Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – September 11, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for today. [DL] Yetur [Gross-Matos], knee, will not practice. [LB] Dee Winters, ankle, will not practice. [S Talanoa Hufanga] Huf, knee, will be limited. [OL Aaron] Banks, finger/calf, will be limited. [RB] Christian McCaffery, calf/Achilles, will be limited. [WR] Jauan Jennings, ankle, limited. Go ahead.”

I’m gathering that Yetur’s session yesterday did not go well or as well as hoped?

“Could, but might not. Just not practicing today.”

Does the fact that Christian is still limited and not just out, I’m not a doctor, but I would read that as a positive sign for how he feels?

“I’m not a doctor either, but I take that as positive.”

Would you agree?

“Yes, I do agree. But I’m not a doctor.”

Would there be any, is it way premature to suggest that he could maybe go on IR just make sure he’s good for the rest of the year or is that something you’ve never even considered at this point?

“No, I’ve never considered that. I was considering him to play last week, so definitely not thinking about four weeks off.”

You had Minnesota Vikings QB Sam Darnold last year for the year. What did you see from him when you had him here? And what have you seen recently?

“Loved having Sam here, he was an awesome guy. He’s been that way everywhere he’s been. And we found it out personally here. But always liked Sam before he got here. Just his talent level from college and what you’d seen in NFL and was exactly as good as advertised. He’s such a good athlete, so tough, can make any throw. And really enjoyed working with him. I thought he got better throughout the year. He was always ready to get more opportunities in the games if something bad happened. Fortunately for [QB] Brock [Purdy] we didn’t have to do that till the last week. But it was really good having him here as a number two.”

I know you’ve addressed this. Could you take me back to the running up the stairs when you thought WR Brandon Aiyuk might get traded. How was your burst on that? Was that really, did you really have to sprint to make sure?

“I had to sprint because I had a team meeting at 8:30 am. I was getting ready for my team meeting and Brandon just randomly walked in and talked to me at 8:15 am. It’s very Brandon-like to pick that type of time, because I was trying to get ready for something else. So about 10 minutes into talking to him, I realized we needed to talk a little bit more when the meeting was over. Meetings can go a while and stuff and I knew we were in discussions a lot with Pittsburgh. I actually called up to [president of football operations/general manager] John [Lynch] and he didn’t answer or picked up on the first ring. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t on the other line making any trades. So I ran up there and just said, ‘Hold on, let’s talk after this meeting.’”

Did you have to barge in?

“No. I’m not going to make it more dramatic than it already is.”

So if he hadn’t randomly walked into your office, he would’ve been on the Steelers?

“Well no, there was no trade done, but those were, you just never know when that stuff is going to happen. When you’re going through negotiations, going through trades, that’s why it’s hard to keep up with all the reports and stuff because yeah stuff is going on, but nothing was imminent.”

How would you assess Brandon’s night on Monday in terms of conditioning?

“I thought he did a good job. He never felt like he wasn’t conditioned. We rotated him more than usual, which definitely helped. I haven’t gotten to talk to him yet today, but I’m sure he was sore and stuff from it. But no, the conditioning, everything, was no factor.”

Monday night I thought DL Leonard Floyd, watching that thing over, was just amazing. The motor, the football IQ, he’s a real special player. Didn’t really see him live until last night, until Monday night.

“Yeah. His motor’s been, he’s like that every day in practice and especially for a guy like whatever year it is, 10th or something. To be able to go that hard in practice every day, I don’t get how he can keep it up. I remember [assistant head coach/defense Brandon] Staley, who was with him in Chicago and the Rams, telling us he was like that. You could always see it on tape, he’s got such a good motor on tape. But he knows no other way. He loves playing football, he keeps it very simple, he likes to come out there every day. He goes hard as he can. In the games, he just cut it loose and he kind of took over in that way and I think he’s a real inspiring guy to watch.”

How much have you studied the Vikings offense and what kind of stands out to you about the way Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is doing it over there?

“They have one game from this year, but it’s, going off of last year and this game, it’s similar how the Rams were. Kevin does a real good job just balancing out his drop-back game with his play-action and his keepers. They mix in tempo and hurry up at all times. You have to constantly be ready for that. Sometimes they’re just going fast. Sometimes they’re making a lot of checks at line of scrimmages. But it’s a very good offense, player friendly, gives his guys a bunch of chances to make plays and got a lot of respect for what he’s done there.”

What makes WR Justin Jefferson the best wide receiver?

“He’s, the way he can cut with his speed. There’s not an angle he can’t really run at, at full speed and drop his weight. He’s also fearless in how he plays, his hands are as good as anyone. I don’t know him personally, but from what I’ve heard people who have been with him, they say, I’ve heard he’s one of the smartest players that people I know say they’ve been with. He’s the full package.”

Did you see Sam, last year, get better every week even though he wasn’t playing?

“Yeah, I did. I think just, Sam had been in a lot of different offenses and a few different teams and stuff. I think just the more, he always could make plays and stuff, but the more he got used to what we were asking and it’s hard when you ask some people to do stuff that they haven’t done before, because sometimes you’ve got to get worse before you get better. But Sam came in with such a good mindset. He was so detailed in what he did, really never wavered and really tried to pick stuff up. I thought he came in really good and I thought he got better throughout the year.”

When you saw that he’d signed with the Vikings and going to Kevin, was your first reaction, “Oh that’s a good spot for him?”

“Yeah, I thought it was a real good spot for him. And I was happy for him. I was hoping he’d find no good spots and come back here. But I was happy for him. He got this opportunity because Sam more than deserves it. Sam is a starting quarterback in this league and he should run with it.”

With T Trent Williams coming back so recently and then the short week and travel, is there anything differently that you’re going to do with Trent this week?

“Nothing different. The whole team, we don’t do a full-speed practice today, so that’s unusual for a Wednesday this early in the year. But, just two games removed from Monday we’ll go half-speed today and we’ll just have one full-speed practice tomorrow.”

The numbers showed that RB Jordan Mason had a lot of yards before contact. What did your offensive line look like when you watched it again?

“I thought they did a real good job. They cleaned up lanes, there were a lot of good holes for him and then Mason always got more than there was blocked for. So it was a good combination of all 11 doing a really good job and Mason always doing extra on each play too.”

On FB Kyle Juszczyk’s 34-yard catch, what do you call that route that he ran? Is that a wheel route?

“A rail.”

Was it in any way a new play or a derivation of a new play?

“Haven’t you been here, man? (laughter) No, we’ve hit Juice that on a bunch. Look at play three, I think, of Philadelphia in COVID year. We just missed it down the sidelines with [Minnesota Vikings QB] Nick Mullens. I don’t know if we’ve hit it.”

Pittsburgh, 2019.

“Yeah, Pittsburgh in 2019. Yeah, it’s been around.”

How did Jordan hold up physically with 28 carries, to your knowledge?

“When I’ve seen him, he hasn’t mentioned anything. The trainers haven’t mentioned anything. That’s what I was kind of explaining in training camp that I thought was so impressive. Having so many guys out and how hard he went each day and the way he is, his body really never changed. He ran so hard in that game and he seems good to go.”

How encouraging was it for you to see K Jake Moody have the night that he did after some struggles last year?

“I thought it was great. I didn’t even realize how many he hit until after the game. I think he got Player of the Week, which was more than deserved. Probably should have gave him a game ball, but one hit the crossbar. But no, it was awesome for him. Especially, I think there was two 50-yard plus ones and that was huge.”