Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – October 21, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

Opening comments:

“Injuries for practice today. [WR] Deebo [Samuel Sr.], hamstring, won’t practice. [LB Garret] Wallow, hamstring, won’t practice. [DL Nick] Bosa, calf, won’t practice. [S Marques] Sigle, ankle, won’t practice. [WR Mike] Evans, Achilles, no practice. [LB Luke] Gifford, groin, same thing. [DB Siran] Neal, knee, same thing. [CB Upton] Stout, shoulder, same thing. [DL] Mykel [Williams], knee, same thing. Go ahead.”

Mykel, is it not practice or limited?

“Not practice.”

Did he flare up in the game?

“Just knee.”

There was a report that Mike Evans might have to manage his Achilles throughout the year. If that’s accurate, what does that look like?

“We had to manage it last week and we’re managing it this week. So, we’ll see how the rest of the year goes.”

You don’t know if you have to manage him the whole year?

“No.”

Any clarity on Nick Bosa’s progress?

“No. Can’t go today, but hoping he’ll be out there tomorrow.”

Does it surprise you how fast some of the young guys like DL Gracen Halton have made such a big impact so far?

“I don’t want to say surprised, but Gracen’s made a number of plays. We thought he had that ability to, but yeah, I think with all the injuries and the guys we’re missing, the amount of playing time that they’ve gotten and stuff that they’ve really taken advantage of and it’s been cool how much better they’ve gotten with all these plays and reps they’ve been getting and it’s been cool how many plays they’ve been making.”

After the game, many of the guys, and I think including yourself, spoke about the fact that you don’t really know if it was being without Evans that caused a lot of problems on the offense or if it was just poor execution, needed to watch the tape. What did you see and then how do you correct those things going into next week?

“Same thing I said after the game. We got in two third-and-longs and why do you get in third-and-longs? We had a sack on two plays. Didn’t have to do with Mike on those two plays. So, we had two three-and-outs and then didn’t get the ball again until a minute and a half left with four-minute where we did three straight run plays. I think if we would’ve moved the chains and got a first down, we might’ve had more to that answer, but we went three-and-out twice.”

TE George Kittle after the game recounted to us a 2022 game where you guys beat the Panthers I think 37-15 in Carolina. Then he said that you had individual meetings with half a dozen guys about what they could do better after that game. Do you remember that sequence and are you planning on anything similar this week after Monday’s game?

“Yeah, I remember a little bit of it. I didn’t think we played that well versus Carolina. I think we were in Greenbrier the whole week, so had more time to have one-on-ones, didn’t have to call guys from at home, but there was just a few guys that I didn’t think played that well. No, I don’t see doing that this week. The second half was a frustrating half, but it’s not anyone in particular taking those two sacks on those plays and just getting those third-and-longs, so it was a totally different situation.”

Will LB Dre Greenlaw practice today and just the challenge facing him and LB Fred Warner going against Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson this week?

“Yeah, Greenlaw will go today. Our whole team’s doing walk-through, just being removed from the Monday night game and just where we’re at, just physically. But, a huge challenge going against Bijan. He’s as good as advertised, pass game and run game. He doesn’t have any weakness, so huge challenge for our linebackers, huge challenge for our whole defense and also a huge challenge for the whole team.”

Do you think the defense could be more motivated wanting to specifically win for defensive coordinator Raheem Morris in this game?

“I don’t think they can be more motivated. I think our guys are as motivated as you can get each week. I don’t think they get too caught up in that stuff, but I know they care about Raheem a lot and definitely would want to do that for him. But, I don’t think we’re looking at too much of a personal game like that.”

What did you see from the pass rush in particular when you watched the tape?

“I think we’re doing it as a unit. I think our guys are playing extremely hard. I love the one-on-ones we’re creating, all the games we’re doing. I think they’ve been really relentless throughout the whole game and I think our coverage has been real tied to it very well, also.”

DL Romello Height doing that with a massive club on his hand. How impressed are you that he’s able to do that and is that allowing him to focus on other things in his pass rush to compensate?

“I’m not sure. You’d have to ask him, but I always tell those guys, like [Cleveland Browns DL] Kalia Davis had to do it last year. I think they’re nervous to do it for good reasons. You can’t grab and stuff like that. I always tell them from an offensive perspective, we’ve gone against a lot of guys with clubs in their hand and we look at it as almost a weapon so it’s intimidating to the offense. So if they can get over that, just use it to your advantage. I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way. I’m sure it’s a pain for him, but I don’t notice it much. I think he’s done really well with the club on his hand and I think he’s gotten better each week. Like most of these guys who play the right way and who are talented, I think he’ll just continue to get better the more he plays.”

How do you feel WR Brandin Cooks is adjusting to this offense?

“I think he’s done a real good job. He’s been working at it really hard since he’s gotten here. Never know when his number’s going to be called. He was ready versus Seattle. He randomly was up twice and he got a touchdown back to back. One got called back. I thought he was really ready for his moment last week. Didn’t have any MAs and did a really good job for us.”

George talked about how there were a lot of missed assignments in the offense and he generally was frustrated on the podium. Did you get a sense of that from most of the offense?

“Not really. I didn’t see it as much as missed assignments. I just saw it as, when you have 300 yards in the first half and you’re just moving it up and down the field. We started out the second half the same way on the first drive and then we just had two three-and-outs and then they controlled the ball after that. So, it’s more about not getting the plays.”

How beneficial is QB Brock Purdy’s scrambling ability? Just if the play breaks down, he even gets you a couple of yards to make sure you guys don’t get behind the chains. How key is that for you?

“It’s huge. There’s always a fine line when quarterbacks are scrambling, because if you’re always looking to scramble and you’re missing a lot of stuff out there, but it’s so nice for Brock to have that tool. He uses it at the right time almost all the time. Whenever things aren’t good or the pocket’s not there, for him to be able to pick up yards and keep you out of second-and-longs or third-and-longs is huge. When you get into second-and-long or third-and-long, the odds of moving the chains go down a ton.”

There’s a viral clip from the game of Brock Purdy in the huddle turning to you and yelling to call the play faster. Did you hear that on the sideline? Does he do that often?

“It’s actually not call the play faster. It’s, ‘I need it again.’ It gets cut off at 15, so sometimes no one can hear and a lot of the quarterbacks do it because I always call a play and then I just walk and think. I don’t always watch the huddle and a lot of times [QB] Mac [Jones] or someone, because they’ll be like, ‘Hey, we didn’t get it. It was choppy.’ Or someone will yell, ‘Brock’s yelling at you,’ which I can’t always hear. I did hear him a couple of times in this game, so I look up and then I try to do it again as long as it’s not past 15 seconds. Sometimes he’ll do it and I don’t get a heads up to like 16 and I start to do it again and he hears half the play call because it shuts off at 15.”

What was the play? What was the outcome?

“I don’t remember what the play was. Probably happened five times in the game, so that’s something that happens a lot. Headsets do that.”

I know that nothing probably surprises you with T Trent Williams anymore, but this seems like a fountain of youth almost, especially early in the season relative to his play from years prior. I’m guessing that’s tied to the fact he didn’t miss a single camp practice, but do you sense a higher level of early season play from him?

“Yeah, I think Trent seems healthier than he has in the last couple of years. Just talking to him just as a human, just health-wise in the offseason. I think it’s eating habits, sleep habits. Things you don’t have to pay attention to much, none of us, when we’re in our 20s and you definitely do as you get older and you really do if you’re still playing football. I think he’s gotten better at that stuff and I think his body felt better in training camp. He wasn’t sore as much. Trent loves playing football, so because of his age we only make him go out there on Thursdays during the week and he bounces around as much as anyone, but just talking to him on Mondays after games, everything, I just feel his body’s in an overall healthier spot.”

Where are things at with WR Christian Kirk and his reintegration?

“He had a good week last week and he’ll be out there again today, so hopefully he feels good at the end of the week.”

Are there moments where the 15 seconds are up and they can’t hear you and they just call their own play?

“Oh, yeah. We have automatic go-to plays. It happens a lot. Sometimes in some stadiums it happens more than others, just the frequency will go off randomly, but it’s a pretty common thing. Then when you push the button, there’s usually a second and a half pause to where it goes, so that’s why I watch stuff like that all the time. Washington at the end of two games ago when they got caught not throwing it out of bounds and stuff, you’re probably not worried about that at first, but it takes them a while to get out of the huddle. Then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Oh crap, hey, no, you’ve got to go out of bounds.’ And, ‘Oh no, it’s past 15 seconds.’ Then you’re trying to scream stuff and sometimes they can hear you, sometimes they can’t.”

This might sound funny, but DL Keion White said that the next man up mentality actually started with you this year and he used your example of after your car crashed you were there. When you were thinking about how involved you were going to be, did you think about some of the guys who have played through injury or have battled through and leaned on them for you to be out there?

“I was just pretty insecure about it because I’ve got to battle by sitting up in my chair and pressing fast forward, play, or pause or whatever and I’ve got to stand on the field and do this (motioning looking at a clipboard and calling plays), so I felt pretty soft comparing my stuff to them. They’ve got to get back to actually play football, but I also could talk to them about how some of that stuff felt and could relate to them with a bunch of stuff.”

Following up on the Keion White question. He mentioned in the locker room he’s excited to go home and play. Given how the offseason went for him, I know we’ve talked about players having emotional games. Do you sense that that’s the case for Keion going into this one?

“I don’t know. I haven’t been around him yet. We just got back with them today. I think guys like playing in their hometown, but guys are pros, man. It’s not that big a deal.”

In relation to having to come off of an injury and arrests being made in his hometown, going back, being at home, coming and fighting through that is what I’m talking about.

“I don’t know. You could ask him that. I was just thinking in terms of that it happened out here in February, so I didn’t know about the arrests in his hometown or anything so I’m not totally sure. I know he spends a lot of time in Atlanta, but my relationship’s when he’s here for seven months, so I’m not totally sure. But, everyone loves going home and playing in front of people they know.”