Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – August 28, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Is WR Brandon Aiyuk practicing today?

“I hope so. I actually haven’t gotten to see him today. Players got in late today. I’ve been doing the 53 and practice squad, kind of still working on it. But I hope so.”

Is your expectation that he will be available to play Week One?

“I don’t really have any expectation. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

When you say you hope so, does that mean he has told you that he is going to practice today?

“No.”

Is there any reason to believe that today would be different than previous weeks?

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything. I’ve been working on the 53, the practice squad. I haven’t talked to him. I know he’s been cleared by our doctors. So, I hope that he is out there practicing today.”

If he is going to practice today, what limitations do you want to put on him?

“We’ll just have him go through individual, things like that. Start running routes with our quarterbacks. Probably won’t let him go against guys.”

Along those lines, what do you know about his conditioning at this point? What has he been able to do in that regard?

“I know what he’s told me. I want to see it though. That’s why we’re safe when we pull guys back out there and that’s why we’ll ease him in.”

Has he done any football related activities with any representative of the organization in the last month?

“No.”

Did you have to make any adjustments on the 53, carry maybe an extra receiver because questions about whether he’ll be available?

“Yes.”

Has this reached a point where he could play on his fifth-year option without a revised contract?

“Just like I think I’ve said from the beginning, it’s reached a point where all options could happen. And nothing has changed on that.”

What do you think of WR Terrace Marshall Jr.? He once upon a time was the best wide receiver prospect in the country. Ran in the four threes. What do you guys see in him?

“Excited to get him here on our practice squad. We felt that way with him coming out. We really had him high on our list in college, and to give him the opportunity to come here on practice squad, get a chance to see him. Feel he can help our team out.”

Since your doctors have said he’s healthy, if he refuses to practice, would you discipline him?

“I’ll deal with that when that happens, if that happens.”

So just to clarify, if he practices, that’s not any sign that anything’s close one way or the other in terms of the contract extension?

“No.”

After watching OL Isaac Alarcon in three preseason games and training camp, what would you say of him?

“I think he’s going to help us out on our practice squad. I think he got a lot of playing time, which helped him get better. Being down on some guys, he got to play a lot more in these preseason games than [former 49ers OL] Alfredo [Gutierrez] did in the past and he took advantage of that. I think that’ll allow him to help us more here on the practice squad.”

Have you been in contact with T Trent Williams at all in recent days? And at what point does he need to show up in order to be able to play?

“That all depends on when we see him, how he looks, how he feels. I haven’t talked to him for a number of days. But Trent will give every day, we’ll let it be as close as possible. But we’ve just got to get with him, we have to see him. We have to talk to him. Very similar to how we were with [DL Nick] Bosa. There wasn’t a day that we would put on the calendar that would be our last day. You hope it’s every day that’s already passed. So each day makes it harder and harder. But you don’t really make that decision until you see someone and talk to them.”

Is it more difficult for an offensive linemen? You talked earlier, at the beginning of the camp about how defensive lineman maybe was a little easier to miss camp and come in. But how difficult is it for an offensive lineman than that?

“I think all positions are difficult. I would say, in my opinion, and anyone can have a different opinion, I’d say D-Line is one of the easier ones. So, I would put that ahead of O-Line. But the only ones that I would say are truly easy would be kicker or punter.”

You would have three offensive tackles on the roster once Trent rejoins. Is that enough? Would you like to have a fourth, either on the practice squad?

“Yeah, of course. You’d always want a fourth. Three is enough if no one ever gets hurt. But you usually don’t plan on it that way and that’s why the final 53 is never the final 53 and it’s still pretty fluid right now.

Are OL Brandon Parker and OL Chris Hubbard possibilities to rejoin at some point?

“Yes, they are.”

You sounded very optimistic about Trent, maybe a week ago. Do you still have the same level of optimism that he will sign?

“Yeah. I’m optimistic that things will work out with Trent. I’m not sitting here knowing what day it’ll be. We’re getting close to playing a game, so my mind is completely on preparing for a game without those guys. But yeah, I feel when two sides want to get a deal done, usually it happens.”

You activated S Talanoa Hufanga yesterday. Can you just kind of lay out what the plan is for him over the coming weeks here?

“Yeah, it’ll be good to get him in practice today. He will go out with an individual and stuff. We won’t throw him in against anybody, but he’ll be able to do all the drills and stuff on air with other players and coaches for the first time. And we’ll probably do the same thing tomorrow and then evaluate next week. I think Tuesday is our first day, whether we want to get him in going against anyone.”

Did RB Elijah Mitchell get another hamstring injury or is it aggravation? How tough is it to see him lose another season?

“It’s terrible. I think all you guys know how I feel about Elijah, how our whole team does. Elijah’s a stud. He’s had some real unfortunate injuries that keep happening and he had a hamstring injury and it got worse. The doctor suggested he should have season-ending surgery. I don’t know when he is doing that, but that’s what he should do and he’s going to do it. That was unfortunate to not have him for this year.”

Did he reaggravate it on Monday?

“Yes.”

You used the return from IR designation on DL Kalia Davis in roster cuts. Why not use both of them at that point?

“We will if we haven’t already. I just don’t think we’ve announced it yet. That’s why I told [VP of football communications] Corry [Rush] to do this like two hours from now, but he wanted me to do it now. There’s a lot of things fluid, so it’s kind of hard to carry conversations about all that stuff. I’m just joking, Corry [laughter].”

When do you tell the backup quarterbacks what the order is going to be or is that going to be a week-to-week thing?

“Like I’ve said, I know we haven’t told them. I feel very good about both of them. I think they’re neck and neck. That hasn’t changed. It’s been that way for a while. Yeah, I wish it would in terms of, so it makes decisions easier on us. But when anything is like that, I won’t make a decision until I have to and I don’t think I have to for a little bit.”

Will there be weeks where QB Joshua Dobbs runs the scout team or weeks where QB Brandon Allen runs it, depending on what style of quarterback you’re going to face that week?

“Yeah, I think when you have guys who are, to me, skill level and giving us a chance to win are very similar, but the ways they do it are slightly different. So those are things that you always look into for the scout team. Those are things that you always look into how our game plan is or what we think we need to beat another team.”

Did you get any calls about those guys trade-wise?

“No, we didn’t.”

How do you feel about the defensive end depth? It seems like you maybe could use another guy there.

“I like the guys that we have. I like the guys that’ll be up. I’ve liked the depth throughout training camp. The guys we’ve gotten on practice squad I feel real good about. I think we’ve got enough in our building to win with and to be able to survive some stuff if we do have an injury.”

Is OL Dominick Puni the starting right guard basically?

“Kind of got me on that because we haven’t announced anything or told anybody anything, but it’s going to be hard to take that from him. That’s how he’s been playing. That’s how we’ve had the lineup in. We’ve got two practices before we go into next week and really solidify everything. But it would be hard to take that from him in these two practices.”

Is RB Isaac Guerendo the kick returner probably and WR Jacob Cowing the punt returner?
“Well, Isaac tweaked his groin on Monday. We’re hoping to have him back next week. But as you guys saw in the game he played, he’s got a chance to do that. Same with Jake. I could say Jake is doing that right now, but we’ve got to make sure that Isaac’s healthy for next week.”

Did Puni surprise you?

“Anybody who comes in and gets that opportunity because of a couple injuries and kind of looks the part right away and kind of stays that way, that always does surprise me. It usually takes guys some time and stuff. We believed he could do it, but how quickly he’s done it and how comfortable he has been in camp and these three preseason games is always a little surprising. But, never would’ve counted him out for that. That’s why we like to say we drafted him. But it’s been really a credit to him how ready he’s been and hopefully that continues throughout the year.”

Is OL Aaron Banks on track to be back for Week One?

“Yeah, Banks should be back on Tuesday.”