Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – October 27, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries from yesterday. [DL] Sam O [Okuayinonu] with an ankle, he’ll be day-to-day. [DL] Jordan Elliott, ankle, day-to-day. [LB] Dee Winters, knee, day-to-day. [DL] Alfred Collins, shoulder, day-to-day, and [QB] Mac Jones, knee contusion, day-to-day. Go ahead guys.”

Do you know if you guys are going to open the window for WR Brandon Aiyuk Wednesday?

“[OL] Ben Bartch, we’re expecting to open up his window on Wednesday. That’s it.”

Are you any closer to getting WR Ricky Pearsall back on the field?

“I hope so. I’m sure he is doing better this week than last week, but I still haven’t been told that he’ll for sure be back. We’ll have to evaluate that when we get to Wednesday.”

Same thing for Brock? How is he doing? Is it a long shot for him to play in New York?

“I think it’s too early to say. I don’t think it’s a long shot, but I know he is doing better. We’ll see how he’s doing Wednesday. Hopefully, if he’s doing good, he’ll get in some reps.”

You’ve said in the past that you don’t usually take playing surface into account when it comes to having a guy being ready or not. Does that hold true for Brock at MetLife?

“Yes.”

Before you left on Friday, you had said there was a chance that Brandon would have the window open. Was there just a feeling that he is just not ready yet or what kind of feedback have you gotten about that?

“No, I think it’s week-to-week from here on out that he has got a chance. It would’ve surprised me if it was this week, but that was just me saying that every week I think he’s getting closer to having a chance. Just not this week.”

When Dee Winters left the game, a lot of us expected that LB Nick Martin would come in. Where is Nick in that pecking order and if Dee couldn’t go against the Giants, would Nick be in the mix?

“He is behind [LB] Curtis [Robinson] in that pecking order. If he couldn’t go versus the Giants, it would depend on how these three practices go. So, he’s gotten a lot more opportunities being able to be up for game week these last two weeks. He’s done really good on special teams. So, I think he’s coming along fine. If Dee can’t practice, we’ll see how he does in these three days.”

Mac Jones was saying after the game that he can live with post-snap mistakes. Like if there’s a drop or I don’t throw a good pass, but if I’m not looking in the right spot or people are running the wrong routes, then you’ve got no chance. Were there a lot of instances of mental errors against Houston or was it mostly just getting beat physically?

“No, there were definitely mental errors. Not a lot more than usual or anything like that, but in that type of game, every single play was a huge deal. Just with a lack of number of plays and stuff like that. So, I think any mistakes that were made were extremely magnified.”

How did you feel like everybody on defense did with their effort to the ball after looking at the film?

“I thought their effort to the ball was good.”

Where did you feel like the breakdowns were on defense?

“A number of them. We dropped a guy in man coverage on that 50-yard check down. We can’t hug up on the quarterback, got to stay on our guy in man. And a number of our pressures, they just didn’t get home. He got it out quick on a, I want to say he completed about five slants in the game. Their 30-yard touchdown, he just beat man-coverage. It was just a one-on-one route and beat the guy on one-on-one and then ran away from him. So, those would be the biggest ones with the explosives, I believe.”

How is WR Jauan Jennings’ health? I know he has kind of battled through a lot of injuries this year, but where is he at now? Is it affecting him still on the field?
“Jauan’s been banged up all year. So, I think he’s better now than he was two weeks ago, but by no means is he 100-percent. He’s still dealing with an ankle, his ribs linger for a while, his shoulder also, but probably more the ankle than anything. But, he’s getting better each week. I don’t think he had a setback yesterday, none that I’ve heard. But, he’s been battling every week to get out there.”

As far as DL Trevis Gipson, do his elevations reset after you guys released him and then re-signed him to the practice squad or is he out of elevations at this point?
“No, he’s out of elevations.”

He’s been a pretty key member of the defense in recent weeks. How are you guys going to handle that defensive end spot?

“What happens when you have seven injured guys who aren’t on IR not playing, or six I think it was last week. So, hopefully you get some of those back and if you don’t, you’ve got to figure out how to get them up or will cost someone else’s job. That’s kind of what we’re dealing with every week here with just the number of guys that are hurt, who aren’t on IR becomes a roster issue. That’s kind of the stuff we try to see and how it plays out with these guys who we’re waiting on who are day-to-day.”

Are both OL Jake Brendel and DL Bryce Huff likely to be out this week again?
“Yes. I’m not guaranteeing it yet, but pretty unlikely.”

With WR Demarcus Robinson, what have you seen from him since he’s been back and how much did missing those first three games kind of affect what he’s been able to do?

“Yeah, I thought it took him a little bit just to get back to where he was at the end of training camp, just being away for that long and definitely set him back some. But, I do think he’s getting back there. I thought he did some good things yesterday.”