Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – July 29, 2022

San Francisco 49ers

Opening Comments:

“The only injury I have is [DL] Arik [Armstead], he had a little knee sprain. It’s probably going to be a few weeks, nothing we’re concerned about, but it’ll take him some time away.”

He did that early in early in practice Wednesday and he kind of battled through it?

“Yeah, he thought it was just a bruise because it didn’t bother him that bad, but it was hurting him a little after and he got the MRI, so I have to hold him out for a little bit.”

When do you think that DT Javon Kinlaw will start to get kind of folded into the team stuff?

“He and [T] Mike [McGlinchey] will be joining us tomorrow,”

What have you seen from DB Tarvarius Moore over the first couple days? He had a really a couple of good pass break ups yesterday.

“Yeah, Tarvarius coming back from his rough injury, missing all of last year, it was tough in OTAs being out so long and just being a little rusty and seeing him here these last two days has been great. Because he’s got that rust off, working through OTAs, looks like the guy we remember and it’ll give him a chance to make our team and really help us too.”

CB Emmanuel Moseley also mentioned he’s been a great leader in the locker room, is he more of a vocal guy or show by example?

“Yeah, I think Tarvarius I would guess he’s a little sneaky in a good way. He’s quiet and shy around us a little bit more, but I think he really opens up with the players. He’s been here for a while, so guys know him well, he’s a very likable guy and I think they all respect the heck out of him.”

Yesterday Trey said that it was a good day, even though they had way too many turnovers, but from a learning experience. Is that unusual for someone at this point in their career to realize how important that is or is that part of what makes him special?

“I don’t know yet. We’ll see as it goes, but I think he said that because it was a real good day. I left the field feeling real good about, not just him, but a number of the quarterbacks. All three of them, what they did. You never feel good about the number of picks, but it’s nice to be the head coach because on those plays, I get excited about the defense. But I just like that they’re ripping it. What you don’t want guys to do, especially in training camp, is say, ‘I thought it was there, but I don’t want to throw a pick, so I checked it down.’ Sometimes you need to know whether it was there and the only way you do that is by letting it rip. And that’s why you don’t kill guys for picks in practice. If it becomes too much then you have to start coaching them how not to do it, but at least you got an idea of what they’re capable of, what they can make, the plays that they can make. So then as a coach, you can somewhat protect him a little bit or you realize man, he’s going to throw that no matter what. So I have to make sure I want to get that first right look. And that’s what we’re working through right now.”

There’s no updates on WR Deebo Samuel I’m guessing, but when he’s doing conditioning stuff, running on the side, does he do the jugs machine? Catch balls also? Have you seen him do any of that stuff?

“I haven’t seen any of it, just because I’m working at the time. I know conditioning is the most important part, but I’m sure he is catching balls.”

Is T Trent Williams due back today?

“Yes, he was in the team meeting earlier. Trent had a baby a few days ago, so he had it up in Oakland. He’s been there in the hospital and he got back last night. And he was in the team meeting, so I expect to see him out at practice.”

With OL Jaylon Moore, I know you guys wanted to work him at guard and he wasn’t able to, just because of the circumstance last year. Is that still kind of the plan for him and how do you envision that right guard situation?

“We got a lot of candidates, I know the guys you guys saw there yesterday, who did it mainly in OTAs. Which OTAs, we didn’t get a lot of team reps of that stuff, but Jaylon we gave him some work there. Especially with [T] Mike [McGlinchey] out, we’re starting him here at right tackle. But you got your starters who play those five spots and everyone else, you want to be able to play him anywhere. You only get so many guys up on game day and all our tackles, we’d like to be able to play at guard and that’s what we’re trying to figure out, what he can do right now.”

What will, when Mike comes back, will Jaylon move back to guard and has OL Spencer Burford impressed you enough that he’s got a shot at being your Week One starter at that right guard spot?

“He’s got a shot. Yeah, I think a number of guys have shots, but those are things I don’t try not to think about too much right now, I don’t because it’s the second day, we haven’t even put pads on. I don’t try to get too excited about guys yet, you just try to take it day by day, because there’s a lot of football to be played and especially when we haven’t even put the pads on yet. So he’s done a good job and done everything we’ve asked, a number of the guys have. There’s a lot of names in there. I think you guys don’t know or that the fans probably don’t know, but there’s a lot of candidates who got the ability to do it. And now we have to see who can handle the marathon of camp and is poised enough to handle those real games.”

Back in the spring, you seemed perfectly fine with DL Nick Bosa not being on hand for the OTAs because you knew what his routine was back in South Florida. Do you know the detail, the level to which he and his brother go during those kind of offseason training sessions that they do?

“I got a good idea. just talking to him about it. I know he is real close with [Los Angeles Chargers DL] Joey [Bosa], so they like to spend that time together. I also know those, I don’t know Joey very well, but I’m sure they’re very similar. They’re committed to their craft as anyone I’ve been around. They do have a plan. I think it’s also different with that position. I always want people here, but we don’t do much on the D-line in OTAs anyways. And with what they do in their routine, it’s something that hasn’t bothered me at all. Especially how good a shape he is, every time he comes here, so I’m real excited with Nick yesterday, getting some team reps and jumping in there and he hasn’t got that since he’s been here. The first year, I think he got hurt in like the first week here, the second year he got hurt too, but then he hurt his ACL in the second game, so he didn’t get to practice at all last year until Week One. And this is really the first time, I see him completely healthy, ready to go and I think his game can even get better the more he practices.”

With QB Jimmy Garoppolo, how much of the element of you don’t want to just give him away at this point to a team that you might be facing early in the season. Is that communication door still open between you and Jimmy? Do you guys talk daily? Is he eager?

“I haven’t seen him for two days. Just because he’s doing his deal when I’m running around. Actually, I’ll probably see him today just to catch up with him, but no, Jimmy is working out hard, throwing the heck out of the ball. I told you guys everything about the situation. I’m not going to tell you guys every single thing in my head, but you can figure it out when I say we have to do what’s right for this organization. And we’re going to do everything we can to make it as good as possible for Jimmy, while always doing what’s right for this organization at the same time.”

And do you sense that he’s getting anxious, eager, like let me turn the page, I need to know what’s going to happen to myself this year?

“Yeah, I think everyone does. I think he’s handled it great, but it’s the reality of this business. It’s the reality of everything. Sometimes you have to wait on stuff and I think he understands that. You always wish it could be different, but this is business and he understands that and it makes complete sense to him and us, so it is what it is as we keep saying.”

Just wonder the overall philosophy, this preseason, I know a lot of veterans, like TE George Kittle don’t normally see time, but with a new quarterback, does that change your thinking at all? I know there’s always that risk of injury, but just timing and chemistry wise?

“A little bit. I really, I play it out, I see where our team is going into that week and I try to decide who I think needs some stuff who doesn’t it’s a huge challenge this year. In terms of, you know, last year we had three games, they were all seven days apart. I think one was eight days apart so it was such a smooth routine. This year we have three games in 12 days, which is, I mean, it’s, that’s impossible. And then after that we wait 17 days to play in a game again. So, this year it’s not as much about the games at all to me, because I have to figure out how to get practice in and how to get people through a game. When you play three games in 12 days, the only way to do that is not practice at all and that’s definitely not an option. I think that practices, I’ve always said this my whole career, are much more important to me than pre-season games. So it’s going to be tough this year just because of how the schedule pans out and you don’t have a choice on that. It’s just what you have to deal with. I’ve gone through it with the players. That’s why I feel like these first two weeks are so important before the Packers game. Cause once that Packers game happens, I think it’s two days before we travel to Minnesota, have two practices playing a Saturday night. I think we get back at like six in the morning on Sunday. And then I think we’re traveling to Houston on Wednesday and we’re playing Houston on Thursday. And so it’s just a whirlwind of games and all of a sudden it’s now chill for 17 days. So I have to really just balance that out and with the help of our medical staff and all the position coaches and it’s something we’ll figure it out as we go.”

Looking at the nickel position and who might take over at that point. Are you going to rotate guys in through training campus? Do you have, you probably have an idea who who’s going be in there?

“We have idea, but I see it similar to the inside positions on the line you’re talking about. There’s not like a solidified guy. There’s not a guy who’s done it for a long time, but there’s a bunch of guys that we do believe in that have the ability to do it and we think have the skill set to do it. So that’s the thing we’re repping as much as we can to see who’s tough enough to handle it, who can get better throughout camp. Not just have a couple good days and take steps back. And that’s why it’s going be a, a process here to figure that out.”

You mentioned the musical chairs along the offensive line, but the last couple of days, Spencer Burford has been the right guard. What is, what are you seeing with him, whether it’s picking up the offense quickly, athleticism, what does he bring to the table?

“We saw when we drafted him, we liked his ability to run. How he, you know, we thought he was a very good scheme fit for us. You know, when it comes to our run game, you have to be able to move very well. And then when it comes to the pass game, it’s quick feet and length and he has both of those things. He’s played at this little smaller school but he came into OTAs and handled that well for, but we also didn’t do much. But he looked the part in individual along with a couple other guys and he’s got the first crack here these first two days, but I really, it’s not something that we’ve discussed a ton. We’re just kind of letting it play out.”

I think that you’ve said that this way in the past, but on whatever day it was Tuesday, you really talked about how much you like this roster at this stage. Do you feel more confident and, and more pleased, more satisfied with the roster right now than you ever have at the start of any training camps since you’ve been here?
“Probably. I might probably have said that before too. You usually do get there through after OTAs when you look at it stuff and no matter what you don’t trick yourself, but you almost always feel that way as a coach. But when I look at just our team and you know, some of the good rosters we’ve had, I’m going in, we’ve had, you know, I thought we had a lot of inexperience at wide out. I think that’s kind of changed. I think our wide outs have been here now. I think we got a pretty real solid group, probably as good of a group as we’ve had since we’ve been here. I think we’ve really improved our secondary in the off season. Just getting [DB Charvarius] Ward, having [CB Emmanuel Moseley] E-man healthy, how good he looks right now. Hopefully getting [DB Jason Verrett] JV back. The fact that we had to play some rookies last year, who weren’t quite ready, but they still survived and got that experience, which will help this year and give us more depth than we had last year. Love our linebackers, love our D-line. We got some good tight ends. We got some good backs. We got some good O-linemen and we got some inside guys on O-line and a quarterback who haven’t played a lot. But we’ve got the team around them to help them and that’s what I’m excited about.”

We’ve got Nick Bosa going against some of your backup offense linemen. Do you ever feel like, alright, Nick, just take a break. We need to do some practice now. You’re, you’re wrecking our offense. Do you ever feel, or you’re just like good going, Nick?

“I don’t care because Nick is such a good athlete. He gets by the quarterback then gets away. So he’s definitely stopping him. Most of the plays he’s in, but it usually doesn’t stop the play. He’s one of the best guys at getting there and not running into anybody. So that’s the way most of the better athletes are. If you had 22 guys out there like that, it’d be much easier not to get guys hurt. But no, it’s, it’s also great against him. Not always going against [T] Trent [Williams], you know, there’s certain moves that Nick wants to try. But he’s very smart. There’s some things he won’t try versus Nick that he might try versus [OL Colton] McKivitz or he might try versus [T Mike] McGlinchey and it, it switches back and forth. So it’s good for him to change it up.”

There was a play in practice the first day where DL Robert Nkemdiche threw RB Ty Davis-Price down, did you guys have to have a talk with him about how you practice?

“Yeah, we do that every day. We’re pretty good at it here. We go, I think as hard as any team, but we also take care of our guys, I think as well as any team. And that’s we never stop with that. I mean, every morning after practice, we come in here and I show all the clips from the day on how people put guys in vulnerable spots and that was the worst one we’ve had so far. But I show six clips of everybody every day and how you have to beat this guy, but don’t finish him. We know you did, but you don’t have to show us with our own player. You can show it in the preseason game and that stuff you just have to, you can never stop talking about or it gets carried away.”