Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – December 30, 2022

San Francisco 49ers

Opening Comments:

“[QB] Jimmy Garoppolo will be out. [WR] Deebo Samuel, out. [DL] Kevin Givens, out. [CB] Ambry Thomas and Kerry Hyder [Jr.] are both questionable. Go ahead.”

How did Deebo look practicing yesterday? I know he was limited, but how did he look?

“He did good. He was able to do individual with us, run a bunch of routes and then finish the rest of it on the side, so he’s getting there and right on schedule.”

As long as no setbacks, will you expect him to play some in the next week against Arizona?

“We’ll see how practice goes, he has to do more practice than he did this week, but he’s definitely got a chance to.”

You would like him to if he can?

“Yes.”

With RB Elijah Mitchell, will you open the window next week? Is that kind of what the plan is?

“Yeah, we actually would’ve opened it today or even maybe yesterday, but he’s been home sick the last two days. We’ve had a bug going around, but he was good enough to start practicing today, so we’ll definitely start that next week.”

How pervasive has that bug been? How many guys have been struck?

“It’s been a good group, but none are too bad. A couple guys have been out, but they’ve came back and it seems like you get it every time around this time of year, so it’s better now, I feel like, than a few weeks from now.”

How about the coaching staff?

“We’re all so healthy that none of us have been bad at all.”

Must be all that sleeping.

“Yeah, the less sleep you get, the more coffee you drink, the healthier you are, so we’re doing good.”

QB Brock Purdy was saying a couple weeks ago that from the moment he got here, he kind of picked up on the urgency in this building to win a Super Bowl, I would assume as a rookie that’s a lot to kind of step into as a starter. How do you see him kind of embracing that? Do you have to talk to him about like, ‘Hey, you need to be at the same urgency level, but you still kind of have to do your job,’ how does that go?

“I don’t think so. I think Brock, naturally, you’d have to ask him his whole life story, but I think he’s a guy who’s probably always been counted out and he is always trying every day to prove people wrong and so I think his urgency I bet has always been there. I bet you that’s why he has been a starter as freshman and one of the leaders of his team even as a young college player and I think he came here with that exact attitude, but I bet it was the first time he felt it from everybody. You don’t get that much in college and I think you get that a lot in the NFL. I’d like to say our team is stronger than I think a lot of them, so you get that huge here, but I think that’s an adjustment a lot of rookies have to go through. They all think it’s real important to them, then they get to feel what it feels like for people to do it for a living and not just trying to make money for themselves, but there’s families in there and I think Brock’s always had that mentality and when you put a guy like that in a group like this, it just makes it that much stronger.”

Bit of an odd question based on your comment about sleep, have you ever found that your like lack of sleep has affected your split-second decisions during games? Do you have to weigh how much sleep you get when you’re in a pressure situation and you have to either call play or decide something?

“Any mistake I’ve ever made is from lack of sleep. No, you never feel tired during games. Honestly the best I sleep and the best I think most of us sleep is Friday and Saturday, so the lack of sleep usually is by the time you guys see us now. It’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that’s why we get out of here pretty early on Fridays, soon after you guys and I always get my nap until dinnertime and I wake up at dinnertime and hang out with the family and go to bed at about 10 and we start late tomorrow, so you get about nine hours and then when we’re done with the meetings at night, we’re usually asleep by 9:30, 10 and you try to get about 12, so I feel like it’s Friday and Saturday that allow you to get through the week.”

Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans referred yesterday to DL Nick Bosa having an MVP-type caliber season and TE George Kittle has pushed him a little bit for MVP, a defensive guy hasn’t won it since HOF LB Lawrence Taylor. Would you make a case for him?

“I definitely would. It’s always tough with quarterbacks because of how big of a deal quarterbacks are to their teams and in the league and how great some of them are, so they do usually get it. The other position that’s so impactful are pass rushers, so you think of someone like Lawrence Taylor, that make sense for someone like that to win it. I think it would make sense for someone like [Los Angeles Rams DT] Aaron Donald in some of the years that he’s had and you look at Nick, who I think is right in that league right there of those two people that I just mentioned and I think he’s having that type of year, so it depends how the votes go. It always surprises you because of the quarterback situation, but by no means is it not warranted, he’s that good of a player and those guys are like that every once in a while.”

Are you pretty settled with your cornerback situation or is there an opportunity for CB Janoris ‘Jackrabbit’ Jenkins to get up and contribute here down the stretch?

“No, there’s an opportunity for him. I think we’re set with our starters out there, but there’s an opportunity for him to get into that rotation and get in the group and be the next man up and we’ve been impressed with how he’s been here since he’s gotten in and we’re very glad to have him. We have no idea how it’s going to play out, but he definitely is an option here over the next few weeks.”