Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – October 2, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for today: [WR] Jacob Cowing, shoulder, won’t practice, [WR Chris] Conley, oblique, won’t practice, [DL] Yetur [Gross-Matos], knee, won’t practice, [LB] Dee Winters, ankle, won’t practice, [TE George] Kittle, ribs, won’t practice, [LB] Fred Warner, ankle, won’t practice, [DL] Jordan Elliott, knee, limited, [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf, ankle, limited, [DL] Kevin Givens, triceps, limited, [LB Demetrius] Flannigan-Fowles, calf, limited. Go ahead.”

What’s the latest on WR Ricky Pearsall and his practice window and kind of where he’s at, both physically and mentally?

“We’re not going to open it up this week.”

Why not?

“Just don’t feel he’s ready to this week.”

What do you see from him physically as he gets ready? Just as he prepares and what have you seen from him as he gets ready to get back on the field?

“I don’t really watch the guys’ rehab and stuff. I just get reports on it, talk to the guys. I know he is really close. When he’s good to go, himself and the medical staff, we’ll be pumped to have him back. Ricky is a hell of a player.”

Is his shoulder still problematic at all?

“No, it was fine before he got hurt.”

You guys are number one in the league in time of possession. Is that by design or is that just the way it’s kind of shook out so far?

“You always try to do that, but no, just the way it shook out.”

DL Kalia Davis’ window is open?

“It is open.”

How soon do you think he may be able to help you?

“Hopefully this week. We’ll watch him this week, see how he does. But we would love to get him up.”

You talked about RB Christian McCaffrey on third downs and all that. Even without him, statistically you guys are still doing well on third down conversions. How have you been able to compensate for his absence?

“Next man up. There’s certain things that Christian does better than anyone on the planet, a lot of things. But our guys are capable of doing things at a high level, also. And there’s some things you miss with Christian. But [RB] Jordan [Mason] had a nice touchdown that got called back out of the backfield catching the ball, wasn’t third down I don’t think on Sunday. But we just do what we always do. It just always makes it a little tougher when you don’t have a player like that out there, but there’s still a lot of good players out there.”

Will you have Christian back on the practice field doing side drills or anything like that on the side today?

“I really don’t go through his rehab, with all the guys on IR. That’s why I don’t have an update on Christian every day, because when guys are on IR, I focus more on our, what we’re doing that week and that day. But I’m sure he is. I know he is rehabbing.”

Do you notice a difference with Jordan Mason and how he got the JUGS machine over the offseason, in his route running and ability to catch the ball?

“Yeah, I think it started showing up the most last year, I thought. I think when Christian got here his first year, just Jordan, [RB] Elijah [Mitchell], all the backs, just watching him, how he was out of the backfield, all the stuff that he started to get because of that. I think all those guys were just a little more deliberate in that stuff in the offseason. And they all came back better last year and showed a ton. Christian was just always available last year. This year they did the same thing working, JP has gotten his opportunity and it’s really paid off.”

All the guys today that you mentioned that were injured, will they all be day-to-day? Have you gone back, is there anything more severe than what you knew two days ago?

“Nothing has changed from what I reported on Monday with the guys.”

I know they are different players, but WR Deebo Samuel Sr. in the backfield versus Christian in the backfield, third down and redzone stuff, how different is that for you as a play caller or is it rather similar for you?

“It’s a little different. Just certain things, Deebo is a wide receiver and Christian is a running back. Those guys are somewhat interchangeable. They can do a lot of things the other can do, but not everything. So I don’t want to go through those specifically, but it’s not everything.”

Has anything changed with the strength and conditioning and rehab regimens since former head of player health and performance Ben Peterson left this offseason?

“No.”

This is obvious looking at the injury report, but getting LB Jalen Graham back, how crucial is that for you guys right now?

“It was real crucial. Putting [LB] Curtis [Robinson] on IR, I don’t know if we’ve done that yet. Have we done that yet? Alright, yeah. Doing that and then guys getting banged up with Fred, Dee Winters, even Flannigan-Fowles. You need enough guys in the building to be prepared for depending on what happens through the week, and when you are banged up, you definitely have to be prepared for that. And it’s always nice to have a guy who has been through our system, who knows everything. Jalen was a guy we didn’t want to lose. He was a hard guy to let go of. We were really hoping to keep him on practice squad, but [Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters] A.P. stole him so we had to steal him back.”

Outside of last week’s loss, Arizona has played closer games this year. What have you noticed about them now versus last year?

“They’re similar in the last year and just, I think they’re very well coached. I think they play extremely hard. The way that, defensively, the way they swarm to the ball. I think the biggest difference this year is they have [Arizona Cardinals S] Budda [Baker] out there who is healthy. We got to play him at the end of last year, but he missed so much time throughout the year last year. And having [Arizona Cardinals QB] Kyler [Murray] back is such a huge difference. They’ve added some receivers. [Arizona Cardinals WR] Michael Wilson is a stud, him just being healthy in his second year and adding the new receiver in [Arizona Cardinals WR Marvin] Harrison [Jr.] and their tight end. They have a really talented group. They’re coached well and I think they’re going to be a problem for people throughout this year.”

As the week goes on and the game, how much will the fact that you play again on Thursday factor into what you do with some of the injured guys?

“Not much. Just today, I talked to the team, we’ve got two games here in the next eight days. We’ve got a lot of guys banged up and the heat, the way it is today, so we’re taking some stuff off guys today. Probably would’ve done that regardless, but knowing we’re playing another one in eight days definitely made that decision easier. When things get close to Sunday, you always think about that stuff, but usually if they’re alright to play that Sunday, you rarely say, ‘Hey, no, let’s not do it this Sunday. Let’s wait till the next one.’ And if they’re not alright to play, then they’re usually not alright to play the next one either.”

You faced Kyler Murray last year, but how much different does he look now this season?

“He just looks so much more comfortable. I thought he looked really good last year when he came in, just watching their offense, seeing him in that new scheme for the first time. I think he got to sit back and watch other guys do it. And then him coming in, you could tell he really consciously tried to play within the confines of the offense, which was different to see, just how the scheme was before. And then always when he isn’t playing in the confines of the offense, how he can be the scariest guy in the league. Kyler has always played at a pretty high level, when he is healthy, and he’s doing that right now.”

Was it more off-schedule previously?

“Yeah, more off-schedule, just the style of it. This one it’s similar to a little bit of what we faced last week, with the Cleveland background of offensive scheme and everything. Just watching him get in there and operate it after watching [QB Joshua] Dobbs, and some other guys, operate it earlier in the year, you could see he’s going to always put his wrinkle on everything, but you could see he was really taking coaching and playing within the scheme and when it was time not to doing what he does as good as anybody in the league.”

I think Kittle said last week that tight ends coach Brian Fleury was talking about FB Kyle Juszczyk and saying he’s, I think he said he’s the most clutch guy on the team, that he has a clutch gene. Is there something to that? Is there just a level of confidence that no matter the situation, whether it’s just an assignment or making a catch?

“Yeah, I think Kyle is one of the more poised, clutch or the game’s not too big for him, people I’ve ever been around. Ask anybody. I don’t care how good your hands are, but just to get thrown in an NFL game and go catch a punt isn’t very easy. Especially when we’re telling him he hasn’t, all he’s got to do is fair catch it. Kyle doesn’t. He’s very confident, he wants to take his opportunity to try to earn that job and try to break tackles and go after it. But I think if you guys think of Kyle over the years, anytime you throw to him, he always makes the play. He’s so big off-schedule. [QB] Brock [Purdy] always finds him when plays break down and Kyle’s just, whether it’s practice, games he’s always the same. Nothing’s too big for him.”

What is your punt return depth chart now after that return?

“He’ll be starting the rest of the year.”

Did you expect him to return that?

“No, I didn’t. We just wanted to make it nice and easy and fair catch it. He wanted to take advantage of his opportunity, try to get a house call and earn that job.”

These are both division opponents. How crucial is the stretch against division opponents considering if you win you can kind of push Arizona a little farther and get yourself up and get ready for Seattle?

“Yeah, anytime you have divisional games, it’s huge. Especially when you have two games in four days, just how quick that goes. The record can go from really good to really bad. It happens fast. You don’t start thinking about that game now, but it’s in the back of your head just how the two games before we get a break. Everyone loves getting that break. No one really loves playing two games in eight days, but if you tell anyone you get three days off after it, everyone’s pretty excited about it. So, we’ve got a big one this week and as soon as that’s over, we’ll be right onto the next one.”

How do you see the competition for that running back two position? RB Patrick Taylor Jr. hasn’t gotten any carries yet. RB Isaac Guerendo got seven. Do you still view it as a competition? Is Guerendo the two and Taylor Jr. is the three?

“Yeah, I think Isaac’s gotten more of the two shares. We’ve been rolling with JP. We’re not splitting series or anything, but when JP needs the rest we’ve been throwing Isaac in there. But have no problem putting Patrick in there either. He’s done a hell of a job for us. Both need to help us out at big time on special teams and especially with running backs, you’ve got to always be ready for the next man up.”