Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – December 31, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

How often do you watch the Seattle offense? Not this week, obviously, but just over the course of the season?

“I try to stay up with it almost every week. I may miss some weeks, try to watch his games. You kind of do that with different people you know around the league and just kind of see what they’re doing and see how they’re calling games and if there’s things that they’re doing that interest you. Yeah, I’ve tried to keep up with it throughout the year so we can just keep conversation going.”

Following them from Week 1 to where they are now, what’s stood out to you about where that offense has gone?

“Oh, I mean, I wouldn’t be able to evaluate or stuff like that. I just know they’ve done a good job of running the ball the last few weeks and making a bunch of big plays in the pass game and complementing their defense, which has been special. So, I wouldn’t say I’ve tracked it like that, but you know.”

When you and your brother talk during the season, do you talk football or do you stay away from that?

“We talk about surface-level stuff. We’re not sharing secrets or anything like that, but we talk about just how life’s going, how work’s going, relationship stuff that involves football. But, it’s nice to talk to him too, just to talk about things outside of football and just kind of catch up on things. So, a little bit here and there, but not too much. Not too much x’s and o’s.”

Are you talking to him at all this week?

“Just texting him. Just good luck. Have a good week.”

What was it about OL Austen Pleasant that caught your eye and the coaching staff’s eye when he came in late last season?

“He had to jump in there really fast when he got here. I think we had some injuries right away. It’s kind of why we signed him and got thrown into the fire and did a good job when he stepped in those last few weeks of the year. And then just a guy who’s just, he stacked a really good offseason, good camp. He’s just work. He’s quiet, he’s humble and it was really cool to see a guy who was just ready for that moment when we lost [T] Trent [Williams] and he didn’t miss a beat and he went in there and executed. But just from the moment we got him, we threw him in there and he’s a guy who had to learn fast and he’s a smart guy and just really proud of him with what he was able to accomplish.”

Is it his run blocking ability, the movement ability, that initially kind of catches your eye as far as this is the guy we should probably bring in just to kind of see what he could do?

“Yeah, I think from kind of a surface level, you want to see their movement skills. Do they have the athleticism to do what we need him to do in the run game, first of all. And he definitely does. He’s a really good athlete. He can move. And then you kind of see over time the pass blocking and once you get him in drills and he’s a guy, we loved how he moved and we brought him in and we knew we were going to want to work with him because he had the talent.”

How would you describe WR Jauan Jennings’ nose for the end zone since he scored the last five games?

“It’s awesome. I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s something that happens naturally because he is always ready, you know? And I thought that was so cool in the game how we tried to get to Jauan early and throughout the game and the ball didn’t come his way. But shoot, when we needed a big play in the fourth quarter, I think that was his first catch and he was just so ready to catch that ball and react. He has been a huge target for us in the red zone. It’s his size, it’s his competitiveness, it’s how he wins on routes. Yeah, he’s been our guy who’s made those big plays too in the pass game. So, it’s been awesome.”

Against the Chicago Bears, RB Christian McCaffrey had his longest run of the season so far. What did you see that went right on that play that allowed him to break free like that? And do you expect to see more of that type of CMC throughout the rest of the season?

“I mean, it was really well-blocked play. It was one of our most well-blocked runs of the day. We had a hat for a hat. I think he made a safety miss. And then had a DB take a bad angle and Christian was gone. We expect that from Christian every week. You know, sometimes you need to pop one, you need to get lucky on something for some of that to happen. But, it’s not a lack of anything Christian’s doing. I hope we get more of that, but that was a well-blocked play and keep rolling with it.”

Seattle held your offense to 17 points each of the past two times you’ve faced them. What makes that defense such a tough matchup?

“They’ve got great players, first of all. I mean, at all three levels. At the front, the linebacker and in the backend they have elite players. I could name them off, but you guys know them. So, it’s the players. I think the coaching is really elite. They do a great job with their scheme. They’re very well-coached. They’re probably as sound as anyone gets in terms of their coverages, they bring enough blitzes to keep you honest and they’re physical and they tackle and they do everything well and it’s just top to bottom. It’s a huge challenge. We’re getting ready for it, but it’s going to be a grind for sure.”

Can you think back to a time as kids in the backyard maybe drawing something up for your dad where you and your brother were creating plays together as kids?

“I was probably the one who did that more. He was more talented. He was a better player than I was. I can’t remember something specific, but football is part of our life from when we were born. My dad was a player and he was a coach. We got to be around the game and then we both kind of had opportunities to do other things with our lives when we were done playing, but we found our way back to it. So, yeah. It’s pretty cool.”

This season, head coach Kyle Shanahan was pretty open about just the messaging, changing a little bit to the team in terms of, this isn’t the same group. There was so much roster turnover, all that. Did you get any sense from him that he was maybe re-energized or more energized by a different challenge of you guys are maybe more the hunters and not the hunted?

“Yeah, I think we definitely set an intention that we can’t think that this team is something right now. We have to grow into something. We have to become something that it’s going to be what we are based on the work and based on our process and eliminate expectations. And you could see that from the beginning. Kyle talked about it every day. I do think it gave not just him, but everybody kind of an energy of, ‘Hey, let’s just go to work. Let’s get better every day and let’s see what this group can become.’ There’s something refreshing about that and energizing and you’re just all about the work and you want to see guys improve and then the outcome becomes what it is. And so, here we are.”

Are there any examples that you could give of something in your day-to-day that was a little different than maybe it had been in previous years?

“I can’t think of something specific. I think sometimes we’ve talked about when we start the year, ‘hey, we want to start this year and we want to play at our best because we want to be a Super Bowl team.’ We didn’t talk that way this year. We talked about playing our best football every day and playing each opponent our best so that we’ve got a chance to win every week. And it wasn’t about looking ahead. And I think every week we kind of set a new intention about that week and that opponent and nothing else, and not making anything bigger. And so, week-to-week it was like that. And yeah, that was a little different.”

You guys had Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold here a couple years ago and he was at that point of his career where he wasn’t having a ton of success to where he is now. What’s the biggest development or biggest change that you’ve seen in him?

“He’s been on two teams in the last two years and I think he’s won 26 games or something. I mean, Sam’s gotten a chance to go and compete on really good teams. And he’s proven that he can lead, he can win. And you put a good foundation around him and an offense where he feels comfortable, this guy’s a heck of a player. We saw it when he was here. We knew the talent. We were so excited about him to have him. I’m just happy for him because he’s earned it and he’s put in the work and it’s pretty cool to see him having the success he’s having.”

Kyle and the players have been asked like, is this the best QB Brock Purdy has ever played? And a lot of people have said, well, he was really good against Miami in his first game. And he’s always been really good. But I guess when you think back to his rookie year until now, what is his biggest growth area?

“Man, to me it’s confidence with where he is at in his life, as a person. It’s confidence in himself. I think Brock, he’ll probably admit this, it probably took him two or three years to really prove to himself that he belongs, that this is real and now I’m the franchise quarterback and I need to be myself and I don’t need to be anything else. And I think Brock’s proving himself every day that him being himself is a really good quarterback. It’s a guy who’s going to win a lot of games. I just see him playing with so much confidence, more than he ever has. Not that he lacked it, but it’s just full belief in himself and it’s definitely a mastery of the offense and kind of where he has developed in those areas. So yeah, I just see a guy who’s playing with a very clear mind.”

What you see the way he celebrates compared to his rookie year. Is that part of it?

“Check the tape. His first touchdown ever, he did the discount double check in a preseason game. But no, I think that’s fair. You can see him, you can tell he is having a lot of fun out there. He is playing very confidently. It probably shows in his celebrations and he’s just, he’s got a little more swagger right now and I think that’s awesome.”

Back to Jauan, he’s on an absolute tear right now. I think it was after the Tampa game where he had detailed all of his injuries that he was trying to play through. How did you see him weather that?

“I mean, you’ve just got to work through it. It was tough for Jauan early in the year, really tough. He was battling some tough things and he played hurt and he had to miss time. He missed training camp. And with any player who goes through that, it’s going to take time to get back to where you’re feeling like yourself as a football player. We know he is now. I think Jauan’s playing his best football. That’s a huge challenge to be banged up, to miss time in training camp, and then to be expected to go out there and be a really productive player. He battled through all that stuff mentally, physically, and we love where he is at. And you know, that’s part of what makes Jauan who he is. He’s a grinder. He battles. He doesn’t let anything get the best of him. He just keeps competing.”