Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference
Head Coach Kyle Shanahan
Press Conference – August 23, 2022
San Francisco 49ers
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Anything going on with DL Nick Bosa?
“No, I just gave him yesterday off.”
Have you guys made the necessary moves to get to 80?
“I believe we did. I don’t know if we’ve turned it in yet, but we’ve informed the guys.”
You have informed the guys?
“Yeah, they’ll be out after. I don’t want to have to announce their names.”
You haven’t taken three quarterbacks on 53 very often. Here given the depth of this roster, is it even harder to imagine how that’s going to work?
“Yeah, it’s always hard, but it’s something you debate every year. It’s something we’ll debate this year. It’s not always just the quarterbacks. It’s kind of like you asked, it’s how it plays out with other positions.”
I think this is the last official training camp practice that you’re going to have. Are you happy with QB Trey Lance and how he went through the summer and was getting a lot of reps say a priority for you and for him?
“Yeah, of course. I’d like him to get more reps. I’d like to have more of an OTAs. I’d like to have more of a training camp, but you get as much reps as you can possible in the amount of time.”
OL Jason Poe’s been getting reps with the ones. Is that anything to do with OL Aaron Banks or is that just consciously you want, you’ve seen something from Poe where you think he could compete for that job?
“No, did he in the game?”
I think just in practice.
“Yeah, [offensive line coach] Chris [Foerster] rotates those guys in there. I don’t watch it like that.”
What’s the plan for Thursday night as far as the starters and how much Trey will play?
“I haven’t decided exactly. I want them to get out there, definitely the ones, but we’re going to talk about it as a staff more tonight after we watch this practice, I plan on playing those guys. But I haven’t exactly decided how much I know they won’t go past the first half. It’d be the first half at the most.”
If you do not trade QB Jimmy Garoppolo, there are two dates. Would you plan to release him on August 30th, final roster cuts or would you keep him on the initial 53-man roster?
“I don’t know what I’ll do that day. I’ll probably decide when it comes. Like last time, we should all be alive.”
Have you communicated much with him? Have you watched him throw? If you have, how does he look?
“I communicate with Jimmy all the time. He looks the same as he always has. He always throws really good, so it looks the exact same.”
Is he in any way a backup, backup, backup scenario, if someone gets hurt that could he be on this team?
“I think any scenario is possible.”
What do you want to see from Trey in the game on Thursday? If you do end up getting him some reps or is it more about just getting those reps in general?
“I want to see him execute his job as well as he can get the team in and out of the huddle right, call the plays right, get the ball to the right spot, when he can’t get it there, make sure he doesn’t have a turnover and possibly makes a play. But just play the position the right way.”
What kind of camp has RB Jeff Wilson Jr. had? Do you notice just being another year removed from the meniscus, some explosion back, anything like that?
“Yeah, Jeff last year was so unfortunate for him getting hurt in the locker room in OTAs, so he didn’t get any offseason, OTAs, he didn’t get any training camp. Then he got healthy, about a week before we needed him in game. So Jeff last year played off, to me, all heart and he helped us when he came in. And this year he’s healthy, so to me, he is back to being the Jeff Wilson we’ve always seen.”
And RB JaMycal Hasty looks like, I don’t know, he looks better than he has. What has he shown you this training camp?
“Hasty has been solid. He’s been solid since he’s been here. That’s why he’s made some big plays in games. Whether it’s in the pass game, run game, he’s always tough on special teams and protection and he’s done a good job. And guys who are like that, who now I think this is his third year with us and he does keep getting better and that’ll continue to happen with him.”
That route that he ran for the touchdown, does he do that better than any of the other backs?
“Yeah, probably.”
Wilson Jr. does it pretty well too, right?
“Yeah, Jeff would be pretty offended. Jeff hasn’t gotten many of those lately, but Jeff is extremely good at it too. And that’s something RB Trey Sermon can do and the other guys have the skillset to do it, they just need more practice at it.”
Does RB Elijah Mitchell seem on schedule for Week One?
“Yeah, he does seem on schedule. We won’t get him this week, but things are looking to have him back for Week One.”
As far as T Mike McGlinchey, you haven’t given a set time on when he did return, what is his status and is there a chance he could miss regular season games?
“I think there’s a chance because they haven’t told me 100% for sure, but they’re pretty optimistic about it. We took it real slow with him and then he had that setback in the game. It wasn’t the exact same injury, but it was still on the same leg, so we wanted to take it slow with him and we rested him last week. We’re going to rest him this week and we’ll ramp him up next week and see how the pain tolerance is.”
We think of it as the end of training camp, because we don’t see any more practices. Is it the end training came in your mind? Do you go into a different mode, especially starting after this game?
“I kind of have been there for a while. Everything is about, to me, I’m always trying to think of our team. Who are going to be those guys who are in uniform in Week One? Who are going to be those guys who are competing to be in uniform? Who are going to be those practice squad guys? Who’s going to have to step up and be ready for that role if we lose someone in the next 10 days? And that’s really every thought process that I personally have. I’m just looking forward for the whole team. We got a lot of guys fighting for the final spots. You got a lot of guys fighting for practice squad and those things will take care of themselves in the next couple days, but besides that everything to me has been about the season.”
How set, generally, is the depth chart by now? I know there obviously could be changes, but in your mind and the coaching staff’s is the depth chart pretty well settled?
“You have a good idea, but there’s six different variables based off of just two guys going against each other that might be at different positions. And so yeah, that might be it’s all settled but two, but if you decide to go to one position over the other, then that might change six other positions. So you’ve got an idea of your best 53. You’ve got an idea of 16 practice squads squad guys you want to add, but at the end it’s so close and it’s different positions, so where are we going to go heavy? Where are we going to go light? And we just had a game a few days ago and we have to play another game here in two days and what can happen in that game? That can change stuff, so you have an idea, but there’s still so much more communication you need and to go through so many scenarios, because it changes every single day and that’s kind of what happens once the season starts too.”
You’ve only had S Tashaun Gipson Sr. for a little bit, but do you see him as playing in this game or do you see him as an option if DB Jimmie Ward can’t go early in the season?
“We just got him in yesterday where he got a little practice, he got more today, so it’ll be fun to watch him on the tape and hopefully he’ll be in a good enough spot to put him in the game so we can get some game tape on him too.”
I realize that CB Ambry Thomas has been kind of banged up, but it doesn’t seem like he’s kind of taken that next step like maybe DB Deommodore Lenoir has this training camp. What is Ambry’s situation? And what would you like to see more from him?
“I just want to see him battle to make the team. The same with D-Mo. Same with all those guys. After our starting two guys, we got some guys really competing and that could go anyway. I know Ambry wants to get out there and compete, but unfortunately, he hasn’t been healthy. He tried as hard as he could to go last week. He definitely couldn’t and that’s pretty obvious, because he hasn’t been able to go this week too. So we’ll hold out hope that he can get a chance versus Houston, but unfortunately, he has been hurt right now.”
I don’t think I’m quoting you out of context, but you recently said Trey, how he performs, isn’t going to make or break this season. And obviously, quarterbacks are very influential, but why do you feel that way?
“I felt that way five years in a row here, it’s always tough when you lose your starting quarterback, which we’ve had to do, I think three of the years. That’s hard to overcome, but I never picture our quarterback being the exact reason why we’re going to win or lose. If you can stay healthy there and you have the right team and stay healthy at other spots, then I don’t think it does come down to that. If you do struggle in some areas and you get a lot of guys hurt in some areas and you have to put all that pressure on that position, then yeah, it does just like it does with every team. And usually when it comes down to just the quarterback, usually that’s tough for most teams.”