Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak Press Conference

Offensive Coordinator Klay Kubiak

Press Conference – September 18, 2025

San Francisco 49ers

What was your evaluation of QB Mac Jones on Sunday?

“I thought Mac played really well. You know, for someone who hasn’t played competitive football, a real game for, I don’t know how long it was, but stepped in first quarter, had to settle into a groove a little bit with some of his accuracy and some of his timing. But once he did, I thought he played really good and he made plays for us to win the game.”

What about WR Kendrick Bourne? Does his route tree grow given that he now has had a full week here beyond what he had?

“For sure. I mean, the more he’s out there practicing, the more he’s getting comfortable with what we do, his opportunities are going to go up. And he’s a sharp guy. He picks it up. So, I think you’ll just continue to see him be a part of our offense. For sure.”

When you got OL Connor Colby here, what were your initial impressions and what kind of growth have you seen from him from then to now?

“You know, initially just he is a real quiet rookie who just was here and working and kind of anonymous in that way. And then over time, you just kind of see a guy out there who is very consistent in camp. And when guys just show up consistently every day and are doing things the right way, you start to see, ‘hey, this guy can play.’ And I think that was kind of his path over the course of camp. He played good in the preseason and then he steps in for us in a big moment and he played well. And so, he’s a guy who just, do you notice him a lot? No. But you notice how consistent he’s been and how he’s doing the right thing. And so, we’re happy with his progress and we’re going to need him to keep playing good.”

Not that the draft gurus are always right, but all of Connor Colby’s stuff said he is a good run blocker, but in the pass game, he needs a lot of work. Head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated it was the opposite. Is it?

“Yeah, I think that’s true. I think what stood out to us early in camp was how stout he was in pass protection. He didn’t lose matchups. So, our evaluation of him in the Draft, we thought a guy who had a really bright future. He was solid in all areas. And so, I mean, that’s why we drafted him. Whatever the evals were, whatever people said, I think we had a very good feeling for him, the kind of person he was and how tough he was. And to say he surprised us, I mean, he probably has a little bit because of where we took him, but he’s been doing what we hoped he would do.”

What did you think of Jones’ play fake on the bootleg to TE Luke Farrell? He kind of carried it out pretty solidly there on the handoff.

“That was great. That’s how we teach it. You know, you’ve really got to sell that downhill gap scheme run. That was awesome and we got the edge and Luke did a good job of selling the run and that was an awesome play. Luke did a great job after the catch too, running a guy over and scoring for us. So, that was big time.”

RB Christian McCaffrey indicated yesterday he felt like you guys are close to breaking some big ones. What are you seeing in terms of maybe not as much success as you’d like, but in terms of how close you are to getting there?

“Yeah, I think the numbers aren’t crazy. They’re not going to wow you. But when you really watch it on tape, I think we’re doing a good job in the run game. We’re running the ball efficiently. We’re doing what we kind of want to do. And then there’s been some opportunities where we’re a hair off for one reason or the other. Whether it’s one block we don’t finish or just a back making a guy miss or making a cut differently. But we’re close. But, I’ve been happy with our run game and we haven’t had negative runs. We’ve had efficient runs, which is good. And if we keep doing that, and we need to keep doing that, I think it’s a matter of time before we do pop some and we get some of those explosives, but we’ve been good. We’ve got to keep getting better though.”

We’ve seen over the years, rookies who get hurt in training camps sort of fall behind and never really are able to catch back up their rookie seasons. Is WR Jordan Watkins in danger of that or has he kind of shown a sharpness since the spring that will allow him to get back up to speed quickly?

“For sure. You know, it’s tough. It’s tough when you miss time, for anybody, and rookies especially because just going through the rigors of the season, when you miss time in training camp it is a setback. So, he’s doing everything he can do. He’s a sharp guy, he’s working and we hope he stays on that trajectory and he gets his opportunity. But, the truth is it’s hard when you have setbacks and you miss time. So, you kind of see what guys are made of and they overcome it and keep pushing through it.”

With WR Demarcus Robinson out, TE George Kittle on IR and a WR Brandon Aiyuk return is near, how confident are you once those guys come back that this offense can kind of fire on all cylinders?

“I mean, I’m confident now. I mean, I’m confident with the guys we have out there. Obviously, you name a lot of names that aren’t out there, but I love the way our guys are working as a group. I love the kind of football we’re playing. And as long as we have that mindset, I think whoever’s out there, we’re going to continue to hopefully have some success on offense. We haven’t turned the ball over a lot. We’ve played penalty free, we’ve been efficient. We’ve got to keep doing those things. And so yeah, you hope to add players who we know are explosive players who can make great plays for us and you hope that we continue that trend. So, I think we’ve got to keep playing good football and when those guys come back I think it’s only going to be a bonus.”

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has a reputation of being a pretty good defensive coach. What does his defense look like this year on film?

“Yeah. I mean, schematically, they’re always a challenge. They’re one of the more unique schemes in the NFL and they have really good players. It starts with [Arizona Cardinals S] Budda [Baker]. I have so much respect for that guy. I think he’s one of the better defensive players in this League and he’s all over the field. They’ve added some guys up front and they’ve gotten better up front in my opinion. So that’s becoming one of the strengths of their defense. So, when you add the challenges of the scheme, the talent on the backend, and then them getting better up front and their pass rush, they’re a real big challenge for us. So, that’s what we’re working on and we’ll be up for it, but it’s going to be a tough game.”

There’s so much talk about Kyle’s play calling and how elite his play calling is. Almost anybody can call a play, but what goes into teaching guys to execute the play that you call? Especially with the reduced amount of practice time in recent years. Why is Kyle good at that?

“Kyle’s a great teacher. He can get his guys to understand his vision. And it’s about communication and how you communicate things to people. So, it starts with preparation and just the way you prepare guys, the way you teach, whether it’s through installs or through film. He’s exceptional at those things. And then when it comes to game day, it’s preparation, it’s putting yourself through scenarios, putting yourself in situations where, ‘okay, when this happens, I want to have this call and when that happens, I want to have this call.’ And also sort of knowing what your players are comfortable with when you get to Sunday. What do I feel like these guys are ready to execute in this situation? And Kyle puts himself through all those situations and he’s taught me a lot about how to do that as well. How to be ready for those moments. So, I just think when you combine the teaching and the way we teach, he teaches our offense and the way he prepares to call the game, I think that’s where you get good play calling.”

Gannon pointed out that Shanahan’s really good in game at making switches on the fly. You’ve worked with other coaches, I’m sure. How does he compare?

“I mean, yeah, I think all coaches, that’s part of coaching. You have to make adjustments. And Kyle has a great eye when we’re looking through the pictures and we’re kind of looking at how the defense is reacting. Kyle’s great at communicating what he’s seeing and then we talk and we get together and say, ‘Hey, what can we do to kind of take advantage of this look, what they’re doing?’ And like you said, Kyle just has a great eye for those things and he sees them and we communicate on the sideline and we try to get it done if we need to make adjustments.”