Head Coach Kyle Shanahan Press Conference

Head Coach Kyle Shanahan

Press Conference – September 7, 2026

San Francisco 49ers

How’s the week gone so far?

“It’s been cool. I mean, it took a couple of days to adjust, but feeling real good today. Most of the city I’ve seen out my window. I got to go on one walk. It’s a little different for coaches. We’re in the season, so we’re not out much, but players had yesterday off so I know they got out a little bit and they’ve spoken very highly of everything.”

Will TE George Kittle and DL Nick Bosa go full-go today? What about some of the other guys that are coming back from injuries?

“Because we’re technically in the future from where we’re from and the Rams are in the present, I don’t have to talk about injuries until tomorrow. So, I’m not talking about them (laughter).”

Can you explain what DL Romello Height’s injury was?

“It was an ankle injury.”

Was it a sprain?

“I don’t ask more questions than that. It was an ankle.”

What about DL Sam Okuayinonu? What was the nature of his foot injury?

“He had a plate in his foot a while ago and on our bonus practice the day we came, just stepped on it and it broke. He’s going to have to get surgery. It was a bad injury. Hopefully we can get him back later in the year, but it was a real tough loss. Hurt for Sam O, hurt for our team, but hopefully we can take care of business and he can come back later in the year.”

You said you were feeling pretty good. How long did it take you to feel good and did the players give you any feedback about how they felt after the flight?

“Each guy’s different. I mean, some guys feel good and feel great, and then you talk to them five hours later, they’re like, ‘Never mind, that left.’ Some guys started off bad and then feel good later. For me, I feel my most normal today. So, however many days, I think it’s the third day, but I’m doing good and I think most of the guys are doing real good too.”

The message to the players over the weekend, was it mostly just about acclimatizing, recovering, or did you encourage them to get out, see the city and sightsee?

“No, I don’t encourage that much. Nothing against the city. It’s looked awesome. The people I’ve been around seem really cool. Definitely makes me want to think about coming back and visiting with my family, but we get 17 games. That’s all that’s allowed to us. We play once a week. So, we’re really all about business right now. The players did get an off day. So, I think it was cool for them to get to walk around. I think a number of them went out to dinner and stuff like that. So, they’ve been able to enjoy it a little bit, but it’s just a little bit harder the way we do stuff in a work week. A little jealous just watching people out the window. I wish I could get out more. I know they did too, but my message to them was enjoy your one day. Everything has been about getting hydrated, getting used to the time difference and now I feel like we’ve finally done that and we’re ready for a real good practice today.”

A few of the 49ers players went to the AFL game on Friday night. What do you make of the sport so far from seeing it at first glance?

“I didn’t see it at all. I tried my hardest to make it up to that time. It was really hard to be awake after eight, so I fell asleep. But, the guys said it was real cool. I got to see pictures and some film from the stadium. Looked like an awesome atmosphere. I didn’t get to see much of the game, but the coolest part is how they do scores, how they do them like this. So like that. That’s cooler. It looks like a 6-shooter. I wish we did that.”

They play with no pads on. What are your thoughts on that?

“I think it looks cool. I mean, each is different. There might not be as many hitting opportunities, but it’s fun to watch guys play without pads. I mean, you’ve got to do it a little bit differently. Sometimes it can be more painful. Sometimes it can be less because of the impact of helmets and things like that. But I mean, we’ve been playing tackle football without pads growing up our whole life at recess and stuff. So, we have an idea of that stuff, but it’s definitely different.”

Are you glad that you came out a week in advance as opposed to the Rams who are doing it just 24 hours in advance, having gone through it now?

“Not comparing us to them, but yeah I was glad. I know how I felt the last couple, two days. It’s a little different for a coach, toughing through how you use your mind for three-and-a-half hours, a little bit different than your body. But yeah, I’m glad that we’ve been out here because we feel real good today.”

Was there some shuffling around for those 14 extra-long seats in the front of the plane?

“Oh yeah, definitely. It was tough. That’s why I hate to have to make that decision, so I just went with the biggest guys, the starters on the O-Line and D-Line. There was a few remainders, so I gave it to the seniority. No one came and complained about it to me, so hopefully I succeeded as well as I could.”

When this initially got announced, you weren’t shy about how you felt about it, but when you got on that plane, how did you feel about this whole process?

“When I said that, that was nothing against Australia or anything. That’s just about competition and how important our 17 games are. It’s cool for us, just we always have an advantage of having one, I see it as one home game a year in L.A. Just the way our fans are and take over that stadium. So, it was disappointing to let them off the hook and get them out of that. But, I have a feeling knowing how our fans roll, I have a feeling they won’t be much different here. I expect to have a good showing. I wouldn’t say it hit me right on the plane, but after being here for a couple days, this is the right time to be here, it’s the right place to be and it’s the right team to go against.”

There aren’t many people you could ask about what it’s like coming to Australia for a game, but your dad actually did it for a preseason game. Did you tap into that experience at all, ask him anything?

“A little. It made me jealous. When you have five preseason games back in the day and you get to go to Australia for a week and it’s one of five games, I wouldn’t say that it’s the hardest work week like it is in Week One of the season. That would be a perfect time to come over here and be able to see the city, enjoy stuff, play a little football, but there’s a very huge difference between Week One and the preseason.”

Who are your captains for this season?

“Same as last year.”

Did they get those seats in the front?

“No, they didn’t. Some of them did, but not all of them.”

Have you picked up on any lingo or accent just from talking to people who are from here?

“I haven’t picked up on it. I actually, I struggle with accents. I’m not that good at hearing it, but it’s actually close. I went to France earlier this offseason and I really struggle with English in a French accent. I do it better with English in Australian accents, so I’ve understood people much better. But, I haven’t been out and about enough.”

Are you surprised at the level of support for the game and for the 49ers themselves in this city?

“I got a feeling it’s good. I haven’t been out that much, but from what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard, it sounds pretty cool. We get pretty good support around the world. Everywhere that we go when we travel in the U.S., our fans travel better to me than any other team. This is a little bit farther for them, but I still have a feeling a lot of guys are traveling out here from The Bay and just driving in on the bus and stuff, I’ve seen a lot more Niner jerseys.”

During regular season, you usually give the guys the game plan midweek. Were you able to do that earlier this time so they could study with all this extra downtime?

“No, just because we used it too and we did our totally normal routine. I’m not sure because, like I said, we’re a little confused. When I look at my clock and it says the time and then I try to see my family’s time and then it says the time, but it says yesterday, I don’t even get how that’s possible. I feel like I’m in the future. Then also when we play on our Friday, which I think is a Thursday in the U.S., we’re such creatures of habit, so I call today Wednesday, which is the first day we put in a game plan. But, I think it’s Monday. However, though, it’s Sunday in the present (laughter). So, I’m going to mess that up all week if you guys ask me. But, today is just our first day of the game plan, which is a Wednesday. We’ll put in some on Thursday. Friday is the final part of the game plan. Saturday we walk through and we play on Sunday, which is a Friday in Australia and a Thursday in on the U.S., so don’t ever make me do that again.”

How excited are you, speaking about the future, for players like WR Mike Evans and WR De’Zhaun Stribling to come and join your team? Can you talk about the impact that they might have for the season.

“Yeah, I’m real excited to get this going. I really love our team. We’ve got a month together here in the preseason to kind of work at it. A lot of guys were banged up. We missed a lot of guys throughout the preseason, but I feel we got most of our guys back this week and I’m ready to get this started. It’s a fun first game. I love all the new additions. I’m excited to see how we play. I expect us to play a certain way and I expect to build on this team throughout the year.”

What was your first impression of the stadium?

“I haven’t been over to the main stadium yet, so I just saw it on some videos because the guys went for the footy game. It looked big. I think it’ll be different. The field’s so much bigger, so I’m curious. I know if it’s 100,000, I’m curious how different it’ll be because the football field’s smaller, so how far the fans will be from us. That’s more for them than us, but I’m excited to play in a stadium that can fit 100,000.”

Is there any sort of problem playing, obviously it’s a rectangular field that you play on, but you’re playing on an oval-shaped stadium?

“Hopefully they have chalk here and they put the white lines for us. As long as that white line is rectangle, we should be alright.”

There’ll be a lot of people tuning into the game and some who don’t know the Niners quite as well. In 2026, what do you want your brand of football to represent and bring to the table?

“I always talk about, when we watch football, as you know, the people who are in it, we never get to watch it with announcers and everything. We turn on a very much more boring tape that is dead silent. And I always talk about, I want to be able to see who the game means more, who plays with higher character on the silent tape. You don’t hear anything. You don’t hear talking. You don’t hear the hits, but you can see it. And I want us to play a certain way. That’s the way that I’ve expected us to play for the last 10 years and I expect it to be even stronger on Friday.”

QB Brock Purdy said that he sat on the plane directly behind his center. Is there any thought to maintaining that QB-center chemistry for that long flight over or is that just a bit of dumb luck?

“No, they were doing snaps for 17 straight hours (laughter). No, that was just luck.”

What should Australian fans should expect from a matchup like this. It feels like you guys are both going to be punching deep into the playoffs if all goes to plan. The fact that we get a showpiece rivalry matchup in Melbourne, what’s your reaction?”

“Yeah, it’s Week One so you never know what happens in a season. Each year everything changes, but I think it’s two organizations, two teams, player-wise, coaching-wise, front office-wise. I have a ton of respect for the Rams, and I believe they have the same for us. It’s always a battle when we go against them. It’s not a lot of love for each other because of how much we have to compete versus each other, but it’s two first-class organizations who will put on a good show.”

Los Angeles Rams DL Aaron Donald practiced today. I’m sure there’s an emotion of relief when a guy like that retires. What was the emotion when you learned he was coming back?

“The opposite (laughter). I remember when he retired, I didn’t see the alerts and stuff, but I heard people yelling down the hallway cheering. I was like, ‘what the heck is going on?’ And then I got it on my phone and it was probably the most we’ve celebrated in the offseason ever. And then it was the exact opposite this year. I wasn’t like crushed on the Sunday that he decided because I decided a month ago it was happening. So, I prepared for that the right way and it is what it is. He’s a hell of a player and we’ll have our work cut out for him.”

Do you expect him to play in Week One?

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

Was it difficult to get DL Khalid Kareem over here?

“I believe so. Those are things that I definitely don’t focus on, but those are the huge challenges of this stuff. I probably should ask someone else more so I don’t mess up the details, but getting his passport, getting it from his family, or I think the Falcons may have had it because I think they’re going somewhere later. So, it was tough to get that and get him all set up, but we’ve got a good logistics team. [Vice President & Senior Advisor, Team Operations & Facilities Steve Risser] Riss and [Vice President, Team Operations Michael] Slap are the best and they figured it out because he’s here.”

Is there something about Australia that surprised you the most so far?

“I’m pretty lame when it comes to this stuff because I really haven’t been outside the building for more than like probably a 30-minute walk. Yeah, that I don’t see kangaroos and crocodiles everywhere (laughter). I was expecting to see that. It looks like a very normal, cool city.”

What do you feel like the energy level of your players and excitement are for this Week One matchup here?

“I think they’re excited. I think they’re ready to go. Just today was our first team meeting for our game plan week and just feeling the energy in there. It’s always hard when you think about the travel and all the stuff that goes into it, but once you get there, you get your feet on the ground and you get used to where we’re at. We love being the only game on, as opposed to being on a Sunday where there’s a lot of games playing and it’s really cool to be out here. I think our guys are pretty jacked now.”