Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – May 8, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

How does your role here change with this new title?

“Not much. I think [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] referenced this after the season, but I think a lot of what I’ve kind of done the past couple years has been, coordinator-esque type of work. So I’ll keep doing a lot of the same things I’ve been doing. I think some things kind of naturally change when you get a new title, but for the most part, doing the same work and putting game plans together and getting our guys ready to play.”

Kyle did some things last year he hadn’t done before, giving you play calling duties in preseason as well as the Week 18 game. What did that mean to you and how did you benefit from those experiences?

“Yeah, it was great. I appreciate him doing that. I think for him from his perspective, just giving somebody else a chance to call it and kind of see the game, like a play caller it definitely helped me. It’s going to help me from here on out and I appreciate the opportunity. So hopefully I can take those experiences and just kind of apply them to how I’m helping us game plan and kind of helping us in games because it’s invaluable.”

Obviously, you haven’t had a chance to kind of matchup with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh on the practice field yet, but just what’s it been like having him around and what interactions have you guys had in the last few years?

“It’s great. Yeah. Coach Saleh is awesome. He obviously has a lot of experience. He is a really good defensive coach. We haven’t done a ton of just sitting down talking X’s and O’s, but obviously watching the Jets defense the past couple years going against them, just ton of respect for their scheme and how hard those guys play. And so it’s going to be fun competing against those guys in training camp and in the offseason. But he’s just great to have around. He has so much wisdom and experience and it’s been awesome so far.”

In terms of the offense, can you define exactly what RB Christian McCaffrey’s importance is to have him healthy?

“You guys saw in 2023 how important he is to what we want to be as an offense. He’s an elite player and we’re going to do everything we can to get him the ball, as much as we can. And yeah, his health is really important. He’s one of our central players on offense. We want to hand him the ball, we want to throw him the ball, how he changes defenses when he’s on the field for how they have to play us in certain coverages, right? Putting more guys in the box to stop the run, it has an effect on the opponents. And so, Christian’s doing great. He looks awesome and we’re pumped up that he’s out there working every day. So I look forward to getting him back out there full time.”

Are there any players going into the offseason or at this point in the offseason that you’ve had specific conversations with like we need you to make this type of jump or a big jump in the offseason coming into next season because we’re looking for you to produce a lot more. Is anybody on the roster that you’ve had those conversations with?

“I wouldn’t say pinpoint anyone in particular. I think everybody who’s coming back, all of us, all the position coaches, myself, we’ve had conversations with guys, we’ve set the expectations for them. I don’t want to single out players, but you think of the younger guys who were maybe rookies last year, guys like [WR] Ricky [Pearsall] and [WR] Jake [Cowing] who did really good things. And there’s always a jump in your second year. And so you’re kind of talking through that expectation and what you think they need to do to, to be consistent and to make that jump and to be consistent NFL players. So that’s ongoing with everybody. No matter if you’re [TE George] Kittle and you’ve been around or you’re a younger guy, there’s always kind of a resetting and defining what we expect going into the year.”

You mentioned Jacob, he seemed mostly restricted to special teams last year. Is the plan this year to get him involved more in the offense in the passing game?
“Yeah, we’ll get Jake as much involved as he shows his growth and development and what kind of camp he has. And Jake has done an outstanding job of showing up to our offseason in great shape and he’s getting better. And Kyle says this all the time, but it’s so important for young players to show up to the offseason, just ready to get better. They’re in great shape. They can take these limited practices that we have with them to grow and get better. And Jake is doing a great job. He’s had a great offseason. He’s given himself a chance to get to camp and compete and to really contribute on offense.”

What about Ricky?

“Ricky’s really in the same boat. Him and Jake, I think they trained a lot together this offseason and they look awesome. It’s just physically they’re out there and they’re getting better every day. So, Ricky, both those guys were similar because they kind of had setbacks in the offseason. Jake had, I think an injury, Ricky had his issues in the offseason, so there was kind of a slow progression into the season for different reasons. And we expect both of those guys to keep improving the way they are and to be big contributors for us.”

With Christian, is there anything that you feel like you guys need to do differently to make sure as much is in your control to keep them healthy?

“I wouldn’t. You’re always cognizant of the reps you’re putting on guys, especially in practice, when we do that with Christian all the time, we monitor his reps and you have to be smart when you’re in games. You have to be cognizant of how much they’re out there. Christian’s a really hard guy to take off the field for a lot of reasons. One, because he is a great player, but two, because he does not want to come out, sometimes there’s a battle. And so it’s just you have to balance those things out, you got to be aware of it, sometimes you got to pull him off the field every now and then. But that’s part of what makes him a great player is he’s so competitive and he wants to be out there, but it’s on us as coaches to try to do the best we can to balance it out.”

QB Brock Purdy’s had ownership of this offense for a couple years now. How has he kind of started this offseason program kind of blocking out the obvious distraction of the contract?

“Yeah, Brock’s been great. Brock has almost three full seasons, like two and a half full seasons of tape now where he can really look at his cutups and look at his games over that time period and just kind of study himself and see where he has gotten better, where he needs to continue to get better. He’s a great student of himself. He wants to study himself, he wants to see where he can improve, he wants to be told the truth about what we think about how he can improve. And so he’s had a great offseason so far. It’s kind of what we expect from Brock.”

What was it about of QB Mac Jones that made you want to target him as a second?
“Going back to college, we obviously studied Mac coming out and we thought very highly of him and his skillset as a thrower and the things he did in college. And then obviously as a rookie, what he did in the NFL was very impressive. Mac’s a really good thrower. He stands in the pocket, he’s a strong guy and he’s really smart. And so he’s got a lot of traits that we like for a starting quarterback. And his career has kind of gone up and down a little bit the past couple years, but we saw the same things in Jacksonville that we loved about him as a college prospect, and that really excites us. And he’s doing a great job. And I think Mac’s capable of being a starter in this league. And so he’s going to help us if he needs to.”

What version of WR Brandon Aiyuk are you expecting to get, and maybe at what point in the season is a realistic expectation for you?

“Brandon’s doing great in his rehab. Expectations, it’s kind of hard to pinpoint that. I know Brandon’s working really hard. It’s really hard to define those things. And I know he’s doing everything he can do to give himself a chance to get back on the field. And I know that when we get back for camp, he’s going to be working every day and just busting his butt to get ready to go. So that’s all we can ask for. He’s got the right mindset. We’ll look forward to having him back out there.”

With his timetable uncertain. How much pressure does that put on Ricky to step up in some ways? How do you help him manage those expectations if he continues to progress?
“I don’t think it’s pressure. I think Ricky sees himself as a starter. He wants to be a starting receiver. And whether BA’s out there or not, I think Ricky has that same expectation of himself and that we wouldn’t want it any other way. That’s how he saw himself last year. And I think that’s just how he is naturally.”

What did you like about QB Kurtis Rourke in the Draft?

“A big strong thrower. A guy who stands in the pocket and goes through progressions and he’s got a really good arm. So, all those things you look for as far as the talent. He was very, very tough. He played injured through this whole year. And he took a program that, kind of, hadn’t reached the heights that it reached last year, and he took that program to the playoff. And so just all those things combined, the physical tools, the toughness, the leadership, he’s a winner. We think we got a really good player.”

It seemed that so many people talk very highly of former quarterbacks coach Brian Griese when he was here. What specifically did he bring to that quarterback room that you think really helped it excel? What do you think that quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi is going to offer as his replacement?

“Brian, the wisdom and the experience that he brought being a former player, being someone who’s been through the rigors of an NFL season, through the emotional highs and lows. He truly brought a calming sort of presence into that room for those guys on a week-to-week basis and kind of reset them every week and got them ready to play. And always appreciative of Brian for doing that and that was awesome. And then, Mick kind of brings a different background. Mick’s been a coach his whole career. He has been around football with his dad and his family his whole career. So Mick brings that coaching background that maybe Brian brought more of the players’ background. And so Mick’s been awesome to work with. He’s been a lot of places and he won a lot of games and so he is bringing a lot of experience as well.”

Will WR Jauan Jennings be that number one role again with Brandon’s return uncertain?

“Yeah, I think, if you ask Jauan, he says ‘I’m number one’. And that’s his mindset and that’s why we love Jaun. That’s how he sees himself. He sees himself as a dominant player. I think you guys all saw last year when he got more chances, he played really, really well. So really fired up about Jauan.”

Your last name, like Kyle, like other people around the league, it comes with advantages. What are the challenges or difficulties that come with having your family or background?

“I don’t really see any challenges necessarily or difficulties. I’m very, very fortunate to have a dad who was a coach and who taught me so much about this profession. I got to be around pro football when I was younger and kind of see what it means to be a pro and what it means to coach. So I see those all as just blessings in my life that have helped me kind of with where I’m at today. So I can’t say anything was negative or a challenge. I’m very, very fortunate.”

Do you find, maybe it’s different here because there’s Kyle, but an element of ‘I really have to prove myself. I have to show that it’s not my last name’?
“Not really. I think everyone who works here, every coach, I like to say every player, we all feel like we have to prove ourselves. We all feel like we have to earn our job every day by the work we put in, by the results we get. I don’t see myself any different necessarily.”