juszczyk for a little while, you’d be confident with him at fullback?

“That’s what we’re trying to find out. He’s done a great job in practices and stuff. I do believe that he can do it. It’ll be fun to watch him in these games because all these guys that we got last year, we never got to see them in pre-season games at all. And if they didn’t play in the year, they haven’t done it yet. So I’m really pumped for him to get in these three games.”

It’s only one-on-ones, but TE George Kittle seems to have really gotten better at his route running, moving around past linebacker. Do see that from him?

“I saw it today. Yeah. We’ve been challenging George. George works as hard as anyone there is. And I thought today was his best day of route running.

Is CB Jason Verrett injured?

“No, Jason, we gave him a vet day and his also his wife is getting induced. So he had to take off to go down and be with her.

What about DB Jimmie Ward?

“Just vet day too.”

Is DL Nick Bosa on track to play Week 1?

“I believe so. That’s been the plan all along. There’s been no setbacks. He’s doing great right now.”

You’ve been with C Alex Mack before. There seems to be a little issue that he needs to have a towel behind him. Has that always been an issue?

“Yes. Yeah. He works hard out there and has a little bit of a sweating issue. And we need like a beach towel. The quarterbacks are working through that.”

How did that work in Atlanta? Was it the same thing?

“Yeah. And honestly it happens with almost all centers. Maybe Mack a little worse than others, but no, I mean, [Atlanta Falcons QB] Matt Ryan used to make him change his pants like every period. It doesn’t stay dry too long. It’s part of football.”

We saw QB Trey Lance fumble another exchange today. Is he making a mistake or is it the two of them?

“It’s both of them. That’s why we’ve got to keep repping it. I mean, that’s the hard thing about it. That’s why, I mean, when you just dabble in that stuff, you’re going to get turnovers. And our D-Line has seen it a bunch, so they’re trying to play it right and there’s just some give and take between both of them. But yeah, if you’re going to fumble the ball we can’t do it. So we’ve just got to keep repping that. It’s going to take some time.”

Going back to the center position, OL Daniel Brunskill is your number two. It seems like you guys might have a little bit of a depth issue behind him. Do you anticipate you might need to make a move there? How comfortable are you with the depth at center?

“Great. I mean, I’ve never been on a team that’s had more than two centers and we’ve got two guys who’ve played center at a high level, so I feel as good as we have there with depth. And I know we try other guards there too because once you lose guys, other guys have to do it. And especially having that new rule where you get that extra guy as an O-Lineman it’s made it a lot easier to keep two centers like that.”

Did CB Tim Harris Jr. have a torn groin and then as far as DL Samson Ebukam, what’s his injury?

“He’s got some things in his legs that are just swelling and stuff, and we’re just trying to take it easy on him, the wear and tear of going every day. And we’re actually being pretty safe with him. I know he’s, we’re trying to hold him back. Some stuff like we’ve done with Kinlaw too. We want those guys to make sure they just gradually go through and they don’t take their legs out too much in camp.”

With Harris, was that a tear?

“No, he didn’t tear it. He just, it was a pull. It was going to be a couple of weeks and we just couldn’t do that with our depth at corner and stuff. We needed to get someone else in here.”

We saw LB Azeez Al-Shaair on the side field today. Is his knee progressing a little bit faster than you guys thought?

“Yeah, I think it is going a little bit faster. You know, we had that scare on that day of practice and I think we were looking towards Week 1, but I think it’s going a little faster than that and healing up pretty nice.”

QB Josh Rosen had an interception there. How has his camp been?

“I think he started off real well. I think he’s taken a couple of steps back the last few practices. You know, it was unfortunate on that. We were supposed to go to someone and we had a busted route, so then it kind of fell apart and he tried to overcompensate and he made a bad situation worse.”

DL Arden Key seems really enthusiastic to be in the camp. It sounds like he seems to have found a home. What have you seen from him?

“Yeah, I agree. I mean, Arden has always had some pass rushing skills. He’s a guy we liked coming out of college. We felt very fortunate to get him and [DL Maurice Hurst] Mo at the time we did from Oakland and he’s playing some different techniques than he’s done in the last couple of years. And I think he’s really gravitating to it and learning it and getting better each day.”

WR Trent Sherfield at practice it seems as though he keeps showing up. What are some of his best qualities as a wide receiver?

“He just goes as hard as he can and doesn’t worry about anything. I mean, you can tell he’s a self-made guy who’s probably made it on special teams. He’s always trying to earn more. And I mean, he doesn’t worry about anything. He practices as hard as anyone out there and just is so aggressive in everything he does. I think that’s why he’s showing up every day and had one of our better camps as a receiver.”